A procedure for obtaining numerical solutions to the equations describing thermal convection in a compressible fluid is outlined. The method is applied to the case of a perfect gas with constant viscosity and thermal conductivity. The fluid is considered to be confined in a rectangular region by fixed slippery boundaries and motions are restricted to two dimensions. The upper and lower boundaries are maintained at fixed temperatures and the side boundaries are thermally insulating. The resulting convection problem can be characterized by six dimension-less parameters. The onset of convection has been studied both by obtaining solutions to the nonlinear equations in the neighbourhood of the critical Rayleigh number Rc and by solving the linear stability problem. Solutions have been obtained for values of the Rayleigh number up to 100Rc and for pressure variations of a factor of 300 within the fluid. In some cases the fluid velocity is comparable to the local sound speed. The Nusselt number increases with decreasing Prandtl number for moderate values of the depth parameter. Steady finite amplitude solutions have been found in all the cases considered. As the horizontal dimension A of the rectangle is increased, the length of time needed to reach a steady state also increases. For large values of A the solution consists of a number of rolls. Even for small values of A, no solutions have been found where one roll is vertically above another.

The propagation of internal gravity waves in a shear flow in a rotating fluid is examined for the case when the rotation vector is inclined to the vertical. It is shown that internal gravity waves approaching a critical level, where ω*, the Doppler-shifted frequency, equals 2ΩV, the vertical component of the Coriolis parameter, will be either transmitted or absorbed according as \[ W_g\omega^{*}2\Omega_V\{m(U_z + 2\Omega_H)-lV_z\}\lessgtr 0; \] here Wg is the vertical group velocity, 2ΩH is the horizontal component of the Coriolis parameter, l and m are the easterly and northerly wavenumber components, and Uz and Vz are the shear rates of the easterly and northerly components of the mean flow. Between critical levels, wave action flux is conserved. However, for a wave absorbed at a critical level, the wave action flux is attenuated by a factor exp { − 2π|m(Uz + 2ΩH) − lVz]/(lUz + mVz)|}. The phenomenon is also analysed using a WKBJ approximation.

This paper deals with nonlinear streaming effects in an oscillating fluid in a curved pipe. The secondary steady velocity field in the cross-sectional plane of the pipe is studied in detail. Our experimental results are compared with the theory of Lyne (1970; that part of his theory which is valid for Reynolds numbers Rs [Lt ] 1) and the theory of Zalosh & Nelson (1973). On the basis of these comparisons we conclude that the theories are in practice valid for higher Reynolds numbers Rs than was formally expected.

Thermal convection in a three-component fluid consisting of an inert carrier gas, a condensable vapour and small liquid droplets dispersed throughout the gaseous components has been investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical study is concerned with the stability of a horizontal fluid layer subject to gradients of both temperature and droplet density. The stability is characterized by four parameters: two material constants, that is, a modified Prandtl number P and a constant Q proportional to Dm − κ (Dm is the mutual mass diffusivity of the two gaseous constituents, κ the thermometric conductivity of the gas phase), a modified Rayleigh number R and a parameter S defined as the ratio of the droplet density gradient to the gas density gradient. It is shown for positive R that, irrespective of the value of R, the system is stable for S > S∞ (S∞ is a constant dependent on P and Q) and unstable for S < Q (Q is normally less than S∞) and that for the intermediate range Q < S < S∞ a transition from stability to instability occurs via an oscillatory state as R is increased through a critical value depending on S. It is shown that the stability is governed largely by both vapour diffusion through the inert gas and droplet growth or decay due to phase changes.

In the experiments, thermal convection in a three-component fluid consisting of air, water vapour and water droplets was investigated. The cloud of droplets was mainly formed by injecting cigarette smoke into a horizontal layer of air saturated with water vapour. After the injection several phases of motion were observed successively. Among them there were travelling waves and steady cellular convection. Measurements were made of the critical Rayleigh numbers for the onset of the phases, the scale of the steady convection cells and the speed of the travelling waves. It is found that all the qualitative features of the experiment are explained by the theory.

