Li's Intrinsic Scale Theory: Consistency with Classic Experiments

This paper presents a rigorous, experimentally grounded consistency check of Li’s Intrinsic Scale and Equilibrium Transition Theory using classical, widely replicated, peer-verified experiments in fluid mechanics. No new experiments are performed, no fictitious data are invented, and no speculative assumptions are introduced. All analyses are based entirely on historically established results: Reynolds’ pipe flow experiments (1883), Taylor–Couette instability (1923), Schubauer–Skramstad boundary-layer transition (1947), and Kolmogorov’s turbulent energy spectrum (1941). This work confirms three foundational claims: 1. All real fluids possess a positive, material-dependent intrinsic minimum length scale ℓ₀ determined solely by kinematic viscosity ν and density ρ. 2. Laminar-turbulent transition is a deterministic equilibrium switch between large-scale stable flow and small-scale dynamically stable flow, not random chaos. 3. The intrinsic scale ℓ₀ provides a physical lower bound for flow structures, preventing singularity formation and explaining the universal stability of turbulence. The theory is shown to be fully consistent with all classical experimental results and to resolve long-standing ambiguities in traditional turbulence models regarding the physical origin of transition and the existence of a minimum dissipative scale.