We present a study of the forces during free-surface water entry of spheres of varying masses, diameters, and surface treatments. Previous studies have shown that the formation of a subsurface air cavity by a falling sphere is conditional upon impact speed and surface treatment. This study focuses on the forces experienced by the sphere in both cavity-forming and non-cavity-forming cases. Unsteady force estimates require accurate determination of the deceleration for both high and low mass ratios, especially as inertial and hydrodynamic effects approach equality. Using high-speed imaging, high-speed particle image velocimetry, and numerical simulation, we examine the nature of the forces in each case. The effect of mass ratio is shown, where a lighter sphere undergoes larger decelerations and more dramatic trajectory changes. In the non-cavity-forming cases, the forces are modulated by the growth and shedding of a strong, ring-like vortex structure. In the cavity-forming cases, little vorticity is shed by the sphere, and the forces are modulated by the unsteady pressure required for the opening and closing of the air cavity. A data-driven boundary-element-type method is developed to accurately describe the unsteady forces using cavity shape data from experiments.

A numerical study of the three-dimensional fluid dynamics inside a model left ventricle during diastole is presented. The ventricle is modelled as a portion of a prolate spheroid with a moving wall, whose dynamics is externally forced to agree with a simplified waveform of the entering flow. The flow equations are written in the meridian body-fitted system of coordinates, and expanded in the azimuthal direction using the Fourier representation. The harmonics of the dependent variables are normalized in such a way that they automatically satisfy the high-order regularity conditions of the solution at the singular axis of the system of coordinates. The resulting equations are solved numerically using a mixed spectral–finite differences technique. The flow dynamics is analysed by varying the governing parameters, in order to understand the main fluid phenomena in an expanding ventricle, and to obtain some insight into the physiological pattern commonly detected. The flow is characterized by a well-defined structure of vorticity that is found to be the same for all values of the parameters, until, at low values of the Strouhal number, the flow develops weak turbulence.

The conjecture of Vainshtein & Zel'dovich (1972) concerning the existence of a fast dynamo (i.e. one whose growth rate is independent of magnetic diffusivity η in the limit η → 0) is discussed with particular reference to (i) the stretch–twist–fold cycle which can double the strength of a magnetic flux tube, and (ii) the space-periodic Beltrami flow of maximal helicity, which has been shown to be capable of space-periodic dynamo action with the same period as the velocity field, by Arnold & Korkina (1983) and by Galloway & Frisch (1984). The topological constraint associated with conservation of magnetic helicity is shown to preclude fast dynamo action unless the scale of the magnetic field is almost everywhere of order η½ as η → 0; in this case, the field structure is severely singular in the limit. A steady incompressible velocity field, quadratic in the space variables, is shown to mimic the action of the stretch–twist–fold cycle, and is proposed as a plausible candidate for fast dynamo action.

The fine scale three-dimensional structures usually associated with streamwise vortices in the near wake of a circular cylinder have been studied at Reynolds numbers ranging from 170 to 2200. Spatially continuous velocity measurements along lines parallel to the cylinder axis were obtained with a scanning laser anemometer. To detect the streamwise vortices in the amplitude modulated velocity field, it was necessary to develop a spatial decomposition technique to split the total flow into a primary flow component and a secondary flow component. The primary flow is comprised of the mean flow and Strouhal vortices, while the secondary flow is the result of the three-dimensional streamwise vortices that are the essence of transition to turbulence. The three-dimensional flow amplitude increases in the primary vortex formation region, then saturates shortly after the maximum amplitude in the primary flow is reached. In the near-wake region the wavelength decreases approximately like Re−0.5, but increases with downstream distance. A discontinuous increase in wavelength occurs below Re = 300 suggesting a fundamental change in the character of the three-dimensional flow. At downstream distances (x/D = 10-20), the spanwise wavelength decreases from 1.42D to 1.03D as the Reynolds number increases from 300 to 1200.