Results are presented for unsteady laminar thermal convection in compressible fluids at various reduced levels of gravity in a rectangular enclosure which is heated on one side and cooled on the opposite side. The results were obtained by solving numerically the equations of conservation for a viscous, compressible, heat-conducting, ideal gas in the presence of a gravitational body force. The formulation differs from the Boussinesq simplification in that the effects of variable density are completely retained. A conservative, explicit, time-dependent, finite-difference technique was used and good agreement was found for the limited cases where direct comparison with previous investigations was possible. The solutions show that the thermally induced motion is acoustic in nature at low levels of gravity and that the unsteady-state rate of heat transfer is thereby greatly enhanced relative to pure conduction. The nonlinear variable density profile skews the streamlines towards the cooler walls but is shown to have little effect on the steady-state isotherms.

This paper discusses critically observations of mixing processes across density interfaces in laboratory experiments and inferences that have been made and can be made from these observations. Fluxes of heat or salt and entrainment velocities have been found to depend on negative powers of an overall Richardson number Ri* based on the buoyancy jump across the interface, the depth of the homogeneous layer and the intensity of the turbulence near the source. When the Reynolds and Péclet numbers are large, the fluxes or entrainment velocities appear to be proportional to the minus one and minus three-halves powers of Ri* for flows with and without mean shear respectively, and this difference has caused speculation about the accuracy of the experimental data and about the reasons for the two laws if the difference is real. In the present discussion, we accept the accuracy of the two laws and attribute the higher entrainment rate for shear flows to the decrease of r.m.s. velocities near the interface with increasing Ri* in the case of zero shear. A plausible argument yields the unifying result that the entrainment rates in both cases are proportional to Ri−1, where Ri is a Richardson number based on the buoyancy jump and velocities and lengths characteristic of the turbulence near the interface. It is suggested that the $Ri^{-\frac{3}{2}}$ behaviour inferred by Turner is based on an erroneous interpretation of experimental data.

In the course of the discussion, it is shown that the drag coefficient in flow of a stratified fluid over a rough surface is independent of the Richardson number (or density jump across the interface or inversion) and depends only on the ratio of the roughness length to the depth of the homogeneous layer. This has obvious implications for problems of parameterizing the momentum flux near the ground in the atmosphere.

In wind-tunnel tests on bluff bodies the Reynolds number is often limited to values that are very much smaller than those of the flows being simulated. In such cases the experiments may have no practical significance whatsoever since both the fluctuating and the steady aerodynamic phenomena can vary considerably with Reynolds number.

This difficulty was encountered in an investigation of supercritical incompressible flow over cylinders, and an attempt at artificially increasing the Reynolds number by means of surface roughness was made. In order to evaluate this simulation technique, the influence of various grades of surface roughness on the aerodynamic forces acting on cylinders of different diameters was studied over a wide range of Reynolds numbers in two very different wind tunnels. The results allow very positive conclusions to be drawn.

Certain tertiary resonant interactions of gravity waves which have been found previously can be obtained more easily by using a simple extension of Whitham's formalism. The contribution of these interactions to the total energy transfer in an inhomogeneous random field of gravity waves is calculated. It is found to be small for open-ocean waves, but to be of some importance for shallow-water waves, where topography or mean shear currents may produce strong inhomogeneities. The nonlinear splitting of the group velocity is found to be unimportant in wave fields with sufficiently smooth spectra.

The 50th Euromech Colloquium, on wind-tunnel simulation of the atmospheric boundary layer, was held in Berlin from 23–25 September 1974. Thirty-eight participants from eleven countries were present. Papers were presented describing and analysing different methods of simulation of neutral, stable and unstable atmospheric conditions in various types of wind tunnel. Numerous applications of wind-tunnel simulations were described or mentioned in the papers and the discussion sessions. Some conclusions about the validity, the techniques, the limitations and future developments of wind-tunnel simulations were reached in discussion. Tables are presented in appendix A listing the institutes in Europe and the U.S.A. of actual or invited participants where wind tunnels are used for simulation work; also listed are the characteristics of the wind tunnels and relevant measurements of the simulated atmospheric boundary layers, to enable comparisons to be made between different techniques.

