In a laboratory study, the class of instabilities of the laminar Ekman layer called type II (or class A) are found to have the spectral characteristics of narrow-band noise (Q ∼ 5). The unperturbed laminar profile resembles very closely the ideal Ekman solution. The frequency of the spectral peak varies with the Reynolds number as predicted theoretically by Lilly (1966), but the measured frequencies are only 60% of the predicted value. The critical Reynolds number for this instability is found to be 56·7, in good agreement with Lilly's analysis. The measured boundary layer profile of the magnitude of the spectral peak has the behaviour predicted by Lilly. A sudden onset of turbulence is found at a Reynolds number of 148.

The unsteady flow evolution in a porous chamber with surface mass injection simulating propellant burning in a nozzleless solid rocket motor has been investigated by means of a large-eddy simulation (LES) technique. Of particular importance is the turbulence-transition mechanism in injection-driven compressible flows with high injection rates in a chamber closed at one end and connected to a divergent nozzle at the exit. The spatially filtered and Favre-averaged conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy are solved for resolved scales. The effect of unresolved subgrid scales is treated by using a dynamic Smagorinsky model extended to compressible flows. Three successive regimes of flow development are observed: laminar, transitional, and fully developed turbulent flow. Surface transpiration facilitates the formation of roller-like vortical structures close to the injection surface. The flow is essentially two-dimensional up to the mid-section of the chamber, with the dominant frequencies of vortex shedding governed by two-dimensional hydrodynamic instability waves. These two-dimensional structures are convected downstream and break into complex three-dimensional eddies. Transition to turbulence occurs further away from the wall than in standard channel flows without mass injection. The peak in turbulence intensity moves closer to the wall in the downstream direction until the surface injection prohibits further penetration of turbulence. The temporal and spatial evolution of the vorticity field obtained herein is significantly different from that of channel flow without transpiration.

Recent results have shown that convection forced by a temperature gradient along one horizontal boundary of a rectangular domain at a large Rayleigh number can be turbulent in parts of the flow field. However, the conditions for onset of turbulence, the dependence of flow and heat transport on Rayleigh number, and the roles of large and small scales in the flow, have not been established. We use three-dimensional direct numerical simulation (DNS) and large-eddy simulation (LES) over a wide range of Rayleigh numbers, $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}Ra\sim 10^8\mbox{--}10^{15}$, for Prandtl number $Pr=5$ and a small aspect ratio, and show that a sequence of several stability transitions at $Ra \sim 10^{10}\mbox{--} 10^{11}$ defines a change from laminar to turbulent flow. The Prandtl number dependence too is examined at $Ra = 5.86 \times 10^{11}$. At the smallest $Ra$ considered the thermal boundary layer is characterized by a balance of viscous stress and buoyancy, whereas inertia and buoyancy dominate in the large-$Ra$ regime. The change in the momentum balance is accompanied by turbulent enhancement of the overall heat transfer, although both laminar and turbulent regimes give $Nu\sim Ra^{1/5}$. The results support both viscous and inviscid theoretical scaling models from previous work. The mechanical energy budget for an intermediate range of Rayleigh numbers above onset of instability ($10^{10}<Ra<10^{13}$) reveals that the small scales of motion are produced predominantly by thermal convection, whereas at $Ra \ge 10^{14}$ shear instability of the large-scale flow begins to play a dominant role in sustaining the small-scale turbulence. Extrapolation to ocean conditions requires knowledge of the inertial regime identified here, but the simulations show that the corresponding asymptotic balance has not been fully realized by $Ra \sim 10^{15}$.

While hydrodynamic interactions for aggregates of swimmers have received significant attention in the low Reynolds number realm ($Re\ll 1$), there has been far less work at higher Reynolds numbers, in which fluid and body inertia are involved. Here we study the collective behaviour of multiple self-propelled plates in tandem configurations, which are driven by harmonic flapping motions of identical frequency and amplitude. Both fast modes with compact configurations and slow modes with sparse configurations were observed. The Lighthill conjecture that orderly configurations may emerge passively from hydrodynamic interactions was verified on a larger scale with up to eight plates. The whole group may consist of subgroups and individuals with regular separations. Hydrodynamic forces experienced by the plates near their multiple equilibrium locations are all springlike restoring forces, which stabilize the orderly formation and maintain group cohesion. For the cruising speed of the whole group, the leading subgroup or individual plays the role of ‘leading goose’.

