A model based on mass conservation properties is developed for shock-wave/boundary-layer interactions (SWBLIs), aimed at reconciling the observed great diversity in flow organization documented in the literature, induced by variations in interaction geometry and aerodynamic conditions. It is the basis for a scaling approach for the interaction length that is valid independent of the geometry of the flow (considering compression corners and incident-reflecting shock interactions). As part of the analysis, a scaling argument is proposed for the imposed pressure jump that depends principally on the free-stream Mach number and the flow deflection angle. Its interpretation as a separation criterion leads to a successful classification of the separation states for turbulent SWBLIs (attached, incipient or separated). In addition, the dependence of the interaction length on the Reynolds number and the Mach numbers is accounted for. A large compilation of available data provides support for the validity of the model. Some general properties on the state of the flow are derived, independent of the geometry of the flow and for a wide range of Mach numbers and Reynolds numbers.

We study high-Reynolds-number flow in a two-dimensional collapsible channel in the asymptotic limit of wall deformations confined to the viscous boundary layer. The system is modelled using interactive boundary-layer equations for a Newtonian incompressible fluid coupled to the freely moving elastic wall under constant tension and external pressure. The deformation of the membrane is assumed to have small amplitude and long wavelength, whereas the flow comprises the inviscid core and the viscous boundary layers on both walls coupled to each other and to the membrane deformation. Firstly, by linking the interactive boundary-layer model to the small-amplitude, long-wavelength inviscid analysis, we conclude that the model is valid only when the pressure perturbations are fixed downstream from the wall indentation, contrary to the common assumption of classical boundary-layer theory. Next we explore possible steady states of the system, showing that a unique steady solution exists when the pressure is fixed precisely at the downstream end of the membrane, but there are multiple states possible if the pressure is specified further downstream. We examine the stability of these states by solving the generalized eigenvalue problem for perturbations to the nonlinear steady solutions and also by performing time integration of the full boundary-layer equations. Surprisingly, we find that no self-excited oscillations develop in the collapsible channel systems with finite-amplitude deformations. Instead, for each point in the parameter space, with the exception of points subject to numerical instabilities associated with the boundary-layer equations, exactly one of the steady states is predicted to be stable. We discuss these findings in relation to the results reported previously in the literature.

The inverse water wave problem of bathymetry detection is the problem of deducing the bottom topography of the seabed from measurements of the water wave surface. In this paper, we present a fully nonlinear method to address this problem in the context of the Euler equations for inviscid irrotational fluid flow with no further approximation. Given the water wave height and its first two time derivatives, we demonstrate that the bottom topography may be reconstructed from the numerical solution of a set of two coupled non-local equations. Owing to the presence of growing hyperbolic functions in these equations, their numerical solution is increasingly difficult if the length scales involved are such that the water is sufficiently deep. This reflects the ill-posed nature of the inverse problem. A new method for the solution of the forward problem of determining the water wave surface at any time, given the bathymetry, is also presented.

In the ocean, sloping bottom topography is important for the generation and dissipation of internal waves. Here, the transition of such waves to turbulence is demonstrated using an accurate bottom-pressure sensor that was moored with an acoustic Doppler current profiler and high-resolution thermistor string on the sloping side of the ocean guyot ‘Great Meteor Seamount’ (water depth 549 m). The site is dominated by the passage of strong frontal bores, moving upslope once or twice every tidal period, with a trail of high-frequency internal waves. The bore amplitude and precise timing of bore passage vary every tide. A bore induces mainly non-hydrostatic pressure, while the trailing waves induce mainly internal hydrostatic pressure. These separate (internal wave) pressure terms are independently estimated using current and temperature data, respectively. In the bottom-pressure time series, the passage of a bore is barely visible, but the trailing high-frequency internal waves are. A bore is obscured by higher-frequency pressure variations up to ${\sim} 4{\times} 1{0}^{3} ~\mathrm{cpd} \approx 80N$ (cpd, cycles per day; $N$, the large-scale buoyancy frequency). These motions dominate the turbulent state of internal tides above a sloping bottom. In contrast with previous bottom-pressure observations in other areas, infra-gravity surface waves contribute little to these pressure variations in the same frequency range. Here, such waves do not incur observed pressure. This is verified in a consistency test for large-Reynolds-number turbulence using high-resolution temperature data. The high-frequency quasi-turbulent internal motions are visible in detailed temperature and acoustic echo images, revealing a nearly permanently wave-turbulent tide going up and down the bottom slope. Over the entire observational period, the spectral slope and variance of bottom pressure are equivalent to internal hydrostatic pressure due to internal waves in the lower 100 m above the bottom, by non-hydrostatic pressure due to high-frequency internal waves and large-scale overturning. The observations suggest a transition between large-scale internal waves, small-scale internal tidal waves residing on thin (${{\sim} }1~\mathrm{m} $) stratified layers and turbulence.

