The design of fluids management processes in the low-gravity environment of space requires an accurate description of capillarity-controlled flow in containers. Here we consider the spontaneous redistribution of fluid along an interior corner of a container due to capillary forces. The analytical portion of the work presents an asymptotic formulation in the limit of a slender fluid column, slight surface curvature along the flow direction z, small inertia, and low gravity. The scaling introduced explicitly accounts for much of the variation of flow resistance due to geometry and so the effects of corner geometry can be distinguished from those of surface curvature. For the special cases of a constant height boundary condition and a constant flow condition, the similarity solutions yield that the length of the fluid column increases as t1/2 and t3/5, respectively. In the experimental portion of the work, measurements from a 2.2 s drop tower are reported. An extensive data set, collected over a previously unexplored range of flow parameters, includes estimates of repeatability and accuracy, the role of inertia and column slenderness, and the effects of corner angle, container geometry, and fluid properties. At short times, the fluid is governed by inertia (t[lsim ]tLc). Afterwards, an intermediate regime (tLc[lsim ]t[lsim ] tH) can be shown to be modelled by a constant-flow-like similarity solution. For t[ges ]tH it is found that there exists a location zH at which the interface height remains constant at a value h(zH, t)=H which can be shown to be well predicted. Comprehensive comparison is made between the analysis and measurements using the constant height boundary condition. As time increases, it is found that the constant height similarity solution describes the flow over a lengthening interval which extends from the origin to the invariant tip solution. For t[Gt ]tH, the constant height solution describes the entire flow domain. A formulation applicable throughout the container (not just in corners) is presented in the limit of long times.

A small drop placed on a horizontal surface will spread under the action of capillary forces until it reaches an equilibrium position. The rate at which it spreads provides a means for testing certain hypotheses about moving contact lines; namely that there must be slip between the fluid and the solid boundary near the rim of the drop to avoid a force singularity there, and that the contact angle measured at the rim itself does not show the dynamic behaviour observed by measurements that ignore rapid changes in slope in the immediate vicinity of the rim but remains equal to its static value.

By the use of matched asymptotic expansions, an equation for the rate of spread of a drop as a function of the radius of the contact circle is obtained. Experiments on the spreading of small drops of molten glass allow a comparison to be made between the spreading of a drop determined experimentally and that predicted theoretically, which supports the use of the proposed hypotheses as appropriate for the study of fluid motions containing moving contact lines.

Numerical results are presented for planar sinusoidal waves (amplitude α, wave-number k). The average swimming speed and power consumption are computed for a wide range of the parameters. The optimal sine wave for minimizing power consumption is found to be a single wave with amplitude αk ≈ 1. The power consumption is found to be relatively insensitive to changes in the flagellar radius. The optimal flagellar length is found to be in the range L/A = 20–40. The instantaneous force distribution and flow field for a typical organism are presented. The trajectory of the organism through one cycle shows that a wave of constant amplitude may have the appearance of increasing amplitude owing to the yawing motion of the organism.

The results are compared with those obtained using resistance coefficients. For organisms with small cell bodies (A/L = 0.05), the average swimming speed predicted by Gray-Hancock coefficients is accurate to within 10%. For large cell bodies (A/L = 0.2), the error in swimming speed is approximately 20%. The relative error in the predicted power consumption is 25–50%. For the coefficients suggested by Lighthill, the power is consistently underestimated. The Gray-Hancock coefficients underestimate the power for small cell bodies and overestimate it for large cell bodies.

A model is proposed with which the statistics of the fluctuating streamwise velocity in the inner region of wall-bounded turbulent flows are predicted from a measured large-scale velocity signature from an outer position in the logarithmic region of the flow. Results, including spectra and all moments up to sixth order, are shown and compared to experimental data for zero-pressure-gradient flows over a large range of Reynolds numbers. The model uses universal time-series and constants that were empirically determined from zero-pressure-gradient boundary layer data. In order to test the applicability of these for other flows, the model is also applied to channel, pipe and adverse-pressure-gradient flows. The results support the concept of a universal inner region that is modified through a modulation and superposition of the large-scale outer motions, which are specific to the geometry or imposed streamwise pressure gradient acting on the flow.

