A detailed experimental study of developing turbulent flow in a rectangular duct was made using a laser-Doppler anemometer. The purposes of the work were to obtain data of value to fluid mechanicists, particularly those interested in the development and testing of mathematical turbulence models, and to evaluate the performance of the anemometer. For the first purpose, contours of axial mean velocity and turbulence intensity were measured in the developing flow, and all three mean velocity components and five of the six Reynolds stresses were obtained in the nearly fully developed flow.

The symmetry of the present flow appears to be better than that of previous measurements and the range of measurements is more extensive. In addition, the laser-Doppler anemometer has the potential advantage, particularly in the measurement of secondary velocities, of avoiding probe interference.

The effect of compressibility on vertical boundary layers, of thickness E¼ and $E^{\frac{1}{3}}$ respectively (see Stewartson 1957), in a rapidly rotating gas of constant temperature is studied. Such layers have been considered by Nakayama & Usui (1974). However, these authors used a power-series expansion of the basic density field in their calculations, which means that their results are not uniformly valid in the boundary-layer co-ordinate. In this paper, a uniformly valid asymptotic solution and a numerical solution for the velocity field in each layer are computed. The asymptotic solutions are valid for scale heights of the basic density field large in terms of the reference length for the respective boundary layer. The agreement between the asymptotic and numerical solutions is shown to be good. Although the limits considered have no meaning for density scale heights of the order of the respective boundary-layer thickness, one can formally find an exact solution for the E¼-layer for any density scale height. In the limit of large density scale height this solution agrees to third order with the corresponding asymptotic solution. It is shown that for both layers the boundary-layer thickness increases (decreases) if the basic density field decreases (increases) in the direction of the respective boundary-layer co-ordinate.

A finite-difference numerical method for the solution of the unsteady flow of a viscous incompressible fluid through axisymmetric circular ducts of variable axial geometry is developed and applied to the flow in a spherical-cavity geometry approximating the human aortic valve. The presence and motion of the valve leaflets are considered only as long as they can be assumed to present negligible impedance to the flow. The numerical solution is based on the vorticity/streamfunction approach, and is carried out for the systolic acceleration phase of the heart beat. A hybrid-mesh design consisting of a fine cell structure in the region close to the solid walls and a coarser grid in the core region is used. An experimental flow-visualization study in an acrylic model of the spherical cavity shows good agreement with the numerical simulation. An early separation of flow occurs at the entrance to the cavity, and an annular eddy grows in the wake until it occupies most of the cavity. The use of the hybrid mesh also makes possible the simulation of fine secondary-flow features in the cavity under peak-flow conditions.

The two-dimensional thermal boundary layer over a finite hot film embedded in a plane insulating wall, with a shear flow over it which reverses its direction, is analysed approximately using methods similar to those previously developed for viscous boundary layers (Pedley 1976). The heat transfer from the film is calculated both for uniformly decelerated and for oscillatory wall shear, and application is made to predict the response of hot-film anemometers actually used to measure oscillatory velocities in water and blood. The results predict that the velocity amplitude measured on the assumption of a quasi-steady response will depart from the actual amplitude at values of the frequency parameter St greater than about 0·3 (St = ΩX0/U0, where Ω = frequency, U0 = mean velocity, X0 = distance of hot film from the leading edge of the probe). This is in good agreement with experiment. So too is the shape of the predicted anemometer output as a function of time throughout a complete cycle, for cases when the response is not quasi-steady. However, there is a significant phase lead between the predicted and the experimental outputs. Various possible reasons for this are discussed; no firm conclusions are reached, but the most probable cause lies in the three-dimensionality of the velocity and temperature fields, since the experimental hot films are only about 2·5 times as broad as they are long, and are mounted on a cylinder not a flat plate.