Supersonic turbulent flows at Mach 2.7 over concave surfaces for two different radii of curvature were investigated and compared with a flat plate turbulent boundary layer using direct numerical simulations. The streamwise velocity reduces in the outer part of the boundary layer due to compression, while it increases near the wall due to curvature, with a higher shape factor for the concave cases. The near-wall spanwise streak spacing reduces compared to the flat plate, with large-scale streaks and turbulence amplification also observed. Streamwise velocity iso-surfaces and streamlines show the generation of Görtler-like vortices, consistent with significant centrifugal effects. Abundant small vortices are shown to be associated with large baroclinic production of vorticity that is caused by the density and pressure gradients that are associated with concave compression. Profiles of turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent Mach number exhibit a characteristic two-layer structure in the concave boundary layer cases. In the outer layer, turbulence is greatly amplified, whereas a local balance exists in the inner layer. Turbulent energy budget analysis shows that both production and dissipation increase near the concave wall, whereas in the outer part of the boundary layer, the production is increased and ultimately balanced by convection and turbulent transport.

The intermittency of pressure and pressure gradient in stationary isotropic turbulence at low to moderate Reynolds numbers is studied by direct numerical simulation (DNS) and theoretically. The energy spectra scale in Kolmogorov units as required by the universal-equilibrium hypothesis, but the pressure spectra do not. It is found that the variances of the pressure and pressure gradient are larger than those computed using the Gaussian approximation for the fourth-order moments of velocity, and that the variance of the pressure gradient, normalized by Kolmogorov units, increases roughly as [Rscr ]1/2λ, where [Rscr ]λ is the Taylor microscale Reynolds number. A theoretical explanation of the Reynolds number dependence is presented which assumes that the small-scale pressure field is driven by coherent small-scale vorticity–strain domains. The variance of the pressure gradient given by the model is the product of the variance of ui,juj,i, the source term of the Poisson equation for pressure, and the square of an effective length of the small-scale coherent vorticity–strain structures. This length can be expressed in terms of the Taylor and Kolmogorov microscales, and the ratio between them gives the observed Reynolds number dependence. Formal asymptotic matching of the spectral scaling observed at small scales in the DNS with the classical scaling at large scales suggests that at high Reynolds numbers the pressure spectrum in these forced flows consists of three scaling ranges which are joined by two inertial ranges, the classical k−7/3 range and a k−5/3 range at smaller scale. It is not possible, within the classical Kolmogorov theory, to determine the length scale at which the inertial range transition occurs because information beyond the energy dissipation rate is required.

We explore the ability of anisotropic permeable substrates to reduce turbulent skin friction, studying the influence that these substrates have on the overlying turbulence. For this, we perform direct numerical simulations of channel flows bounded by permeable substrates. The results confirm theoretical predictions, and the resulting drag curves are similar to those of riblets. For small permeabilities, the drag reduction is proportional to the difference between the streamwise and spanwise permeabilities. This linear regime breaks down for a critical value of the wall-normal permeability, beyond which the performance begins to degrade. We observe that the degradation is associated with the appearance of spanwise-coherent structures, attributed to a Kelvin–Helmholtz-like instability of the mean flow. This feature is common to a variety of obstructed flows, and linear stability analysis can be used to predict it. For large permeabilities, these structures become prevalent in the flow, outweighing the drag-reducing effect of slip and eventually leading to an increase of drag. For the substrate configurations considered, the largest drag reduction observed is ${\approx}$20–25 % at a friction Reynolds number $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}^{+}=180$.

In a saturated solution with dispersed clusters of a second phase, the mechanism by which the larger clusters grow at the expense of the smaller ones is called Ostwald ripening. Although the mechanism is well understood in situations where multiple clusters of gas exist in a liquid solution, evolution is much more complicated to predict when the two phases interact with a solid matrix, since the solid plays a significant role in determining the shape of the interface. In this paper, we study capillary dominated regimes in porous media where the driving force is inter-cluster diffusion. By decomposing the Ostwald ripening mechanism into two processes that operate on different time scales – the diffusion of solute gas in the liquid and the readjustment of the shape of the gas–liquid interface to accommodate a change in mass – we develop a sequential algorithm to solve for the evolution of systems with multiple gas ganglia. In the absence of a solid matrix, thermodynamic equilibrium is reached when all of the gas phase aggregates to form one large bubble. In porous media on the other hand, we find that ripening can lead to equilibrium situations with multiple disconnected ganglia, and that evolution is highly dependent on initial conditions and the structure of the solid matrix. The fundamental difference between the two cases is in the relationship between mass and capillary pressure.