This paper presents a comparison between theory and experiment for the in-line forces on cylinders of general cross-section in planar oscillatory flows of small amplitude. The theoretical analysis evaluates corrections to the standard inviscid inertial force at low Keulegan-Carpenter numbers which arise from the presence of viscous laminar boundary layers and from the development of vortex shedding. The boundary-layer contribution due to both skin friction and displacement effects is calculated to first order in the Stokes parameter β−½. The contribution to the in-line force from separation and vortex shedding, for which the results presented only apply to sharp-edged bodies, is taken from previous work on vortex shedding from isolated edges using the discrete vortex modelling technique. The resulting force has components both in phase with the fluid acceleration (inertia) and in phase with the velocity (drag).

The theoretical results are compared to measurements taken in a [xcup ]-tube water channel on a number of cylinders of different cross-section including circular cylinders and sharp-edged sections. The comparisons suggest that the theory is valid for Keulegan–Carpenter numbers below about 3 and for moderately high values of the β parameter.

The interaction of the overlying turbulent flow with a riblet surface and its impact on drag reduction are analysed. The ‘viscous regime’ of vanishing riblet spacing, in which the drag reduction produced by the riblets is proportional to their size, is reasonably well understood, but this paper focuses on the behaviour for spacings s+ ≃ 10–20, expressed in wall units, where the viscous regime breaks down and the reduction eventually becomes an increase. Experimental evidence suggests that the two regimes are largely independent, and, based on a re-evaluation of existing data, it is shown that the optimal rib size is collapsed best by the square root of the groove cross-section, ℓg+=Ag+1/2. The mechanism of the breakdown is investigated by systematic DNSs with increasing riblet sizes. It is found that the breakdown is caused by the appearance of long spanwise rollers below y+ ≈ 20, with typical streamwise wavelengths λx+ ≈ 150, that develop from a two-dimensional Kelvin–Helmholtz-like instability of the mean streamwise flow, similar to those over plant canopies and porous surfaces. They account for the drag breakdown, both qualitatively and quantitatively. It is shown that a simplified linear instability model explains the scaling of the breakdown spacing with ℓg+.

Through an extensive and systematic experimental investigation of two geometries of flexible plates in air, it is shown that a properly defined scaled Cauchy number allows collapsing all drag measurements of the reconfiguration number. In the asymptotic regime of large deformation, it is shown that the Vogel exponents that scale the drag with the flow velocity for different geometries of plates can be predicted with a simple dimensional analysis reasoning. These predicted Vogel exponents are in agreement with previously published models of reconfiguration. The mechanisms responsible for reconfiguration, namely area reduction and streamlining, are studied with the help of a simple model for flexible plates based on an empirical drag formulation. The model predicts well the reconfiguration observed in the experiments and shows that for a rectangular plate, the effect of streamlining is prominent at the onset of reconfiguration, but area reduction dominates in the regime of large deformation. Additionally, the model demonstrates for both geometries of plates that the reconfiguration cannot be described by a single value of the Vogel exponent. The Vogel exponent asymptotically approaches constant values for small and for very large scaled Cauchy numbers, but in between both extremes it varies significantly over a large range of scaled Cauchy number.

Laser-induced cavitation bubbles near a curved rigid boundary are observed experimentally using high-speed photography. An image theory is applied to obtain information on global bubble motion while a boundary integral method is employed to gain a more detailed understanding of the behaviour of a liquid jet that threads a collapsing bubble, creating a toroidal bubble. Comparisons between the theory and experiment show that when a comparable sized bubble is located near a rigid boundary the bubble motion is significantly influenced by the surface curvature of the boundary, which is characterized by a parameter ζ, giving convex walls for ζ < 1, concave walls for ζ > 1 and a flat wall when ζ = 1. If a boundary is slightly concave, the most pronounced migration occurs at the first bubble collapse. The velocity of a liquid jet impacting on the far side of the bubble surface tends to increase with decreasing parameter ζ. In the case of a convex boundary, the jet velocity is larger than that generated in the flat boundary case. Although the situation considered here is restricted to axisymmetric motion without mean flow, this result suggests that higher pressures can occur when cavitation bubbles collapse near a non-flat boundary. Bubble separation, including the pinch-off phenomenon, is observed in the final stage of the collapse of a bubble, with the oblate shape at its maximum volume attached to the surface of a convex boundary, followed by bubble splitting which is responsible for further bubble proliferation.