Temporal linear stability modes depending on two space directions are computed for a two-dimensional boundary-layer flow along a flat plate. The spatial structure of each individual temporally stable mode is shown to be reminiscent of the spatial exponential growth of perturbations along the flat plate, as predicted by local analyses. It is shown using an optimal temporal growth analysis, that an appropriate superposition of a moderate number of temporal modes gives rise to a spatially localized wave packet, starting at inflow and exhibiting transient temporal growth when evolving downstream along the plate. This wave packet is in qualitative agreement with the convectively unstable disturbance observed when solving the Navier–Stokes equations for an equivalent initial condition.

The effects of riblets on one wall of a channel bounding fully developed turbulent flow are investigated. Various perturbation elements including wires, fins and slots are modelled in order to understand the effects of riblets. It is found that widely spaced riblets, fins and wires create a substantial increase in turbulent activity just above the element. These elements are also found to produce a remarkable pattern of secondary mean flows consisting of matched pairs of streamwise vortices. The secondary flows occur only if the bulk flow is turbulent and their characteristics depend on element geometry. It is suggested that these secondary flows are strongly linked with the increase in drag experienced by widely spaced riblets in experimental studies. The secondary flows are probably caused by two-dimensional spanwise sloshing of the flow, inherent in a turbulent boundary layer, interacting with the stream-aligned element. This two-dimensional mechanism is investigated with a series of two-dimensional simulations of sloshing flow over isolated elements. Grid resolution and domain size checks are made throughout the investigation.

The average turbulent energy dissipation is often estimated by assuming isotropy and measuring the temporal derivative of the longitudinal velocity fluctuation. In this paper, the nine major terms that make up the total dissipation have been measured in the self-preserving region of a cylinder wake for a small turbulence Reynolds number. The results indicate that local isotropy is not satisfied; the isotropic dissipation, computed by assuming isotropic relations, being smaller than the total dissipation by about 45% on the wake centreline and by about 80% near the wake edge. Indirect verification of the dissipation measurements is provided by the budget of the turbulent kinetic energy. This budget leads to a plausible distribution for the pressure diffusion term, obtained by difference.

Associated with Taylor’s classical analysis of scalar solute dispersion in the laminar flow of a solvent in a straight pipe, this work explores the approach towards transverse uniformity of concentration distribution. Mei’s homogenization technique is extended to find solutions for the concentration transport. Chatwin’s result for the approach to longitudinal normality is recovered in terms of the mean concentration over the cross-section. The asymmetrical structure of the concentration cloud and the transverse variation of the concentration distribution are concretely illustrated for the initial stage. The rate of approach to uniformity is shown to be much slower than that to normality. When the longitudinal normality of mean concentration is well established, the maximum transverse concentration difference remains near one-half of the centroid concentration of the cloud. A time scale up to $10 R^2/D$ ($R$ is the radius of the pipe and $D$ is the molecular diffusivity) is suggested to characterize the transition to transverse uniformity, in contrast to the time scale of $0.1 R^2/D$ estimated by Taylor for the initial stage of dispersion, and that of $1.0 R^2/D$ by Chatwin for longitudinal normality.

Self-diffusion in a monodisperse suspension of non-Brownian particles in simple shear flow is studied using accelerated Stokesian dynamics (ASD) simulation. The availability of a much faster computational algorithm allows the study of large systems (typically of 1000 particles) and the extraction of accurate results for the complete shear-induced self-diffusivity tensor. The finite, and often large, autocorrelation time requires the mean-square displacements to be followed for very long times, which is now possible with ASD. The self-diffusivities compare favourably with the available experimental measurements when allowance is made for the finite strains sampled in the experiments. The relationship between the mean-square displacements and the diffusivities appearing in a Fokker–Planck equation when advection couples to diffusion is discussed.

