TRANSITION AND TURBULENCE IN FLUID FLOWS AND LOW-DIMENSIONAL CHAOS.

Recent studies of the dynamics of low-dimensional nonlinear systems with chaotic solutions have produced very interesting and profound results with several implications in many disciplines dealing with nonlinear equations. However, the interest of fluid dynamicists in these studies stems primarily from the expectation that they will help us understand better the onset as well as dynamics of turbulence in fluid flows. At this time, such of this expectation remains untested, especially in 'open' or unconfined fluid flows. This work is aimed at filling some of this gap.