This study investigates the interaction between a freely rising, deformable bubble and a freely settling particle of the same size due to gravity. Initially, an in-line configuration is considered while varying the Bond, Galilei and Archimedes numbers. The study shows that as the bubble and particle approach each other, a liquid film forms between them that undergoes drainage. The formation of the liquid film leads to dissipation of kinetic energy, and for sufficiently large bubble velocities, particle flotation takes place. Increasing the Bond number causes the bubble to deform more severely, which may allow the particle to pass through the bubble as it ruptures. This work also considers an offset configuration, which shows that the bubble slides away from the particle, affecting its settling trajectory.

Transonic aeroelasticity remains a significant challenge in aerospace. The coupling mechanism of aeroelastic problems involving the coexistence of fluid modes and multiple structural modes still needs further investigation. For this purpose, we analysed the dynamic characteristic of a two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) NACA0012 airfoil in pre-buffet flow. First, we constructed an aeroelastic reduced-order model, which can represent near-unstable transonic flow using the dominant fluid mode. Then, the flutter mechanism was investigated by studying the main eigenvalues of the model that vary with the natural pitching frequency. The results revealed that the existence of the fluid mode transitions the transonic flutter type from coupled-mode flutter to single-DOF (SDOF) flutter, which leads to a reduction in the flutter boundary. Under the effect of the fluid mode, the system produces six aeroelastic phenomena at different structural natural frequencies, including SDOF heaving/pitching flutter, heaving/pitching instability within coupled-mode flutter, forced vibration and stable state. Moreover, we identified two types of SDOF flutter in the 2DOF system. The first type corresponds to the traditional SDOF flutter, where the coupling of other modes has a small impact on the system's stability in most cases. However, within specific ranges of natural frequencies, this type of SDOF flutter may disappear due to coupling with other modes. The second type of SDOF flutter is characterized by strong coupling dominated by the unstable mode. It arises from the interaction among the flow, heaving and pitching modes, and does not manifest in the absence of any of these modes.

The penetration of a spherical vortex into turbulence is studied theoretically and experimentally. The characteristics of the vortex are first analysed from an integral perspective that reconciles the far-field dipolar flow with the near-field source flow. The influence of entrainment on the vortex drag force is elucidated, extending the Maxworthy (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 81, 1977, pp. 465–495) model to account for turbulent entrainment into the vortex movement and vortex penetration into an evolving turbulent field. The physics are explored numerically using a spherical vortex (initial radius $R_0$, speed $U_{v0}$), characterised by a Reynolds number $Re_0(=2R_0U_{v0}/\nu$, where $\nu$ is the kinematic viscosity) of 2000, moving into decaying homogeneous turbulence (root-mean-square $u_0$, integral scale $L$) with turbulent intensity $I_t=u_0/U_{v0}$. When the turbulence is absent ($I_t=0$), a wake volume flux leads to a reduction of vortex impulse that causes the vortex to slow down. In the presence of turbulence ($I_t> 0$), the loss of vortical material is enhanced and the vortex speed decreases until it is comparable to the local turbulent intensity and quickly fragments, penetrating a distance that scales as $I_t^{-1}$. In the experimental study, a vortex ($Re_0\sim 1490\unicode{x2013}5660$) propagating into a statistically steady, spatially varying turbulent field ($I_{ve}=0.02$ to 0.98). The penetration distance is observed to scale with the inverse of the turbulent intensity. Incorporating the spatially and temporally varying turbulent fields into the integral model gives a good agreement with the predicted trend of the vortex penetration distance with turbulent intensity and insight into its dependence on the structure of the turbulence.

We investigate the heterogeneous cavitation phenomenon in water when a spherical surface is abruptly separated from a nearby flat substrate, at a distance of approximately 10 nm. By tracking the surface separation using Newton ring positions, and capturing the bubble evolution with a high-speed camera on a microscope, we compare our experimental findings with hydrodynamic predictions at low Reynolds numbers. Upon upward movement of the spherical surface, the resulting bubble develops branched fingers through the Saffman–Taylor instability. Simultaneously, negative liquid pressures in the range $\sim$10 atm are observed. These large tension values occasionally lead to secondary nucleation events. The bubble sizes satisfy a predicted Family–Vicsek scaling law where the bubble area is proportional to the inverse bubble lifetime. The fact that creeping flow cavitation bubbles are more short-lived the larger they are separates them from bubbles that are governed by inertial dynamics.

This study comprehensively investigates the response of a combusting droplet during its interaction with a high-speed transient flow imposed by a coaxially propagating blast wave. The blast wave is generated using a specially designed miniature shock generator that produces blast waves using the wire-explosion technique, facilitating a wide range of Mach numbers (1.03 < Ms < 1.8). The experiments are performed in two configurations: open field and focused blast wave. The charging voltage and the configuration determine the Mach number (Ms) and flow characteristics. The flame is found to exhibit two major response patterns: partial extinction followed by reignition and full extinction. Increasing the Mach number (Ms > 1.1) makes the droplet flame more vulnerable to extinction. Additionally, the flame exhibits stretching and shedding, followed by reignition at lower Mach numbers (Ms < 1.06). In all cases, the flame base lifts off in response to the imposed flow, and the advection of the flame base interacting with the flame tip results in flame extinction. The entire interaction occurs in two stages: (i) interaction with the blast wave and the decaying velocity profile associated with it, and (ii) interaction with the induced flow behind the blast wave as a result of the entrainment (delayed response). Alongside the flame's response, the droplet also interacts with the flow imposed by the blast wave, exhibiting different response modes including pure deformation, Rayleigh–Taylor piercing bag breakup and shear-induced stripping.