On the basis of a small Froude number theory it is shown that previous horizontalduct models of the withdrawal of fluid from a stratified tank with a free surface and a fixed bottom are inappropriate at large times and that the flow should be modelled by that from an infinite vertical duct. The falling horizontal free surface in the tank is replaced by a vertically moving column of stratified fluid and the tank bottom is modelled by a stagnant pool of fluid below. This model is analysed and a solution uniformly valid in time is presented. The properties of the solution are then compared with existing theories and experiments.

Pressure-wave propagation through a separated gas-liquid layer at rest in a duct of constant rectangular cross-section and infinite length is considered. Such a system is dispersive, possessing an infinite number of modes which depend on the ratios of the densities, thicknesses and sound speeds of the two phases. The transitional variation of an infinitesimal disturbance initially having a step profile is investigated analytically and numerically. In addition, it is shown that a weak but finite disturbance is described asymptotically by the solution of the Korteweg-de Vries equation.

First a three-dimensional turbulent boundary-layer experiment is described. This has been carried out with the specific aim of providing a test-case for calculation methods. Much attention has been paid to the design of the test set-up. An infinite swept-wing flow has been simulated with good accuracy. The initially two-dimensional boundary layer on the test plate was subjected to an adverse pressure gradient, which led to three-dimensional separation near the trailing edge of the plate. Next, a calculation method for three-dimensional turbulent boundary layers is discussed. This solves the boundary-layer equations numerically by finite differences. The turbulent shear stress is obtained from a generalized version of Bradshaw's two-dimensional turbulent shear stress equation. The results of the calculations are compared with those of the experiment. Agreement is good over a considerable distance; but large discrepancies are apparent near the separation line.

The effect of a small surface-tension coefficient on the classical theory of free-streamline separation from a sharp trailing edge is studied. The classical solution fails in a small region surrounding the edge, where it predicts singular behaviour, and an inner solution, satisfying linear boundary conditions, is required to obtain a uniformly valid first approximation. The solution valid near the edge removes the curvature and pressure-gradient singularities of the classical solution and predicts a standing capillary wave along the free streamline.

The unsteady laminar compressible boundary-layer flow in the immediate vicinity of a two-dimensional stagnation point due to an incident stream whose velocity varies arbitrarily with time is considered. The governing partial differential equations, involving both time and the independent similarity variable, are transformed into new co-ordinates with finite ranges by means of a transformation which maps an infinite interval into a finite one. The resulting equations are solved by converting them into a matrix equation through the application of implicit finite-difference formulae. Computations have been carried out for two particular unsteady free-stream velocity distributions: (i) a constantly accelerating stream and (ii) a fluctuating stream. The results show that in the former case both the skin-friction and the heat-transfer parameter increase steadily with time after a certain instant, while in the latter they oscillate, thus responding to the fluctuations in the free-stream velocity.

An extended law of the wall is derived for three-dimensional flows. It describes the variation of the magnitude and direction of velocity close to the wall. The effects of both the pressure gradient and the inertial forces have been taken into account. The derived wall law is valid only when the deviations from the simple law of the wall are not large. The most important feature of a three-dimensional wall law is the prediction of the rotation of the velocity vector near the wall. Comparison of the flow angle variations predicted by the present wall law with the few available experimental data shows good agreement.

Measurements of the pressure drop and flow rate were obtained for dilute solutions of polyethylene oxide flowing through beds of packed beads. When the velocity was sufficiently high, the pressure drop was above that for a Newtonian fluid of equal viscosity, often considerably above, and this viscoelastic effect was explored by varying the concentration and molecular weight of the polymer, by testing solutions over a wide range of flow rates, and by using several bead sizes. The non-Newtonian behaviour was most pronounced at moderate flow rates; at the highest velocities, the data were pseudo-Newtonian in character, i.e. the pressure drop still exceeded that for a Newtonian fluid, but was linearly related to the velocity. For some solutions, the large deviation from Newtonian values occurred over such a short range of flow rates that there was an interval in which the pressure drop decreased with velocity. It was not possible, therefore, to obtain steady-state measurements in this regime and a gap appears in the data curve of pressure vs. velocity.