We study the flow of two immiscible fluids of different viscosities and equal density through a pipe under a pressure gradient. This problem has a continuum of solutions corresponding to arbitrarily prescribed interface shapes. The question therefore arises as to which of these solutions are stable and thus observable. Experiments have shown a tendency for the thinner fluid to encapsulate the thicker one. This has been ‘explained’ by the viscous-dissipation principle, which postulates that the amount of viscous dissipation is minimized for a given flow rate. For a circular pipe, this predicts a concentric configuration with the more viscous fluid located at the core. A linear stability analysis, which is carried out numerically, shows that while this configuration is stable when the more viscous fluid occupies most of the pipe, it is not stable when there is more of the thin fluid. Therefore the dissipation principle does not always hold, and the volume ratio is a crucial factor.

The generation of Aeolian tones is interpreted in terms of the theroy of aerodynamic sound. To do this, the intensity of the radiated sound is expressed in terms of the fluctuations in force upon a moving rigid body using the approximation that, at low mach numbers, these forces can be calculated assuming incompressibility of the flow. The fluctuations in lift and drag upon a circular cylinder at Reynolds numbers between 40 and 160 are calculated by integrating the fluctuations in momentum in the eddying wake, using the experimental data of Kovasznay (1949). It is found that the fluctuating lift per unit length is approximately $f_l = 0\cdot 38\rho U^2dcos2\pi nt$ where ρ is the density of the fluid and t the time, and that the magnitude of the fluctuations in drag is about 10% of this.

The axial length scale of these force fluctuations was found by an auxiliary experiment to be very large for Reynolds numbers below 100. When 100 < R < 160, the lenth scale is approximately 17d, the transition apparently occurring as a result of the instability to three-dimensional disturbances of the laminar eddying wake. Using this datum, the mean square acoustic pressure generated by the motion about the cylinder at these Reynolds numbers is found to be $\overline{P^2}(r) \sim 0\cdot 27 cos^2 \theta \frac {\rho ^2 ldU^6 S^2}{a^2r^2}$ where θ is the angle between the direction of observation and the incident stream, l the length of the cylinder and a the velocity of sound in the medium. Experiments undertaken to test this result directly, using sound intensity measurements from a whirling arm apparatus in an accoustically quiet room, gave very good agreement.

At higher Reynolds numbers, when the cylindg wake is turbulent, the theory leads to a, similar expression for $\overline{P^2}$ but with a smaller numerical factor. Analysis of previous experimental data on this basis gives good agreement, with a value of about 0·037 for the numerical constant. In view of this, it is likely that some of the earlier data which had appeared to give a Mach number dependence of M4, not M6, have been misinterpreted. Finally, mention is made of the conditions when the frequency of vortex generation is the same as the natural frequency of the wire, and the greatly increased intensity of the sound is seen to be the result of the greatly increased axial length scale of the force fluctuations.

The relative simplicity of this phenomenon makes possible perhaps the least ambiguous confirmation yet found of some of the essential ideas in the theory of aerodynamic sound.

It is known experimentally that laminar circular Couette flow between two concentric circular cylinders, the outer of which is fixed, becomes unstable when the speed of the inner cylinder is high enough. The flow is then replaced by a new circumferential flow with superimposed toroidal (or Taylor) vortices spaced periodically along the axis. At a higher speed still the new flow develops another instability, and is replaced by a flow in which the axially periodic vortices are simultaneously periodic travelling waves in the azimuth.

