No label defined (Q4375669)

Turbulence at very large Reynolds numbers is generally considered to be one of the happier provinces of the turbulence realm, as it is widely thought that two of its results are well-established and have a chance to enter, basically untouched, into a future complete theory; these results are the von Kármán-Prandtl logarithmic law in the wall region of wall-bounded turbulent shear flow and the Kolmogorov-Obukhov scaling laws for local structure. In addition, an elaborate statistical theory of turbulence has arised in the last four decades, employing the powerful machinery of statistical field theory, and it is widely believed that, though this statistical theory has not been particularly fruitful in other contexts, it provides a good and sufficient explanation of the Kolmogorov-Obukhov scaling law and it is only a matter of time before it is equally successful elsewhere. Our goal in the present paper is to explain why this well-known and widely quoted set of beliefs is in error. In particular, the appropriate scaling law for the wall region must be sought in a different direction, and the statistical theory must be built on different principles. It is satisfying to be able to say in the present venue that the correct direction and principles are intimately connected with works by Peter Lax on waves in integrable systems and on zero viscosity and zero dispersion limits. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0881.00037].