The effects of viscosity and heat conduction on the propagation of an internal wave generated by a simple harmonic localized disturbance are considered for the case of an isothermal compressible atmosphere. A similarity solution of the linearized equations shows that the velocities decay and the wave width increases away from the disturbance. Superpositions of this solution show how a few waves of small wavelength attenuate rapidly whereas waves of larger wavelength can increase in amplitude as they propagate upwards before eventually attenuating.

We use some well-known properties of the Taylor-Goldstein equation to generate a set of stably stratified shear flows with known singular neutral-mode solutions. The novel feature of the analysis is that it includes such solutions for flows in which, proceeding upwards from a rigid boundary, the Brunt-Väisälä frequency and the flow shear do not change sign and are monotonically decreasing functions of height. Such profiles are much closer to the conditions met in work on the atmospheric boundary layer than the more frequently used inflected flow profiles.

Periodic dissolution patterns that result from the interaction of a soluble surface and an adjacent turbulent flow have been investigated experimentally and theoretically. They occur at a Reynolds number based on a characteristic wavelength and friction velocity of about 2200. Experimental results for the stable geometry, propagation, mass-transfer distribution, average mass-transfer correlation and friction factor are presented. An interpretation based upon the repetitive transitional nature of the flow structure is advanced to explain aspects of the origin and behaviour of this type of roughness.

The body of given volume with the smallest drag in Stokes flow is obtained by making use of theoretical results due to Pironneau. A suitable family of solutions of the Stokes equations is used and the no-slip condition is expressed numerically by a technique of quadratic minimization. We find that the drag on this optimal body is 0·95425 times the drag on the sphere of equal volume.

A fluid-fluid interface that joins a solid surface forms a common line. If the common line moves along the solid, a mutual displacement process is involved and is studied here. Some simple experiments motivate the formulation of the basic assumption of the analysis. The basic assumption is a formalization of the idea that the fluid-fluid interface rolls on or unrolls off the solid. This forms an axiom for the mostly kinematical analysis that follows. The predictions are tested through a series of qualitative experiments. The role of the no-slip boundary condition at the solid surface is discussed.

This paper deals with the development of the flow in a curved tube near the inlet. The solution is obtained by the method of matched asymptotic expansions. Two inlet conditions are considered: (i) the condition of constant dynamic pressure at the entrance, which may be of practical interest in applications to blood flow in the aorta; and (ii) a uniform entry condition. It is shown that the geometry and the nature of the entry condition appreciably influence the initial development of the flow. The effect of the secondary flow due to the curvature on the wall shear is discussed and it is shown that the cross-over between shear maxima on the inside and the outside of the tube occurs at a downstream distance which is 1·9 times the radius of the tube for entry condition (i) while in the case of entry condition (ii) it is 0·95 times the radius, which is half the distance required in case (i). It is found that the pressure distribution is not significantly influenced by the secondary flow during the initial development of the motion. The analysis, which is developed for steady motion, can be extended to pulsatile flows, which are of greater physiological interest.

A series of measurements of trailing vortices behind lifting hydrofoils is described. These measurements were made in the Caltech Free-Surface Water Tunnel, using a laser-Doppler velocimeter to measure two components of velocity in the vortex wake. Two different model planforms were tested, and measurements were made at several free-stream velocities and angles of attack for each. Velocity profiles were measured at distances downstream of the model of from five to sixty chord lengths. These measurements are the first results of a continuing experimental programme.

In § 3 of this paper, the theory of trailing vortices is discussed. The effects of ‘vortex wandering’ upon the measurements are computed, and the corrected results are seen to be in reasonable agreement with the theory.