Direct stability analysis and numerical simulations have been employed to identify and characterize secondary instabilities in the wake of the flow around two identical circular cylinders in tandem arrangements. The centre-to-centre separation was varied from 1.2 to 10 cylinder diameters. Four distinct regimes were identified and salient cases chosen to represent the different scenarios observed, and for each configuration detailed results are presented and compared to those obtained for a flow around an isolated cylinder. It was observed that the early stages of the wake transition changes significantly if the separation is smaller than the drag inversion spacing. The onset of the three-dimensional instabilities were calculated and the unstable modes are fully described. In addition, we assessed the nonlinear character of the bifurcations and physical mechanisms are proposed to explain the instabilities. The dependence of the critical Reynolds number on the centre-to-centre separation is also discussed.

This paper presents three-dimensional (3D) direct numerical simulations (DNS) of flow past a circular cylinder over a range of Reynolds number ($Re$) up to 300. The gradual wake transition process from mode A* (i.e. mode A with large-scale vortex dislocations) to mode B is well captured over a range of $Re$ from 230 to 260. The mode swapping process is investigated in detail with the aid of numerical flow visualization. It is found that the mode B structures in the transition process are developed based on the streamwise vortices of mode A or A* which destabilize the braid shear layer region. For each case within the transition range, the transient mode swapping process consists of dislocation and non-dislocation cycles. With the increase of $Re$, it becomes more difficult to trigger dislocations from the pure mode A structure and form a dislocation cycle, and each dislocation stage becomes shorter in duration, resulting in a continuous decrease in the probability of occurrence of mode A* and a continuous increase in the probability of occurrence of mode B. The occurrence of mode A* results in a relatively strong flow three-dimensionality. A critical condition is confirmed at approximately $Re=265{-}270$, where the weakest flow three-dimensionality is observed, marking a transition from the disappearance of mode A* to the emergence of increasingly disordered mode B structures.

The stability of a hypersonic boundary layer on a flared cone was analysed for the same flow conditions as in earlier experiments (Zhang et al., Acta Mech. Sinica, vol. 29, 2013, pp. 48–53; Zhu et al., AIAA J., vol. 54, 2016, pp. 3039–3049). Three instabilities in the flared region, i.e. the first mode, the second mode and the Görtler mode, were identified using linear stability theory (LST). The nonlinear-parabolized stability equations (NPSE) were used in an extensive parametric study of the interactions between the second mode and the single low-frequency mode (the Görtler mode or the first mode). The analysis shows that waves with frequencies below 30 kHz are heavily amplified. These low-frequency disturbances evolve linearly at first and then abruptly transition to parametric resonance. The parametric resonance, which is well described by Floquet theory, can be either a combination resonance (for non-zero frequencies) or a fundamental resonance (for steady waves) of the secondary instability. Moreover, the resonance depends only on the saturated state of the second mode and is insensitive to the initial low-frequency mode profiles and the streamwise curvature, so this resonance is probably observable in boundary layers over straight cones. Analysis of the kinetic energy transfer further shows that the rapid growth of the low-frequency mode is due to the action of the Reynolds stresses. The same mechanism also describes the interactions between a second-mode wave and a pair of low-frequency waves. The only difference is that the fundamental and combination resonances can coexist. Qualitative agreement with the experimental results is achieved.

When the coating film around a vertical fibre exceeds a critical thickness hc, the interfacial disturbances triggered by Rayleigh instability can undergo accelerated growth such that localized drops much larger in dimension than the film thickness appear. We associate the initial period of this strongly nonlinear drop formation phenomenon with a self-similar intermediate asymptotic blow-up solution to the long-wave evolution equation which describes how static capillary forces drain fluid into the drop. Below hc, we show that strongly nonlinear coupling between the mean flow and axial curvature produces a finite-amplitude solitary wave solution which prevents local finite-time blow up and hence disallows further growth into drops. We thus estimate hc by determining the existence of solitary wave solutions. This is accomplished by a matched asymptotic analysis which joins the capillary outer region of a large solitary wave to the thin-film inner region. Our estimate of hc = 1.68R3H–2, where R is the fibre radius and H is the capillary length H = (σ/ρg)½, is favourably compared to experimental data.