In the present study, we propose a Reynolds analogy model for compressible wall turbulence. This model is demonstrated to be able to alleviate the defects of the generalized Reynolds analogy model (GRA) (Zhang et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 739, 2014, pp. 392–420), and maintains its success in describing the mean velocity–temperature relation. Furthermore, the present model is superior to the GRA in depicting the relationship between their fluctuating fields and also bridges the gap between the phenomenological model and the mathematical representation of the Reynolds analogy. The key points of the present model are validated by analysing the data of compressible wall-bounded turbulence with different Mach numbers, Reynolds numbers and wall thermal conditions.

The development of thermal boundary layers and plume near a section-triangular roof under different isothermal heating conditions has been the focus of numerous numerical studies. However, flow transition in this type of flow has never been observed experimentally. Here, phase-shifting interferometry and thermistor measurements are employed to experimentally observe and quantify the flow transitions in a buoyancy-driven flow over an isothermal section-triangular roof. Visualisation of temperature contours is conducted across a wide range of Rayleigh numbers from laminar at 103 to chaotic state at 4 × 106. Power spectral density of the temperature measurements reveals the type of bifurcations developing as the Rayleigh number is increased. This flow transition is characterised as a complex bifurcation route with the presence of two fundamental frequencies, a low and a high frequency. We found that the thermal stratification in the environment plays a significant role in the flow transition. The spatial development of flow is also quantitatively and qualitatively described. In addition to clarifying flow transition in experiments, the work demonstrates the implementation of phase-shifting interferometry and punctual temperature measurements for characterisation of near-field flow over a heated surface.

The nonlinear waves in a sheared liquid film on a horizontal plate at small Reynolds numbers are examined by theoretical and numerical approaches. The analysis employs the long-wave approximation along with finite difference schemes. The results show that the surface tension can suppress disturbances and prevent the occurrence of singularities. While the film flow is driven by the shear stress on the interface, its instability highly depends on the magnitude and direction of gravity. Specifically, when the direction of gravity is opposite to the wall-normal direction, perturbations are stabilized by gravity. In contrast, when these two directions are the same, the gravitational force is destabilizing, and stationary travelling waves can exist if a balance is reached between the effects of gravity and surface tension. For the steady solitary waves, there are quasi-periodic oscillations occurring between two stationary points, indicating the presence of heteroclinic trajectories. For periodic waves, the evolutions are sensitive to several parameters and initial disturbances, while one steady-state wave exhibits a sine function-like behaviour.

Microorganism motility often takes place within complex, viscoelastic fluid environments, e.g. sperm in cervicovaginal mucus and bacteria in biofilms. In such complex fluids, strains and stresses generated by the microorganism are stored and relax across a spectrum of length and time scales and the complex fluid can be driven out of its linear response regime. Phenomena not possible in viscous media thereby arise from feedback between the swimmer and the complex fluid, making swimming efficiency co-dependent on the propulsion mechanism and fluid properties. Here, we parameterize a flagellar motor and filament properties together with elastic relaxation and nonlinear shear-thinning properties of the fluid in a computational immersed boundary model. We then explore swimming efficiency, defined as a particular flow rate divided by the torque required to spin the motor, over this parameter space. Our findings indicate that motor efficiency (measured by the volumetric flow rate) can be boosted or degraded by relatively moderate or strong shear thinning of the viscoelastic environment.

This study explores precession-driven flows in a non-axisymmetric ellipsoid spinning around its medium axis. Using an experimental approach, we focus on two aspects of the flow: the base flow of uniform vorticity and the development of fluid instabilities. In contrast to a preceding paper (J. Fluid. Mech., vol. 932, 2022, A24), where the ellipsoid rotated around its shortest axis, we do not observe bi-stability or hysteresis of the base flow, but a continuous transition from small to large differential rotation and tilt of the fluid rotation axis. We then use the model developed by Noir & Cébron (J. Fluid. Mech., vol. 737, 2013, pp. 412–439) to numerically determine regions in the parameter space of axial and equatorial deformations for which bi-stability may exist. Concerning fluid instabilities, we use three independent observations to track the onset of both boundary layer and parametric instabilities. Our results clearly show the presence of a parametric instability, yet the exact nature of the underlying mechanism (conical shear layer instability, shear instability and elliptical instability) is not unambiguously identified. A coexisting boundary layer instability, although unlikely, cannot be ruled out based on our experimental data. To make further progress on this topic, a new generation of experiments at significantly lower Ekman numbers (ratio of rotation and viscous time scales) is clearly needed.