A variational method involving minimization of the energy dissipation rate which was previously developed for transport in polymer systems is applied here to flow of a continuum solvent through a thin membrane. The membrane is represented by an array of spherical particles undergoing Brownian motion, subject to various interactions with one another and with the motion of the solvent. General upper bounds on the solvent permeability of the membrane are obtained in terms of equilibrium distribution functions, and applications of the method are illustrated for the case where membrane elements are confined to a plane. Calculations which treat all beads equivalently give permeability estimates whose dependence on the number n of beads per unit area of membrane has the form, at low n, \[ \kappa = (6\pi\eta n)^{-1}(1-\alpha n+\ldots), \] where η is the solvent viscosity and α is a constant. More-elaborate trials which allow the drag on a bead to be influenced by the distribution of other beads in the vicinity give the stronger bounding estimate \[ \kappa = (6\pi\eta n)^{-1}(1+\alpha^{\prime}n\ln n+\ldots). \] Comparison with a self-consistent field approach suggests that this logarithmic behaviour is the true first-order correction.

The growth of infinitesimal disturbances on an axisymmetric jet column is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical analysis is based upon inviscid stability theory, wherein axisymmetric, helical and double helical disturbances are considered from the spatial reference frame. In the jet flow field near the source, the mean velocity profile is observed to have a potential core and a thin, but finite, shear layer between the potential core and the quiescent ambient fluid. With downstream distance, the potential core diameter decreases and the shear-layer thickness increases. To incorporate these variations into the theory, a quasi-uniform assumption is adopted, whereby successive velocity profiles are analysed individually throughout the region in the jet flow where disturbances are observed to be small. The results of the theory indicate that initially, in the jet flow where the shear layer is thin and the potential core is larger, all disturbances considered are unstable. The dominant disturbance in the jet is an axisymmetric one. However, further downstream in the jet, where the half-breadth thickness of the shear layer is 55% of the potential core radius, a helical disturbance is found to dominate the axisymmetric and double helical modes. Nowhere in the jet flow field examined was the double helical disturbance found to be dominant. The cross-stream distributions of velocity and vorticity for the dominant disturbance modes are presented according to the spatial stability theory.

The downstream development of the jet column and the characteristics of the disturbances amplifying on it were also studied in a water tank. No artificial stimulation of any particular disturbance was used. The experimental results show good agreement with the results of the theory in the region where the disturbances are small. However, conclusive confirmation of the switch in the hierarchy of dominant disturbances was not found. Half of the time the disturbance observed experimentally exhibits an axisymmetric character and the other half a helical one. This apparently is due to the similar spatial amplification rates experienced by both of these disturbance modes. It is concluded that this switching of dominant modes is, in large part, responsible for (i) the well-known natural drifting of disturbance characteristics in jet flows, and (ii) the wide variety of observations made in previous jet experiments.

The structure of a shock wave in a vibrationally relaxing gas undergoing reflexion from a plane wall is examined. The shock wave is assumed to be weak, and departures from thermodynamic equilibrium are assumed small; both an adiabatic and an isothermal wall are considered. The flow field is divided into three regions: a far-field region, an interaction region, and, for the isothermal-wall case, a thermal boundary layer. Different asymptotic expansions are determined for the various regions through the method of matched asymptotic expansions. In the region far from the wall, a non-equilibrium Burgers equation governs the motion and the incident and the reflected shock wave structures. During reflexion, a non-equilibrium wave equation applies; its first-order terms are equivalent to an acoustic approximation. Heat conduction to the wall is modelled by an isothermal wall boundary condition which requires the introduction of a thermal boundary layer adjacent to the wall. This thermal boundary layer is thin and the adiabatic-wall result provides the outer solution for treating this layer. This thermal layer affects the structure of the reflected wave.

Velocity measurements were made in the flow field behind a circular cylinder at Reynolds numbers from 10 to 80 and results compared with existing numerical solutions. Takami & Keller's solution for the velocity distribution in the wake shows good agreement at low Reynolds numbers and fair agreement at high Reynolds numbers. The drag coefficient of the cylinder and the size of the standing eddies behind the cylinder were also determined. They are compatible with existing experimental and numerical results. Details of the velocity distribution in the standing eddies are clarified.