The parametric instability of a plane internal gravity wave is considered. When the two-dimensional equations of vorticity and mass conservation are linearized in the disturbance quantities, partial differential equations with periodic coefficients result. Substitution of a perturbation of the form dictated by Floquet theory into these equations yields compatibility conditions which, when evaluated numerically, give the curves of neutral stability and constant disturbance growth rate. These results reveal that, for an internal wave of even infinitesimal amplitude, disturbance waves can begin to grow in amplitude. Moreover, these parametric instabilities are shown to reduce to the classical case of the nonlinear resonant interaction in the limit of vanishingly small basic-state amplitude. The fact that these unstable disturbances can exist for an internal wave of any amplitude suggests that this phenomenon may be an important mechanism for extracting energy from an internal gravity wave.

In a turbulent two-dimensional flow enstrophy systematically cascades to very small scales, at which it is dissipated. The kinetic energy, on the other hand, remains at large scales and the total kinetic energy is constant. Above random topography an initially turbulent flow tends to a steady state with streamlines parallel to contours of constant depth, anticyclonic around a bump. A numerical experiment verifies this prediction. In a closed basin on a beta-plane the solution with minimum enstrophy implies a westward flow in the interior, returning in narrow boundary layers to the north and south. This result is interpreted using a parameterization of the effects of the eddies on the large-scale flow. The numerical solution is in qualitative agreement, but corresponds to a minimum of a more complex measure of the total enstrophy than the usual quadratic integral.

A turbulent mixing layer in a water channel was observed at Reynolds numbers up to 3 × 106. Flow visualization with dyes revealed (once more) large coherent structures and showed their role in the entrainment process; observation of the reaction of a base and an acid indicator injected on the two sides of the layer, respectively, gave some indication of where molecular mixing occurs. Autocorrelations of streamwise velocity fluctuations, using a laser-Doppler velocimeter (LDV) revealed a fundamental periodicity associated with the large structures. The surprisingly long correlation times suggest time scales much longer than had been supposed; it is argued that the mixing-layer dynamics at any point are coupled to the large structure further downstream, and some possible consequences regarding the effects of initial conditions and of the influence of apparatus geometry are discussed.

Some experimental results on incompressible viscous fluid flow in the gap between two concentric rotating spheres are discussed. The flow field in the spherical gap has been studied qualitatively by flow visualization (photographs) and quantitatively by measurements by the hot-wire technique. For a wide range of Reynolds numbers, the friction torque was measured for several gap widths and a relatively simple method of determining the torque theoretically is given. At higher Reynolds numbers instabilities appear. Their different behaviour for relatively small and large gap widths is demonstrated. For the larger gap widths, the different appearance of the Taylor–Görtler vortices, the reason for their generation, their regimes of existence as well as their influence on the friction torque are thoroughly treated. Detailed information is given on the new effect of the dependence of the wavelength of the vortices on the Reynolds number.

The axisymmetric motion of a compressible fluid in a rapidly rotating cylinder is considered using a linear approach and boundary-layer techniques. The deviation of the fluid motion from rigid-body rotation is caused either by an applied temperature distribution on the side wall, a differential rotation of the top and bottom end plates or sources and sinks of fluid distributed on the end plates. The horizontal end plates are assumed to be thermally insulated, while the side wall is conducting. The critical parameter governing the problem is found to be E−½(γ − 1) PrG0/4γ, where E is the Ekman number, γ the ratio of specific heats, Pr the Prandtl number and G0 the square of a rotational Mach number. If this parameter is larger than unity, the coupled effect of the compressibility of the fluid and the thermal condition on the end plates suppresses the flow in the cylinder. The flow in the inner inviscid core is strongly coupled with the Ekman-layer flow through the boundary conditions on the end plates, something which does not occur if the fluid is Boussinesq nor if the fluid is compressible and the end plates are conducting.

The fluctuating lift and drag acting on a long, rigidly supported circular cylinder placed symmetrically in a narrow rectangular duct were investigated for various blockage percentages over a wide range of Reynolds numbers around the critical value. The data obtained permit a full assessment of the effect of confinement on the mean-drag coefficient, the root-mean-square values of both the drag and the lift fluctuations, the Strouhal number of the dominant vortex shedding, and the Reynolds number marking transition from laminar to turbulent flow separation. Besides experimental information on a subject on which little is known so far, the paper provides a basis for the deduction of better correction procedures concerning the effects of blockage.