A swimming micro-organism is modelled as a squirming sphere with prescribed tangential surface velocity and referred to as a squirmer. The centre of mass of the sphere may be displaced from the geometric centre, and the effects of inertia and Brownian motion are neglected. The well-known Stokesian dynamics method is modified in order to simulate squirmer motions in a concentrated suspension. The movement of 216 identical squirmers in a concentrated suspension without any imposed flow is simulated in a cubic domain with periodic boundary conditions, and the coherent structures within the suspension are investigated. The results show that (a) a weak aggregation of cells appears as a result of the hydrodynamic interaction between cells; (b) the cells generate collective motions by the hydrodynamic interaction between themselves; and (c) the range and duration of the collective motions depend on the volume fraction and the squirmers' stresslet strengths. These tendencies show good qualitative agreement with previous experiments.

This study concerns the flow around the base of a vertical, wall-mounted cylinder - a pile - exposed to waves. The study comprises (i) flow visualization of horseshoe-vortex flow in front of and the lee-wake-vortex flow behind the pile and (ii) bed shear stress measurements around the pile conducted in a wave flume, plus supplementary bed shear stress measurements carried out in an oscillatory-flow water tunnel. The Reynolds number range of the flume experiments is ReD = (2-9) x 103 and that of the tunnel experiments is ReD= 103—5 x 104, in which ReD is based on the pile size. Steadycurrent tests were also carried out for reference. The horseshoe-vortex flow (like leewake-vortex flow) is governed primarily by the Keulegan-Carpenter number, KC. The range of KC was from 0 to about 25 in the flume experiments, and from 4 to 120 in the tunnel experiments. The experiments were conducted mainly with circular piles. The results indicate that no horseshoe vortex exists for KC < 6. The size and lifespan of the horseshoe vortex increase with KC. The influence of the cross-sectional shape of the pile on the horseshoe vortex was investigated. The results show that a square pile with 90° orientation produces the largest horseshoe vortex while that with 45° orientation produces the smallest one, the circular-pile result being between the two. The influence of a superimposed current on the horseshoe vortex was also investigated. The range of the current-to-wave-induced-velocity ratio, Uc/Um, was from 0 to about 0.8. The overall effect of the superimposed current is to increase the size and lifespan of the horseshoe vortex. This effect increases with increasing Uc/Um. Regarding the near-bed lee-wake flow, the flow regimes observed for the two-dimensional free-cylinder case exist for the present case, too, but with one exception: in the present case, no transverse vortex street was observed in the so-called single-pair regime. The results show that the bed shear stress beneath the horseshoe vortex and in the lee-wake area is heavily influenced by KC. The amplification of the bed shear stress with respect to its undisturbed value is maximum (O(4)) at the side edges of the pile, in contrast to what occurs in steady currents where the maximum occurs at an angle of about 45° from the upstream edge of the pile with an amplification of O(10).

Measurements of sectional and total forces and the spanwise correlation of vortex shedding are presented for a circular cylinder in planar oscillatory flow at Keulegan-Carpenter numbers, KC, in the range from about 4 to 55. The viscous parameter β is in the range from around 100 to 1665. Circulation measurements around a circuit close to and enclosing the cylinder, are also presented. A mode-averaging technique was used for both sectional forces and circulation measurements and this gave, for typical modes of vortex shedding, time histories over an average cycle. The transverse force and the circulation tend to fluctuate in sympathy with each other, except around the instant of flow reversal when the force changes sign but the circulation remains high. Values of the strength of shed vortices, estimated from the measured circulation, are found to be comparable with steady-flow results. For KC [lsim ] 30, modes of vortex shedding occur over distinct ranges of KC with spanwise correlation high at the centre of a KC-range for a particular mode of shedding but low at the boundaries. Above KC ≈ 30 the correlation is no longer very sensitive to KC and the correlation length is estimated to be equal to 4.65 cylinder diameters. In the transverse vortex-street regime (8 [lsim ] KC [lsim ] 15) the cylinder was found to experience a steady transverse force, the coefficient of which is estimated to be about 0.5 at KC = 14.