Micro-convection caused by ponderomotive forces of the self-magnetic field of a magnetic fluid in the Hele-Shaw cell under the action of a vertical homogeneous magnetic field is studied both experimentally and numerically. It is shown that a non-potential magnetic force at magnetic Rayleigh numbers greater than the critical value causes fingering at the interface between the miscible magnetic and non-magnetic fluids. The threshold value of the magnetic Rayleigh number depends on the smearing of the interface between fluids. Fingering with its subsequent decay due to diffusion of particles significantly increases the mixing at the interface. Velocity and vorticity fields at fingering are determined by particle image velocimetry measurements and qualitatively correspond well to the results of numerical simulations of the micro-convection in the Hele-Shaw cell carried out in the Darcy approximation, which account for ponderomotive forces of the self-magnetic field of the magnetic fluid. Gravity plays an important role at the initial stage of the fingering observed in the experiments.

The maximum power that can be obtained from a confined array of turbines in steady or tidal flows is considered using the two-dimensional shallow-water equations and representing the turbine farm by a uniform local increase in friction within a circle. Analytical results supported by dimensional reasoning and numerical solutions show that the maximum power depends on the dominant term in the momentum equation for flows perturbed on the scale of the farm. If friction dominates in the basic flow, the maximum power is a fraction (half for linear friction and 0.75 for quadratic friction) of the dissipation within the circle in the undisturbed state; if the advective terms dominate, the maximum power is a fraction of the undisturbed kinetic energy flux into the front of the turbine farm; if the acceleration dominates, the maximum power is similar to that for the linear frictional case, but with the friction coefficient replaced by twice the tidal frequency.

We present the results of a numerical study of the thermocapillary (Marangoni) convection in a liquid bridge of $\mathit{Pr}= 12$ ($n$-decane) and $\mathit{Pr}= 68$ (5 cSt silicone oil) when the interface is subjected to an axial gas stream. The gas flow is co- or counter-directed with respect to the Marangoni flow. In the case when the gas stream comes from the cold side, it cools down the interface to a temperature lower than that of the liquid beneath and in a certain region of the parameter space that cooling causes an instability due to a temperature difference in the direction perpendicular to the interface. The disturbances are swept by the thermocapillary flow to the cold side, which leads to the appearance of axisymmetric waves propagating in the axial direction from the hot to cold side. The mechanism of this new two-dimensional oscillatory instability is similar to that of the Pearson’s instability of the rest state in a thin layer heated from below (Pearson, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 4, 1958, p. 489), and it appears at the value of the transverse Marangoni number ${ \mathit{Ma}}_{\perp }^{cr} \approx 39\text{{\ndash}} 44$ lower than that of the Pearson’s instability in a horizontal layer ($48\lt { \mathit{Ma}}_{\perp }^{cr} \lt 80$, depending on the Biot number). The generality of the instability mechanism indicates that it is not limited to cylindrical geometry and might be observed in a liquid layer with cold gas stream.