Edge states in a boundary layer

Abstract

The understanding of laminar-turbulent transition in shear flows has recently progressed along new paradigms based on the central role of nonlinear exact coherent states. We follow such paradigms to identify, for the first time in a spatially developing flow, localized flow structures living on the edge of chaos, which are the precursors of turbulence. These coherent structures are constituted by hairpin vortices and streamwise streaks. The results reported here extend the dynamical systems description of transition to spatially developing flows.