In a previous paper, the inviscid stability of a swirling far wake was investigated, and the superposition of a swirling flow on the axisymmetric wake was shown to be initially destabilizing, although all modes investigated eventually become more stable at sufficiently large swirl. The most unstable disturbances were non-axisymmetric modes with negative azimuthal wavenumber n representing helical wave paths opposite in sense to the wake rotation. The disturbance growth rate appeared to increase continuously with |n|, while all modes with |n| > 1 represented disturbances which are completely stable for the non-swirling wake. In the present analysis, both timewise and spacewise growth rates are calculated for the lowest three negative non-axisymmetric modes (n = −1, −2 and −3). Vortex intensity is characterized by a swirl parameter q proportional to the ratio of the maximum swirling velocity to the maximum axial velocity defect. The large wavenumbers associated with the disturbances at large |n| allow the n = −1 mode to have the minimum critical Reynolds number of 16 (q ≃ 0·40). The other two modes investigated have minimum Reynolds numbers on the neutral curve of 31 (n = −2, q = 0·60) and 57 (n = −3, q = 0·80). For each mode, the neutralstability curve is shown to shift rapidly towards infinite Reynolds numbers once the swirl becomes sufficiently large. Some of the most unstable swirling flows are shown to possess spacewise amplification factors almost ten times that for the most unstable wavenumber for the non-swirling wake at moderate Reynolds numbers.

Kolmogorov's second hypothesis has been examined for the case of turbulence generated behind a very large grid. The turbulent Reynolds number RΛ = 280 was sufficient to obtain a short inertial subrange. The one-dimensional subrange constant a1 = 0·48 ± 0·06 is in agreement with recent determinations made in geophysical flows. Isotropy was tested by comparing the transverse velocity spectrum with the transverse spectrum predicted from the longitudinal spectrum using the isotropic relations. The comparison showed the flow to be isotropic everywhere except at the largest scales.

It was observed that at high wavenumbers the spectra were attenuated by effects of finite wire length. The wire-length corrections suggested by Wyngaard (1968) were found to be inadequate. New corrections based on experimentally determined universal spectra are proposed.

The familiar Segré-Silberberg effect of inertia-induced lateral migration of a neutrally buoyant rigid sphere in a Newtonian fluid is studied theoretically for simple shear flow and for two-dimensional Poiseuille flow. It is shown that the spheres reach a stable lateral equilibrium position independent of the initial position of release. For simple shear flow, this position is midway between the walls, whereas for Poiseuille flow, it is 0·6 of the channel half-width from the centre-line. Particle trajectories are calculated in both cases and compared with available experimental data. Implications for the measurement of the rheological properties of a dilute suspension of spheres are discussed.

The linear stability of a basic flow of two homogeneous inviscid incompressible fluids under the action of gravity is treated mathematically. In the basic state, one fluid is at rest below a horizontal plane z = 0; and the other flows above in the x direction, its speed varying slowly with the lateral co-ordinate y. The eigenvalue problem for normal modes is derived; its equation is a partial differential one, the co-ordinates y and z not being separable. The problem is solved approximately by taking the modes locally as if the basic velocity were independent of y, though the lateral wavenumber is allowed to vary slowly with y. This leads to an ordinary differential equation in y which is solved by the JWKB method. Detailed calculations are made for a parabolic profile, representing the blowing of air over water in a wide channel, and for other profiles.

The effect of surface roughness on the flow past spheres has been investigated over the Reynolds number range 5 × 104 < Re < 6 × 106. The drag coefficient has been determined as a function of the Reynolds number for five surface roughnesses. With increasing roughness parameter the critical Reynolds number decreases. At the same time the transcritical drag coefficient rises, having a maximum value of 0·4.

The vortex shedding frequency has been measured under subcritical flow conditions. It was found that the Strouhal number for each of the various roughness conditions was equal to its value for a smooth sphere. Beyond the critical Reynolds number no prevailing shedding frequency could be detected by the measurement techniques employed.