Topology is introducing new tools for the study of fluid waves. The existence of unidirectional Yanai and Kelvin equatorial waves has been related to a topological invariant, the Chern number, that describes the winding of $f$-plane shallow water eigenmodes around band-crossing points in parameter space. In this previous study, the topological invariant was a property of the interface between two hemispheres. Here we ask whether a topological index can be assigned to each hemisphere. We show that this can be done if the shallow water model in the $f$-plane geometry is regularized by an additional odd-viscosity term. We then compute the spectrum of a shallow water model with a sharp equator separating two flat hemispheres, and recover the Kelvin and Yanai waves as two exponentially trapped waves along the equator, with all the other modes delocalized into the bulk. This model provides an exactly solvable example of bulk-interface correspondence in a flow with a sharp interface, and offers a topological interpretation for some of the transition modes described by Iga (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 294, 1995, pp. 367–390). It also paves the way towards a topological interpretation of coastal Kelvin waves along a boundary and, more generally, to an understanding of bulk-boundary correspondence in continuous media.

The scale interactions occurring within a turbulent boundary layer are investigated in the presence of free-stream turbulence. The free-stream turbulence is generated by an active grid. The free stream is monitored by a single-component hot-wire probe, while a second probe is roved across the height of the boundary layer at the same streamwise location. Large-scale structures occurring in the free stream are shown to penetrate the boundary layer and increase the streamwise velocity fluctuations throughout. It is speculated that, depending on the extent of the penetration, i.e. based on the level of free-stream turbulence, the near-wall turbulence production peaks at different wall-normal locations than the expected location of $y^{+}\approx 15$ for a canonical turbulent boundary layer. It is shown that the large scales dominating the log region have a modulating effect on the small scales in the near-wall region; this effect becomes more significant with increasing turbulence in the free stream, i.e. similarly increasing $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}_{0}}$. This modulating interaction and its Reynolds-number trend have similarities with canonical turbulent boundary layers at high Reynolds numbers where the interaction between the large scales and the envelope of the small scales exhibits a pure amplitude modulation (Hutchins & Marusic, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A, vol. 365 (1852), 2007, pp. 647–664; Mathis et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 628, 2009, pp. 311–337). This similarity has encouraging implications towards generalising scale interactions in turbulent boundary layers.

We consider the onset of thermosolutal (double-diffusive) convection of a binary fluid in a horizontal porous layer subject to fixed temperatures and chemical equilibrium on the bounding surfaces, in the case when the solubility of the dissolved component depends on temperature. We use a linear stability analysis to investigate how the dissolution or precipitation of this component affects the onset of convection and the selection of an unstable wavenumber; we extend this analysis using a Galerkin method to predict the structure of the initial bifurcation and compare our analytical results with numerical integration of the full nonlinear equations. We find that the reactive term may be stabilizing or destabilizing, with subtle effects particularly when the thermal gradient is destabilizing but the solutal gradient is stabilizing. The preferred spatial wavelength of convective cells at onset may also be substantially increased or reduced, and strongly reactive systems tend to prefer direct to subcritical bifurcation. These results have implications for geothermal-reservoir management and ore prospecting.

The objective of this numerical study is to increase the base pressure on a backward-facing step via linear feedback control, to be ultimately translated to a drag reduction on a blunt-based bluff body. Two backward-facing step cases are simulated: a laminar two-dimensional (2D) flow at a Reynolds number of , and a turbulent three-dimensional (3D) flow at using large-eddy simulation. The control is effected by a full-span slot jet with zero-net-mass-flux, and two jet locations are examined. Linear system identification is performed to characterize the flow response to actuation, used to synthesize a control law. The control strategy is based on the premise that an attenuation of the instantaneous pressure fluctuations on the base of the step should lead to an increase in the time-averaged base pressure. Open-loop harmonic forcing is examined within a broad frequency range for both the 2D and 3D flows, which are found to respond differently to actuation. The controllers based on disturbance attenuation lead to sensible increases in base pressure (up to 70 % in 2D and 20 % in 3D) with higher efficiency than the best results achieved in open-loop. The results support the conjecture about the link between the base pressure fluctuations and mean, although it is shown that such a black-box model approach is not suitable for optimization without further physical insight.

