Splitting of a turbulent puff in pipe flow

The transition to turbulence of the flow in a pipe of constant radius is numerically studied over a range of Reynolds numbers where turbulence begins to expand by puff splitting . We first focus on the case where splitting occurs as discrete events. Around this value only long-lived pseudo-equilibrium puffs can be observed in practice, as typical splitting times become very long. When is further increased, the flow enters a more continuous puff splitting regime where turbulence spreads faster. Puff splitting presents itself as a two-step stochastic process. A splitting puff first emits a chaotic pseudopod made of azimuthally localized streaky structures at the downstream (leading) laminar–turbulent interface. This structure can later expand azimuthally as it detaches from the parent puff. Detachment results from a collapse of turbulence over the whole cross-section of the pipe. Once the process is achieved a new puff is born ahead. Large-deviation consequences of elementary stochastic processes at the scale of the streak are invoked to explain the statistical nature of splitting and the Poisson-like distributions of splitting times reported by Avila et al (2011 Science 333 192–6 ).