The drag coefficient of a sphere under the blockage conditions 0·5 < ds/dt < 0·92 has been determined over the Reynolds number range 3 × 104 < Re < 2 × 106. Increasing blockage causes an increase in both the drag coefficient and the critical Reynolds number. The characteristic quantities were referred to the flow conditions in the smallest cross-section between sphere and tube. In addition the effect of the turbulence level on the flow past a sphere under various blockage conditions was studied.

The nonlinear Boltzmann equation has been solved for shock waves in a Max-wellian gas for eight upstream Mach numbers M1 ranging from 1·1 to 10. The numerical solutions were obtained by using Nordsieck's method, which was revised for use with the differential cross-section corresponding to an intermolecular force potential following an inverse fifth-power law. The accuracy of the calculations of microscopic and macroscopic properties for this collision law is comparable with that for elastic spheres published earlier (Hicks, Yen & Reilly 1972).

We have made comparisons of the detailed characteristics of the internal shock structure in a Maxwellian gas with those in a gas of elastic spheres. The purpose of this comparative study is to find the shock properties that are sensitive as well as those which are insensitive to the change in collision law and to find effective ways to study them.

The variation of thermodynamic and transport properties of interest with respect to density and to each other was found to depend only weakly on the change in collision law. The principal effect on the macroscopic shock structure due to the change in intermolecular potential is in the spatial variation of the macroscopic properties. The spatial variation of macroscopic properties may be determined accurately from the corresponding moments of the collision integral, especially in the upstream and downstream wings of the shock wave. The results for the velocity distribution function exhibit the microscopic shock characteristics influenced by a difference in intermolecular collisions, in particular the departure from equilibrium in the upstream wing of the shock and the relaxation towards equilibrium in the downstream wing. The departure of several characteristics of weak shock waves from those of the Chapman-Enskog linearized theory and the Navier-Stokes shock is also insensitive to the change in collision law. The deviation of the half-width of the function ∫fdvyduz from the Chapman-Enskog first iterate at M1 = 1·59 is in agreement with an experiment (Muntz & Harnett 1969).

The interactions of weak nonlinear disturbances in a compressible fluid including shocks, expansion waves and contact surfaces are investigated by making use of the reductive perturbation method. It is found that the nonlinear waves belonging to different families of characteristics behave almost independently of each other, while those belonging to the same family are governed by either the Burgers equation or the equation of heat conduction. Thus the statistical properties of one-dimensional shock turbulence in a compressible fluid are reduced to those of the solutions of the Burgers equation. In particular, the law of energy decay of shock turbulence is shown to be identical to that of Burgers turbulence.

This paper analyses the locomotion of a finite body propelling itself through a viscous fluid by means of travelling harmonic motions of its surface. The methods are developed with application to the propulsion of ciliated micro-organisms in mind. Provided that the metachronal wavelength (of the surface motions) is much smaller than the overall dimensions of the body, the flow can be divided into an oscillating-boundary-layer flow to which is matched an external complementary Stokes flow. The present paper employs the envelope model of fluid/cili a interaction to construct equations of motion for the oscillating boundary layer. The final solution for the propulsive velocity is obtained by application of the condition of zero total force on the self-propelling body; alternatively, if the organism is held at rest, the thrust it generates can be computed. Various optimum propulsive velocities for self-propelling bodies and optimum thrusts for restrained bodies are analysed in some simple examples. The results are compared with the relatively sparse observations for a number of microorganisms.

An extensive series of measurements of sphere drag coefficients has been made in an aeroballistic range for a broad range of Reynolds and Mach numbers. These measurements have been compared with those obtained in other test facilities. As a result of this comparison it has been possible to suggest reasons for many of the inconsistencies in the earlier measurements and to establish more accurate values of the sphere drag coefficient for M∞ [lsim ] 0·2 and 10−2 [lsim ] Re∞ [lsim ] 107.