Non-axisymmetric drops can significantly alter impact dynamics via rebound suppression when compared to axisymmetric drops. In this study, we focus on ellipsoidal drop impact on a non-wetting surface and investigate the effects of the geometric aspect ratio ($\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}{AR}$) and the Weber number (${\mathit{We}}$) on the dynamics and outcomes of impacts, both experimentally and numerically. Non-axisymmetric spreading features are characterized by scrutinizing the maximal extensions along the $x$-axis ($D_{mx}$) and $y$-axis ($D_{my}$) with respect to ${AR}$ and ${\mathit{We}}$. The ratio of the maximal extensions depends strongly on ${AR}$, following our scaling relation $D_{mx}/D_{my} \sim {AR}^{1/2}$. Experimental and numerical studies show that increasing ${AR}$ induces a high degree of axis switching during retraction, thereby resulting in the prevention of drop rebound, where axis switching denotes alternate expansion and contraction along the principal axes. We determine the transition between rebound and deposition (rebound suppression) over the ${AR}$ and ${\mathit{We}}$ domains and discuss the transition based on a non-axial distribution of the kinetic energy. The understanding of ellipsoidal drop impacts will potentially provide applications to surface patterning, cleaning, and cooling.

By using the multiple-scales perturbation method, analytical solutions are obtained for the second-order low-frequency oscillations inside a rectangular harbour excited by incident wave groups. The water depth is a constant. The width of the harbour entrance is of the same order of magnitude as the wavelength of incident carrier (short) waves, but small in comparison with the wavelength of the wave envelope. Because of the modulations in the wave envelope, a second-order long wave is locked in with the wave envelope and propagates with the speed of the group velocity. Outside the harbour, locked long waves also exist in the reflected wave groups, but not in the radiated wave groups. Inside the harbour, the analytical expressions for the locked long waves are obtained. Owing to the discontinuity of the locked long waves across the harbour mouth, second-order free long waves are generated. The free long waves propagate with a speed of (gh)½ inside and outside the harbour. The free long waves inside the harbour may be resonated in a low-frequency range which is relevant to the harbour resonance.

An exact solution for the squeeze-film motion in an upper convected Maxwell fluid is given for both the plane and axisymmetric cases. Inertia and viseoelastic effects are included, and it is shown that the solution depends only on the product of the Weissenberg and Reynolds numbers. Solutions are generated for values of this product up to 500 without numerical problems. The solutions show wave propagation and show a reduced load capacity relative to the Newtonian case.

We demonstrate experimentally the existence of a family of gravity-induced finiteamplitude water waves that propagate practically without change of form in shallow water of uniform depth. The surface patterns of these waves are genuinely two-dimensional, and periodic. The basic template of a wave is hexagonal, but it need not be symmetric about the direction of propagation, as required in our previous studies (e.g. Hammack et al. 1989). Like the symmetric waves in earlier studies, the asymmetric waves studied here are easy to generate, they seem to be stable to perturbations, and their amplitudes need not be small. The Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (KP) equation is known to describe approximately the evolution of waves in shallow water, and an eight-parameter family of exact solutions of this equation ought to describe almost all spatially periodic waves of permanent form. We present an algorithm to obtain the eight parameters from wave-gauge measurements. The resulting KP solutions are observed to describe the measured waves with reasonable accuracy, even outside the putative range of validity of the KP model.

This paper considers the capillary drainage of a thin annular film on the inside or outside of a circular cylinder of radius $a$. A film of uniform thickness and axial length greater than $\pi a$ suffers a Rayleigh instability and evolves to form an axisymmetric structure in which the film thickness varies with axial distance. The fluid is gathered into collars, having axial length $2\pi a$, and shorter lobes; the pressure within each collar or lobe is spatially uniform and adjacent collars and lobes are separated by thin necks. We examine numerically the evolution of this structure and demonstrate that, for sufficiently short cylinders, lobes drain into collars as described by Hammond (J. Fluid Mech. vol. 137, 1983, p. 363). For longer cylinder lengths we find that, in spite of the energetic advantage, neighbouring collars do not drain into one another, and that the neck region between adjacent collars is governed by a similarity solution of the thin-film equation having axial length that varies as $t^{-1/2}$ after time $t$, and film thickness that varies as $t^{-1}$, which is different from that found by Jones & Wilson (J. Fluid Mech. vol. 87, 1978, p. 263).