Artificially initiated turbulent spots in a Blasius boundary layer were investi- gated experimentally using hot-wire anemometers. Electrical discharges generated the spots, which grew in all directions rn they were swept downstream by the mean flow. A typical lateral spread angle of the spots is 10° to each side of t.he plane of symmetry. Conditional sampling methods were used to form ensemble-averaged data yielding the average shape of a spot and the mean flow field in its vicinity. Far downstream a spot exhibits conical similarity and all quantities measured seem to be independent of the type of disturbance which generated the spot in the first place.

In plan view, the spot has an arrowhead shape whose leading interface is convected downstream somewhat more slowly than the free-stream velocity near the plane of symmetry and at approximately half the free-stream velocity at the extreme spanwise location. The trailing interface is convected at a constant velocity throughout (UTE = 0·5 U∞). In this way the spot entrains laminar fluid through both interfaces, resulting in its elongation it proceeds downstream. The flow near the surface accelerates abruptly as the leading interface passes by, however the acceleration continues within the spot and the velocity attains a maximum near the trailing interface. There is therefore a continuous increase in skin friction towards the trailing interface. Further away from the surface the passage of the spot is marked by deceleration followed by acceleration after the ridge of the spot passes the measuring station. All changes in velocity occur monotonically without causing inflexions or kinks in the ensemble-averaged velocity profiles. Although the displacement and momentum thicknesses change quite rapidly within the spot, the shape factor is practically constant in the interior region (H = 1·5); and the velocity profiles may be very well represented by the universal logarithmic distribution. The spanwise velocity component W is everywhere directed outwards (i.e. away from the plane of symmetry) and increases with increasing z. The component of velocity normal to the surface is directed towards the plate near the leading interface and away from it in the remaining part of the spot.

Two-point velocity correlation measurements suggest that the spot may be represented by an arrowhead vortex tube which is convected downstream with a velocity equal to 65 yo of the free-stream velocity. Pluid which is entrained near the plane of symmetry acquires a helical motion towards the extremities of the spot. This motion helps to explain the lateral as well as the longitudinal spread of the spot.

The turbulence generated by a vertically oscillating grid in a water tank and the entrainment across a salinity interface caused by this turbulence have been investigated experimentally. Measurements were carried out in a homogeneous layer of fluid as well as a two-layered fluid, which permitted us to determine the decay law of this turbulence and the way in which the structure of the turbulence depends on the mesh size and on the frequency and amplitude of the grid oscillation. It was found that the turbulent kinetic energy decays with distance from the grid according to a power law $\overline{q^2}\propto z^{-n}$, with n close to 2, and that the turbulent Reynolds number remains approximately constant during decay. The linear dependence of the r.m.s. turbulent velocity on the grid oscillation frequency found by Thompson & Turner (1975) in the case of a square-bar grid has been confirmed. It is shown here that this linear relation remains valid when an interface is present and consequently the dependence of the entrainment velocity on the local Richardson number is of the form $u_e/u \propto Ri^{-\frac{3}{2}}$, the Péclet number being high. While the bearing of these results on the problem of the thermocline or an inversion is clear we wish to emphasize that the spatial decay of turbulence is interesting in itself.

The complete uniform asymptotic expansion of the velocity and pressure fields for Stokes flow past a slender body of revolution is obtained with respect to the slenderness ratio ε of the body. A completely general incident Stokes flow is assumed and hence these results extend the special cases treated by Tillett (1970) and Cox (1970). The part of the flow due to the presence of the body is represented as a superposition of the flows produced by three types of singularity distributed with unknown densities along a portion of the axis of the body and lying entirely inside the body. The no-slip boundary condition on the body then leads to a system of three coupled, linear, integral equations for the densities of the singularities. The complete expansion for these densities is then found as a series in powers of ε and ε log ε. It is found that the extent of these distributions of singularities inside the body is the same for all the singular flows and depends only upon the geometry of the body. The total force, drag and torque experienced by the body are computed.

