In the present study ensemble-averaged and phase resolved estimations of the production, diffusion and convection of kinetic energy in the impeller stream of a vessel stirred by a Rushton turbine are provided. To determine those terms all Reynolds stresses (normal and shear) as well as most of the triple-velocity correlations terms were also estimated. The measurements were obtained with a two-channel laser Doppler anemometer, LDA, for Re = 32000 and the region investigated was delimited by the ranges 0.18 <= r/T <= 0.35 and 0.278 <= z/T <= 0.387. A Reynolds triple decomposition has been employed to determine the amount of turbulent kinetic energy convected by the organised and mean motions and extracted by the turbulent Reynolds stresses from the organised and mean motions. The data presented can provide valuable information for the design of mixing processes and crucial data to validate computational fluid dynamics simulations of stirred vessel flows. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.