The stability of a sand bed in an alluvial channel is investigated by a two-dimensional mathematical model, based on the vorticity transport equation. The model takes account of the internal friction and describes the non-uniform distribution of the suspended sediment. It turns out that the inclusion of the friction and of a definite model of the sediment transport mechanism leads to results rather different from those obtained previously by potential-flow analysis.

The Hunt–Stewartson technique of estimating fluid velocity and magnetic flux profiles in rectangular ducts is generalized for the entire secondary boundary layer.

The problem of a piston moving in a cylinder is studied experimentally using flow visualization techniques. A vortex motion is observed at the piston face and cylinder wall interface as the cylinder wall moves toward the piston. Non-dimensional scaling parameters for the vortex size and stability are determined and semi-empirical theories for the size of the vortex are presented.

A solution satisfying the usual radiation conditions is found to the problem of an internal wave propagating towards a corner. It is found that, far from the corner, and the characteristic emanating from the corner, the solution is asymptotically equivalent to the solution found by plane wave reflexions from an infinite wall. The present solution shows that, by imposing the radiation condition, a singularity predicted by the ray theory along the corner characteristic is absent. A further singularity in the present solution along the same characteristic is shown to be due to an inability of the usual linear internal wave equations to fully describe the motion. The solution is for restricted corner angles.

This paper describes the measurements of heat transfer and drag for the flow of dilute polymer solutions around very small cylinders. The thermal experiments were carried out at Reynolds numbers less than 50, and the results establish the dependence of the heat transfer on fluid velocity, cylinder diameter, solution concentration, and polymer molecular weight. The drag measurements were conducted with the same type of solutions and in the same Reynolds-number range. To complement the heat-transfer and drag measurements, the flows around a cylinder and through an orifice were examined visually. These flow-visualization studies showed that the streamline pattern with dilute polymer solutions can be significantly different from that with Newtonian fluids because of viscoelastic effects.

An analysis of Rouse's theory of macromolecules shows that for low accelerations a dilute polymer solution behaves mechanically like a Maxwell model. The analysis thereby produces a relaxation time, a single parameter representing the elasticity of the fluid, which can be related to the properties of the solute and solvent. This relaxation time is contained in a new dimensionless group which governs dynamic similarity when induced elastic stresses dominate viscous stresses in the flow around a circular cylinder. The dimensionless group is shown to correlate the thermal data when the heat transfer does not depend on the free stream velocity.

A two-dimensional, moving, incompressible and electrically conducting fluid having trapped magnetic field (i.e. field threading the fluid) is confined by a uniform vacuum magnetic field. The fluid-vacuum field interface is horizontal and assumed to be free from instabilities. Dissipation by viscosity and resistivity is neglected, hence, for steady motion, the trapped field may be regarded as frozen into the fluid, in the sense that both move together. A pressure disturbance is introduced into the system, and it is found that a harmonic stationary wave is formed upstream provided certain criteria hold.

In a horizontal convecting layer several distinct transitions occur before the flow becomes turbulent. These are studied experimentally for several Prandtl numbers from 1 to 104. Cell size plan form, transitions in plan form, transition to time-dependence, as well as the heat flux, are measured for Rayleigh numbers from 103 to 105. The second transition, occurring at around 12 times the critical Rayleigh number, is one from steady two-dimensional rolls to a steady regular cellular pattern. There is associated with this a discrete change of slope of the heat flux curve, coinciding with the second transition observed by Malkus. Transitions to time-dependence will be discussed in part 2.

The Rayleigh number at which steady convective flow changes to time-dependent flow is determined experimentally for several fluids with Prandtl numbers from 1 to 104. The time dependence is of two forms: (i) a slow tilting of the cell boundary, with time scale of the vertical thermal diffusion time, (ii) an oscillation with a faster time scale determined by the orbit time of the fluid around the cell. The nature of this oscillation is one of hot (or cold) spots advected with the original cellular motion. At a fixed point in the fluid this produces a time periodic oscillation of the temperature. A discrete change of slope of the heat flux curve accompanies this transition. As the Rayleigh number is increased, transition to disorder is seen to result from an increase in the frequency and number of these oscillations.

Non-linear Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, of two parallel horizontal streams of inviscid incompressible fluids under the action of gravity, is studied theoretically. The lower stream is denser and there is surface tension between the streams. Some progressing waves of finite amplitude are found as the development of a slightly unstable wave of infinitesimal amplitude. In particular, the non-linear elevation of the interface between the fluids is calculated. The finite amplitude of the waves does not equilibrate to a constant after a long time, but varies periodically with time. In practice, slight dissipation should lead to equilibration at an amplitude close to a value given by the present theory.