An analysis is presented of the creeping motion around a flow-oriented slender particle in a material medium subject to a uniaxial extension in the far field. A general quasi-steady rheological model is adopted, of a kind representing isotropic (Noll) fluids subject to time-independent velocity gradients, or isotropic solids subject to time-independent strain fields. The analysis is based on the premise of a shear-dominated motion in the near field, which is joined asymptotically to the extension-dominated motion in the far field. For axisymmetric particles, and to the order of terms in slenderness considered here, the far-field perturbation due to the particle can be represented as a distributed coaxial line force in a transversely isotropic medium whose strength is governed by the structure of the near-field rheology.

On the basis of the results for a single particle, a formula is derived for the stress contribution due to the presence of oriented slender fibres in dilute suspension in a non-Newtonian fluid. For certain simple rheological models exhibiting a strong shear-thinning behaviour, the particle contribution to tensile stress is greatly diminished relative to the Newtonian case, as was predicted by an earlier rudimentary treatment (Goddard 1975). The present analysis is thought to be highly promising for applications to general composite materials.

The two-dimensional motion of a fluid confined between two long horizontal planes, heated and salted from below, is examined. By a combination of perturbation analysis and direct numerical solution of the governing equations, the possible forms of large-amplitude motion are traced out as a function of the four non-dimensional parameters which specify the problem: the thermal Rayleigh number RT, the saline Rayleigh number ES, the Prandtl number σ and the ratio of the diffusivities τ. A branch of time-dependent asymptotic solutions is found which bifurcates from the linear oscillatory instability point. In general, for fixed σ, τ and RS, as RT increases three further abrupt transitions in the form of motion are found to take place independent of the initial conditions. At the first transition, a rather simple oscillatory motion changes into a more complicated one with different structure, at the second, the motion becomes aperiodic and, at the third, the only asymptotic solutions are time independent. Disordered motions are thus suppressed by increasing RT. The time-independent solutions exist on a branch which, it is conjectured, bifurcates from the time-independent linear instability point. They can occur for values of RT less than that at which the third transition point occurs. Hence for some parameter ranges two different solutions exist and a hysteresis effect occurs if solutions obtained by increasing RT and then decreasing RT are followed. The minimum value of RT for which time-independent motion can occur is calculated for fourteen different values of σ, τ and RS. This minimum value is generally much less than the critical value of time-independent linear theory and for the larger values of σ and RS and the smaller values of τ, is less than the critical value of time-dependent linear theory.

The stability of incompressible boundary-layer flows on a semi-infinite flat plate and the growth of disturbances in such flows are investigated by numerical integration of the complete Navier–;Stokes equations for laminar two-dimensional flows. Forced time-dependent disturbances are introduced into the flow field and the reaction of the flow to such disturbances is studied by directly solving the Navier–Stokes equations using a finite-difference method. An implicit finitedifference scheme was developed for the calculation of the extremely unsteady flow fields which arose from the forced time-dependent disturbances. The problem of the numerical stability of the method called for special attention in order to avoid possible distortions of the results caused by the interaction of unstable numerical oscillations with physically meaningful perturbations. A demonstration of the suitability of the numerical method for the investigation of stability and the initial growth of disturbances is presented for small periodic perturbations. For this particular case the numerical results can be compared with linear stability theory and experimental measurements. In this paper a number of numerical calculations for small periodic disturbances are discussed in detail. The results are generally in fairly close agreement with linear stability theory or experimental measurements.

Experiments were carried out to investigate the onset, size and shape of fingers in a salt–sugar two-component system. The results on the critical Rayleigh number ratio for the marginal state agree well with the prediction of the linear stability theory of Stern (1960). The theory also predicts that the fingers at the marginal state should be as wide as the layer thickness. In our experiments, in a layer of approximately 3·5 cm deep, the fingers, when they appeared, were always long and narrow, with typical lateral dimensions of approximately 1 mm.

The lateral migration of a solid spherical particle suspended in a fluid flowing between parallel vertical walls is investigated theoretically using a method developed by Cox & Brenner (1968). Buoyant and neutrally buoyant, freely rotating and non-rotating particles in the fluid flow are considered as is also the case of a sedimenting particle in a quiescent fluid. The results obtained are applied to the special cases of plane Poiseuille flow and of plane shear flow, these situations being investigated in detail.