A Proposed Interpretation of Transitional and Turbulent Energy Flow Processes

This paper discusses the consequence of a continuum analysis of turbulence using the Reynolds convention, on the cascade of energy to internal thermal energy. It is observed that there are two distinct dissipative paths or traps that the energy follows, neither of which involves vorticity. It is observed that the so-called Reynolds\u27 Stresses are not involved in these irreversible dissipative paths, but are in the reversible bridge between the mean and fluctuating flows. An effort is made to generate a consistent physical interpretation of all of the terms in the equations used rather than selecting isolated terms for explanation. Some suggestions are made for modeling the dissipative terms and an appendix is included to illustrate how information can be lost in an integration process that results in erroneously ascribing dissipative roles to perfectly reversible terms and equations