Before revision:  We here perform an energy stability analysis of turbulent incompressible flow, which suggests a scenario where  any exponentially unstable irrotational  flow structures rapidly evolve towards linearly unstable shear flow and stable rigid body rotational flow , which dissipates to heat .
After revision:  We here perform an energy stability analysis of turbulent incompressible flow, which suggests a scenario where any exponentially unstable irrotational flow structures rapidly evolve towards linearly unstable shear flow and stable rigid body rotational flow . This scenario does not rule out irrotational straining flow close to the Kolmogorov microscales, since there viscous dissipation stabilizes the unstable flow structures .