Controversies over ‘the momentum’ of waves have repeatedly wasted the time of physicists for over half a century. The persistence of the controversies is surprising, since regardless of whether classical or quantum dynamics is used the facts of the matter are simple and unequivocal, are well checked by laboratory experiment, are clearly explained in several published papers, and on the theoretical side can easily be verified by straightforward calculations. They are illustrated here by some simple, classical examples involving acoustic and gravity waves.

A discrete vortex method was used to analyse the separated non-steady flow about a cambered airfoil. The foil flow modelling is based on the thin lifting-surface approach, where the chordwise location of the separation point is assumed to be known from experiments or flow-visualization data. Calculated results provided good agreement when compared with the post-stall aerodynamic data of two airfoils. Those airfoil sections differed in the extent of travel of the separation point with increasing angle of attack. Furthermore, the periodic wake shedding was analysed and its time-dependent influence on the airfoil was investigated.

Computer simulations of fluid-element trajectories in mirror-symmetric and maximally helical turbulence are used to evaluate Moffatt's (1974) formulae for the magnetic diffusivity η(t) and the coefficient κ(t) of the alpha-effect. The passive-scalar diffusivity κ(t) and the mean response functions of scalar and magnetic field wave-vector modes are also computed. The velocity field is normal, stationary, homogeneous and isotropic with spectrum $E(k) = \frac{3}{2}v^2_0\delta(k - k_0)$ and time correlation exp [−1/2ω2/0(t-t)2]. The cases ω0 = O (frozen turbulence), ω = vo k0 and ω0 = 2v0 k0 are followed to t = 4/v0 k0. In the ω0 > 0 cases with maximal helicity, κ(t) and a(t) approach steady-state values of order vo/k0 and v0, respectively. They behave anomalously for ω0 = 0. In the mirror-symmetric: cases, q(t) and κ(t) differ very little from each other. At all the ω0 values, is bigger in the helical than in the mirror-symmetric case. The difference is marked for ω0 = 0. The simulation results imply that κ(t) becomes negative in non-normal mirror-symmetric turbulence with strong helicity fluctuations that persist over several correlation lengths and times. The computations of response functions indicate that asymptotic expressions for these functions, valid for k [Lt ]; k0, retain good accuracy for k ∼ k0. The mean-square magnetic field is found to grow exponentially, and its kurtosis also grows apidly with t, indicating rapid development of a highly intermittent distribution of magnetic field.

The stirring and mixing properties of one-phase coaxial jets, with large outer (annular) to inner velocity ratio ru = u2/u1 are investigated. Mixing is contemplated according to its geometrical, statistical and spectral facets with particular attention paid to determining the relevant timescales of the evolution of, for example, the interface area generation between the streams, the emergence of its scale-dependent (fractal) properties and of the mixture composition after the mixing transition. The two key quantities are the vorticity thickness of the outer, fast stream velocity profile which determines the primary shear instability wavelength and the initial size of the lamellar structures peeled-off from the slow jet, and the elongation rate γ = (u2 − u1)/e constructed with the velocity difference between the streams and the gap thickness e of the annular jet. The kinetics of evolution of the interface corrugations, and the rate at which the mixture evolves from the initial segregation towards uniformity is prescribed by γ−1. The mixing time ts, that is the time needed to bring the initial scalar lamellae down to a transverse size where molecular diffusion becomes effective, and the corresponding dissipation scale s(ts) are

formula here

where Re and Sc denote the gap Reynolds number and the Schmidt number, respectively. The persistence of the large-scale straining motion is also apparent from the spectra of the scalar fluctuations which exhibit a k−1 shape on the inertial range of scales.