This paper considers inviscid film flows that originate by injection of fluid through the bounding surface. In the first part of the paper plates of an average inclination are considered. Power-law injection rates are studied in some detail. Later it is shown how the analysis has to be modified for almost horizontal plates.

An effort is made to understand turbulence in fluid systems like the oceans and atmosphere in which the Richardson number is generally large. Toward this end, a theory is developed for turbulent flow over a flat plate which is moved and cooled in such a way as to produce constant vertical fluxes of momentum and heat. The theory indicates that in a co-ordinate system fixed in the plate the mean velocity increases linearly with height z above a turbulent boundary layer and the mean density decreases as z3, so that the Richardson number is large far from the plate. Near the plate, the results reduce to those of Monin & Obukhov.

The curvature of the density profile is essential in the formulation of the theory. When the curvature is negative, a volume of fluid, thoroughly mixed by turbulence, will tend to flatten out at a new level well above the original centre of mass, thereby transporting heat downward. When the curvature is positive a mixed volume of fluid will tend to fall a similar distance, again transporting heat downward. A well-mixed volume of fluid will also tend to rise when the density profile is linear, but this rise is negligible on the basis of the Boussinesq approximation. The interchange of fluid of different, mean horizontal speeds in the formation of the turbulent patch transfers momentum. As the mixing in the patch destroys the mean velocity shear locally, kinetic energy is transferred from mean motion to disturbed motion. The turbulence can arise in spite of the high Richardson number because the precise variations of mean density and mean velocity mentioned above permit wave energy to propagate from the turbulent boundary layer to the whole region above the plate. At the levels of reflexion, where the amplitudes become large, wave-breaking and turbulence will tend to develop.

The relationship between the curvature of the density profile and the transfer of heat suggests that the density gradient near the level of a point of inflexion of the density curve (in general cases of stratified, shearing flow) will increase locally as time goes on. There will also be a tendency to increase the shear through the action of local wave stresses. If this results in a progressive reduction in Richardson number, an ultimate outbreak of Kelvin–Helmholtz instability will occur. The resulting sporadic turbulence will transfer heat (and momentum) through the level of the inflexion point. This mechanism for the appearance of regions of low Richardson number is offered as a possible explanation for the formation of the surfaces of strong density and velocity differences observed in the oceans and atmosphere, and for the turbulence that appears on these surfaces.

Small perturbations of a parallel shear flow U(z) in an inviscid, incompressible, stably stratified fluid of density ρ(z) are considered, for which the principal measure of stability is the Richardson number, R. For an arbitrary velocity and density profile we discuss the problem of determining whether a curve of neutral stability has adjacent unstable regions in an (α, R) plane, where α is the wave-number of the disturbance. Neutral curves bounding unstable regions are then obtained for a triangular jet flow in conjunction with various density distributions. A comparison is also made between the stability characteristics of jet and shear flows with corresponding density structures.

Consideration is given to the influence of edge effects on rheological measurements. To facilitate this, we discuss theoretically the flow generated by the slow steady rotation of a solid of revolution in an elastico-viscous liquid confined by convenient bath surfaces. The relevant linear partial differential equations are solved numerically. The simple problem of a rotating sphere and a concentric spherical container, for which an exact analytic solution is available, is first discussed to justify the method employed, and to indicate the necessary conditions to obtain a given accuracy. The numerical method is then applied to the case of a cone of finite dimensions rotating in a bath of elastico-viscous liquid. The predicted flow is shown to be in good agreement with experimental observations.

Application of the theory to rheogoniometric situations indicates that edge effects are not likely to be as significant as has been conjectured in the past.

An equation for waves on the surface of a flow with shear is deduced and shown to reduce by suitable scaling to the classical equation of Korteweg & de Vries, which describes such motions on a stationary flow. For steady flows the corresponding theory of cnoidal waves is obtained and the results of Benjamin (1962) for a solitary wave recovered.

A theory is proposed in this paper to describe the behaviour of a class of turbulent shear flows as the Reynolds number approaches infinity. A detailed analysis is given for simple representative members of this class, such as fully developed channel and pipe flows and two-dimensional turbulent boundary layers. The theory considers an underdetermined system of equations and depends critically on the idea that these flows consist of two rather different types of regions. The method of matched asymptotic expansions is employed together with asymptotic hypotheses describing the order of various terms in the equations of mean motion and turbulent kinetic energy. As these hypotheses are not closure hypotheses, they do not impose any functional relationship between quantities determined by the mean velocity field and those determined by the Reynolds stress field. The theory leads to asymptotic laws corresponding to the law of the wall, the logarithmic law, the velocity defect law, and the law of the wake.