Researchers study how water flows past a surface that repels it heavily.

When energy is supplied to a fluid, it flows. As this energy is increased the flow becomes turbulent. If the energy is provided through heat, we see buoyancy driven turbulence, where the hotter fluid rises to the top and colder fluid moves to the bottom. A conjecture that explained such buoyancy driven turbulent flows may now be overturned. New insights gained in a study using one the world’s most powerful supercomputer could help better explain such flows.