In the present paper an attack is made on the problem of instability of the Taylor-vortex flow against perturbations which are periodic both in the axial and azimuthal co-ordinates and, moreover, travel with some phase velocity in the latter. Subject to a number of assumptions and approximations, which are detailed in the paper, it is found that the Taylor-vortex flow is stable against perturbations with the same axial wavelength and phase, but unstable against perturbations differing in phase by ½π. After instability the new flow no longer has planes separating neighbouring vortices, but has wavy surfaces travelling in the azimuth. This feature is in accord with much (though not all) of the experimental evidence.

The critical Taylor number (proportional to the square of the speed) at which the Taylor vortices become unstable is found theoretically to be about 8% above the value for which Taylor vortices first appear. This must be compared with a value in the range 5-20% for the experiments which our work models most closely. The azimuthal wave-number given a slight preference by theory is 1, in agreement with those experiments.

We study two examples of two-dimensional nonlinear double-diffusive convection (thermohaline convection, and convection in an imposed vertical magnetic field) in the limit where the onset of marginal overstability just precedes the exchange of stabilities. In this limit nonlinear solutions can be found analytically. The branch of oscillatory solutions always terminates on the steady solution branch. If the steady solution branch is subcritical this occurs when the period of the oscillation becomes infinite, while if it is supercritical, it occurs via a Hopf bifurcation. A detailed discussion of the stability of the oscillations is given. The results are in broad agreement with the largeramplitude results obtained previously by numerical techniques.

A quantitative study of some nonlinear aspects of drop-shape oscillations in a liquid–liquid system has been completed. The results suggest a soft nonlinearity in the fundamental resonant mode frequency as the oscillation amplitude is increased. Indications of an increase in the rate of decay have also been obtained. A study of the internal flow fields has revealed patterns of circulation not present at low amplitude.

Recent work on single-bubble sonoluminescence (SBSL) has shown that many features of this phenomenon, especially the dependence of SBSL intensity and stability on experimental parameters, can be explained within a hydrodynamic approach. More specifically, many important properties can be derived from an analysis of bubble wall dynamics. This dynamics is conveniently described by the Rayleigh–Plesset (RP) equation. Here we derive analytical approximations for RP dynamics and subsequent analytical laws for parameter dependences. These results include (i) an expression for the onset threshold of SL, (ii) an analytical explanation of the transition from diffusively unstable to stable equilibria for the bubble ambient radius (unstable and stable sonoluminescence), and (iii) a detailed understanding of the resonance structure of the RP equation. It is found that the threshold for SL emission is shifted to larger bubble radii and larger driving pressures if surface tension is increased, whereas even a considerable change in liquid viscosity leaves this threshold virtually unaltered. As an enhanced viscosity stabilizes the bubbles to surface oscillations, we conclude that the ideal liquid for violently collapsing, surface-stable SL bubbles should have small surface tension and large viscosity, although too large viscosity (ηl[ges ]40ηwater) will again preclude collapses.

Digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) measurements of the velocity field under breaking waves in the laboratory are presented. The region of turbulent fluid directly generated by breaking is too large to be imaged in one video frame and so an ensemble-averaged representation of the flow is built up from a mosaic of image frames. It is found that breaking generates at least one coherent vortex that slowly propagates downstream at a speed consistent with the velocity induced by its image in the free surface. Both the kinetic energy of the flow and the vorticity decay approximately as t−1. The Reynolds stress of the turbulence also decays as t−1 and is, within the accuracy of the measurements, everywhere negative, consistent with downward transport of streamwise momentum. Estimates of the mometum flux from waves to currents based on the measurements of the Reynolds stress are consistent with earlier estimates. The implications of the measurements for breaking in the field are discussed. Based on geometrical optics and wave action conservation, we suggest that the presence of the breaking-induced vortex provides an explanation for the suppression of short waves by breaking. Finally, in Appendices, estimates of the majority of the terms in the turbulent kinetic energy budget are presented at an early stage in the evolution of the turbulence, and comparisons with independent acoustical measurements of breaking are presented.

