The paper summarizes important aspects of quantum turbulence that have been studied successfully with oscillating structures. It describes why some aspects are proving hard to interpret, and it outlines the need for new types of experiment and new developments in theoretical and computational work.
superfluid helium | quantized vortex linesThis paper is concerned with the generation of quantum turbulence (1-3) in liquid helium by various forms of oscillating structure, such as a cylinder oscillating in a direction normal to its length. Many experiments on the generation of quantum turbulence by such structures have been reported, involving not only cylinders (or wires), but also spheres, tuning forks, and grids. Many of these experiments and their possible interpretation have already been reviewed (4). We are not aiming to produce another conventional review, and we shall not consider all that has been achieved. Instead, our aim is to focus on three particular aspects of this type of work: first, on experiments that have already contributed significantly to our understanding of issues that are, as we see them, of general and fundamental importance; second, on an exposure of the difficulties in interpreting many of the experiments in any real detail, in the way that has been achieved in analogous work on classical fluids; and third, on ways in which we might overcome these difficulties, which are both theoretical and experimental. We shall be concerned ultimately with both superfluid He. There are of course connections between quantum turbulence produced by oscillating structures and more general aspects of such turbulence. The role of remanent vorticity in the nucleation and stability of quantum turbulence is universally important, and, as we discuss in a later section, it is here that experiments with oscillating structures have been particularly instructive. At a more subtle level, there is the question of the extent to which quantum turbulence is similar to classical turbulence. The observation of a Kolmogorov energy spectrum on large length scales (larger than the vortex-line spacing) in homogeneous quantum turbulence is often quoted as evidence for this similarity. As we shall see, some aspects of the quantum turbulence produced by oscillating structures provide additional evidence. However, in contrast to homogeneous turbulence, quantum turbulence produced by an oscillating structure must be strongly influenced by the boundary conditions at a solid wall. As we discuss in a section devoted to the development of quantum turbulence, uncertainty about the boundary conditions relevant to quantum turbulence hinders interpretation of the experiments and calls for renewed experimental and theoretical study.Almost all of the experiments have involved measurements of the fluid dynamical force on the structure as a function of the amplitude of the oscillations. This force can be divided into a drag, which is in phase with the velocity and therefore dissipative, and a force that is in quadrature with the velocity and ...