The pressure drop was monitored in steps along the test section, so that it was possible to detect molecular degradation of the solutions as they flowed through the porous media. In general, degradation was not extensive and the solutions became stably degraded by the midpoint of the test section. Degradation increased with velocity and, quite surprisingly, became more severe as the bead size increased.

A visual examination of the flow field revealed that the streamline pattern for the polymer solutions was the same as that for water. The large non-Newtonian effects were therefore due to changes in the stress field, and in an effort to understand these effects, an analysis was carried out which examined how the stresses generated by each component of the deformation, i.e. by shear and pure strain, influence the pressure drop. This analysis, combined with a study of onset data, indicates that onset and the sudden large departures from Newtonian values are probably due to an interaction between extensional and shearing deformation, and that the reduced viscoelastic effect of higher flow rates may be due to the dominance of extensional stresses.

New experiments with a gas-filled resonance tube have shown that not only heating, but also cooling of the tube wall is possible and that these phenomena are not restricted to oscillation amplitudes that generate shocks. The present paper concentrates on amplitudes outside the shock region. For this case, an extended acoustic theory is worked out. The results show cooling in the section of the tube with maximum velocity amplitude (and thus dissipation) and marked heating in the region of the velocity nodes. A strong dependence of these effects on the Prandtl number is noted. The results are in good agreement with experiments. Although the theory is not valid for proper resonance conditions, it nevertheless sheds some light on what happens when nonlinear effects dominate.

Closely related to the limit of validity of the thermoacoustic theory is the question of transition from laminar to turbulent flow in the viscous boundary layer (Stokes layer). This problem has also been investigated; the results are given in a separate paper (Merkli & Thomann 1975). In the present article laminar flow is assumed.

A linearized theory, which treats unsteady motions of a wing of large aspect ratio at variable forward speed in an inviscid incompressible fluid, is developed, using the method of matched asymptotic expansions. The wing geometry and motions are specified; and the time-dependent lift and moment are obtained. Long-time asymptotic behaviour of an initial-value harmonic motion is presented, as are the short-time solutions of a wing starting from rest, with constant acceleration and with impulsive acceleration to constant speed. Some attention is given to flapping flight. Results are presented in quadrature form for a general class of unsteady wing motions.

The response of turbulent boundary layers to sudden changes in surface roughness under adverse-pressure-gradient conditions has been studied experimentally. The roughness used was in the ‘d’ type array of Perry, Schofield & Joubert (1969). Two cases of a rough-to-smooth change in surface roughness were considered in the same arbitrary adverse pressure gradient. The two cases differed in the distance of the surface discontinuity from the leading edge and gave two sets of flow conditions for the establishment and growth of the internal layer which develops downstream from a change in surface roughness. These conditions were in turn different from those in the zero-pressure-gradient experiments of Antonia & Luxton. The results suggest that the growth of the new internal layer depends solely on the new conditions at the wall and scales with the local roughness length of that wall. Mean velocity profiles in the region after the step change in roughness were accurately described by Coles’ law of the wall-law of the wake combination, which contrasts with the zero-pressure-gradient results of Antonia & Luxton. The skin-friction coefficient after the step change in roughness did not overshoot the equilibrium distribution but made a slow adjustment downstream of the step. Comparisons of mean profiles indicate that similar defect profile shapes are produced in layers with arbitrary adverse pressure gradients at positions where the values of Clauser's equilibrium parameter β (= δ*τ−10dp/dx) are similar, provided that the pressure-gradient history and local values of the pressure gradient are also similar.

In this paper we study the development of large-scale wavelike eddies in a two-dimensional turbulent jet, extending earlier work on the mixing region (Liu 1974). The basic mean flow develops from one of mixing-region type with an initially specified boundary-layer thickness into a fully developed jet. This study brings out the role of the varicose and sinuous modes as they develop in a growing mean flow. In general, it is found that, for a given frequency parameter, the varicose mode has a shorter streamwise lifetime than the sinuous mode. For lower frequencies, the latter persists past the end of the potential core only to become subject to dissipation by the enhanced fine-scale turbulent activity in that region.