A plane, isothermal, chemically reacting mixing layer has been experimentally investigated to analyse the origin and the development of three-dimensional stream-wise vorticity. The results show that early in its evolution, the plane, free shear layer is composed of counter-rotating pairs of streamwise vortices superimposed upon the spanwise ones. This coherent, streamwise vortical structure was found to be the result of the unstable response of the layer to three-dimensional perturbations in the upstream conditions. Depending on the magnitude and location of the upstream disturbances, the location of the transition to three-dimensionality varied. However, the concentrated streamwise vorticity was always seen to form first on the braids between consecutive spanwise vortices and then to propagate into their cores.

For the low and moderate Reynolds numbers of this study, it was found that the onset of the so-called ‘mixing transition’ does not necessarily coincide with that of the formation of concentrated streamwise vorticity. These vortices were observed to have a scale, as measured by the size of their cores, somewhat smaller than but comparable with that of the spanwise ones, thus contributing substantially to the entrainment process in the early stages of mixing-layer development.

Analytical expressions are derived for the velocity vector, the stress components and the viscosity function in fully developed channel and pipe flow of Phan-Thien–Tanner (PTT) fluids; both the linearized and the exponential forms of the PTT equation are considered. The solution shows that the wall shear stress of a PTT fluid is substantially smaller than the corresponding value for a Newtonian or upper-convected Maxwell fluid, with implications for comparing predicted and measured values in a non-dimensional form.

The manner by which external vortical disturbances penetrate the laminar boundary layer and induce transition is explored. Linear theory suggests that the well-known Klebanoff mode precursor to transition can be understood as a superposition of Squire continuous modes. Shear sheltering influences the ability of free-stream disturbances to generate a packet of Squire modes. A coupling coefficient between continuous spectrum spectrum Orr–Sommerfeld and Squire modes is used to characterize the interaction. Full numerical simulations with prescribed modes at the inlet substantiate this approach. With two weakly coupled modes at the inlet, the boundary layer is little perturbed; with two strongly coupled modes, Klebanoff modes are produced; with one strongly coupled and one weakly coupled high-frequency mode, the complete transition process is simulated.

Mean flow measurements are presented for fully developed turbulent pipe flow over a Reynolds number range of $57\,{\times}\,10^3$ to $21\,{\times}\,10^6$ where the flow exhibits hydraulically smooth, transitionally rough, and fully rough behaviours. The surface of the pipe was prepared with a honing tool, typical of many engineering applications, achieving a ratio of characteristic roughness height to pipe diameter of 1 : 17000. Results for the friction factor show that in the transitionally rough regime this surface follows a Nikuradse (1933)-type inflectional relationship rather than the monotonic Colebrook (1939) relationship used in the Moody diagram. This result supports previous suggestions that the Moody diagram in the transitional regime must be used with caution. Outer scaling of the mean velocity data shows excellent collapse and strong evidence for Townsend's outer layer similarity hypothesis for rough-walled flows. Finally, the pipe exhibited smooth behaviour for scaled roughness height $k_s^+ \,{\le}\, 3.5$, which supports the suggestion by Zagarola & Smits (1998) that their pipe was hydraulically smooth for $Re_D\,\,{\leq}\, 24\,{\times}\,10^6$.

Wing pitch reversal, the rapid change of angle of attack near stroke transition, represents a difference between hovering with flapping wings and with a continuously rotating blade (e.g. helicopter flight). Although insects have the musculature to control the wing pitch during flight, we show here that aerodynamic and wing inertia forces are sufficient to pitch the wing without the aid of the muscles. We study the passive nature of wing pitching in several observed wing kinematics, including the wing motion of a tethered dragonfly, Libellula pulchella, hovering fruitfly, hovering hawkmoth and simplified dragonfly hovering kinematics. To determine whether the pitching is passive, we calculate rotational power about the torsion axis owing to aerodynamic and wing inertial forces. This is done using both direct numerical simulations and quasi-steady fluid force models. We find that, in all the cases studied here, the net rotational power is negative, signifying that the fluid force assists rather than resists the wing pitching. To further understand the generality of these results, we use the quasi-steady force model to analyse the effect of the components of the fluid forces at pitch reversal, and predict the conditions under which the wing pitch reversal is passive. These results suggest the pitching motion of the wings can be passive in insect flight.