title: Experimental evidence of a phase transition in a closed turbulent flow.
abstract: We experimentally study the susceptibility to symmetry breaking of a closed turbulent von Kármán swirling flow from Re=150 to Re≃10⁶. We report a divergence of this susceptibility at an intermediate Reynolds number Re=Re(χ)≃90,000 which gives experimental evidence that such a highly space and time fluctuating system can undergo a "phase transition." This transition is furthermore associated with a peak in the amplitude of fluctuations of the instantaneous flow symmetry corresponding to intermittencies between spontaneously symmetry breaking metastable states.
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRAMIS, SPEC, CNRS URA 2464, Groupe Instabilités et Turbulence, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
authors.forename: P-P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Cortet
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiffaudel
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Daviaud
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dubrulle