Power fluctuations in a closed turbulent shear flow

We study experimentally the power consumption P of a confined turbulent flow at constant Reynolds number Re. We analyze in details its temporal dynamics and statistical properties, in a setup that covers two decades in Reynolds numbers. We show that nontrivial power fluctuations occur over a wide range of amplitudes and that they involve coherent fluid motions over the entire system size. As a result, the power fluctuations do not result from averaging of independent subsystems and its probability density function Pi(P) is strongly non-Gaussian. The shape of Pi(P) is Reynolds number independent and we show that the relative intensity of fluctuations decreases very slowly as Re increases. These results are discussed in terms of an analaogy with critical phenomena. [S1063-651X(99)50709-5].