We also find a new phenomenon: a collar can spontaneously and episodically translate back and forth along the cylinder, on each occasion consuming the lobe ahead and leaving a smaller daughter lobe behind. This motion takes place on several different timescales: the relatively rapid translation is governed by Landau–Levich equations; the collision with a neighbouring collar is governed by the similarity equation for the neck regions ahead and behind; and the delay between one episode of translation and the next is governed via the Landau–Levich equation by a slow peeling process. Asymptotic results for each of the processes of translation, collision and peeling are obtained and are compared with a full numerical solution. Each episode of translation reduces the thickness of the daughter lobe by a factor 0.115, and successive translations back and forth give rise to a lobe thickness that decays on average and on very long timescales like $t^{-1/2}$.

A thin film of fluid trapped beneath a two-dimensional drop sedimenting towards a rigid horizontal plane is described by the same evolution equation, and analogous lobe and collar dynamics are found (Lister, Morrison & Rallison, J. Fluid Mech. vol. 552, 2006, p. 345).

The central features of lihear and nonlinear disturbance growth in the unstable shear layer, mechanisms of impingement of the resultant vortices on the edge, induced force on the wedge, and upstream influence in the form of induced velocity fluctuations at separation are examined by simultaneous visualization, velocity, and force-measurement techniques.

The nature of the vortex–wedge interaction, and the associated force on the wedge, are directly related to the induced velocity at the upstream separation edge, thereby providing the essential ‘feedback’ for the self-sustained oscillation. Velocity fluctuations at the upper and lower sides of the separation edge tend to be π out of phase, a condition that is maintained along the outer boundaries of the downstream shear layer. Moreover, the phase between velocity fluctuations at separation and impingement satisfies the relation 2nπ, where n is an integer.

The shear layer downstream of the separation edge initially forms an asymmetric wake, which evolves into large-scale vortices, all of which have a circulation appropriate to the high-speed side. The disturbance amplification associated with the high-speed side dominates from the separation edge onwards, precluding development of instabilities associated with the low-speed side.

Regardless of the initial amplitude of the disturbance induced at the separation edge, the same saturation amplitude is attained in the downstream (nonlinear) region of the shear layer, underscoring the fact that variations in force amplitude at the wedge are dominated by the type of vortex–edge interaction mechanism. The sensitivity of this interaction to small offsets between the vortex centre and the leading edge entails that jumps in frequency of oscillation are also associated with jumps in the force amplitude.

A previous paper drew attention to the collective importance of three physical quantities Q, R, S associated with ideal fluid flow in a horizontal channel. Invariability of these quantities at different cross-sections of the flow implies respectively conservation of flow rate, energy and momentum; and their values determine a wave-train uniquely. The properties of Q, R, S are recalled in the present paper to account for the various effects of lowering a rigid obstacle into a stream. The conditions giving rise to dissimilar types of flow are examined; in particular, the circumstances causing stationary waves on the downstream side are clearly distinguished from those under which the receding stream assumes a uniform ‘supercritical’ state. A well-known result in the theory of the solitary wave is shown to apply to the receding stream even when the extreme conditions for the wave are exceeded; although it fails to account for a region close to the obstacle where the curvature of the streamlines becomes large. In passing, a feature of the theory is shown to bear on the practical problem of producing a uniform stream. Precise calculations are made for the flow under a vertical sluice-gate and under an inclined plane. To account for the region near the bottom edge of the sluice-gate, a method based on conformal transformation is used whereby an unknown curve in the hodograph plane is approximated by an arc of an ellipse. The accuracy of the results is more than sufficient for practical purposes, and they compare favourably with solutions previously obtained by relaxation methods. A number of experiments with water streams are described.

We derive effective equations for wave propagation in a bubbly liquid in a linearized low-frequency regime by a multiple-scale method. The effective equations are valid for finite volume fraction. For periodic bubble configurations, effective equations uniformly valid for small volume fraction are obtained. We compare the results to the ones obtained in a previous paper (Caflisch et al. 1985) for a nonlinear theory at small volume fraction.