Surface waves in flowing water and their stability are studied. With U(y) denoting the mean velocity and d the depth of water, the following results are obtained: (i) in the plane of the complex wave velocity, c = cr + ici, all eigenvalues c with a positive ci lie within a semicircle which has as its diameter the range of the velocity U(y) of the primary flow, y being the vertical co-ordinate. (ii) If U″(y) does not change sign and U is monotonic in the field of flow, singular neutral modes (for which c = U somewhere in the field of flow) are impossible and the flow is stable. (iii) If U is analytic and U″ vanishes at the point or points where U is equal to the same constant Uc and where U′ is not zero then at least one neutral mode exists with c = Uc, provided U(d) ≠ Uc. (iv) If U is monotonic and U″/(U—c) is finite and non-zero at the critical point (c real), where U″ vanishes, then the neutral mode mentioned in (iii) above is contiguous with unstable modes, (v) If U″ < 0 and U′ [ges ] 0 there are waves with c [les ] U(0), with a finite maximum wavenumber kc corresponding to c = U(0) and with c decreasing monotonically to a finite c0 for k = 0. (vi) If U″ < 0 and U′ [ges ] 0 waves of all wavenumbers can travel with c > U(d). The eigenvalue c for any k is bounded.

Fluid motion driven by the combined effects of a moving wall and natura convection is examined for rectangular cavities with heightlwidth ratios of ½, 1 and 2. The Reynolds number and Prandtl number are held fixed at Re = 100 and Pr = 1; the Grashof number is varied over the range of values Gr = 0, ±104, ±106. Flow and temperature fields obtained from numerical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations reveal a marked influence of buoyancy for the larger aspect ratios when Gr = ±106 and the dominance of buoyancy for all aspect ratios when Gr = ± 106. Results are compared with earlier work where possible and some observations are offered on the convergence of the numerical solutions.

The growth of small disturbances in a two-dimensional incompressible wake has been investigated theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical analysis is based upon inviscid stability theory wherein small disturbances are considered from both temporal and spatial reference frames. Through a combined stability analysis, in which small disturbances are permitted to amplify in both time and space, the relationship between the disturbance characteristics for the temporal and spatial reference frames is shown. In these analyses a quasi-uniform assumption is adopted to account for the continuously varying mean-velocity profiles that occur behind flat plates and thin airfoils. It is found that the most unstable disturbances in the wake produce transverse oscillations in the mean-velocity profile and correspond to growing waves that have a minimum group velocity.

Experimentally, the downstream development of the wake of a thin airfoil and the wave characteristics of naturally amplifying small disturbances are investigated in a water tank. The disturbances that develop are found to produce transverse oscillations of the mean-velocity profile in agreement with the theoretical prediction. From the comparison of the experimental results with the predictions for the characteristics of the most unstable waves via the temporal and spatial analyses, it is concluded that the stability analysis for the wake is to be considered solely from the more realistic spatial viewpoint. Undoubtedly, this conclusion is also applicable to other highly unstable flows such as jets and free shear layers.

In accordance with the disturbance vorticity distribution as determined from the spatial model, a description of the initial development of a vortex street is put forth that contrasts with the description given by Sato & Kuriki (1961).

Stokes flow through a random, moderately dense bed of spheres is treated by a generalization of Brinkman's (1947) method, which is applicable to both stationary beds and suspensions. For stationary beds, Darcy's law with a permeability result similar to Brinkman's is derived. For suspensions an effective viscosity μ/(1–2·60ψ) is found, where ψ is the volume fraction of spheres. Also, an expression for the settling velocity is derived.

The paper presents the results of a detailed experimental examination of fully developed asymmetric flow between parallel planes. The asymmetry was introduced by roughening one of the planes while the other was left smooth; the ratio of the shear stresses at the two surfaces was typically about 4:1.

The main emphasis of the research has been on establishing the turbulence structure, particularly in the central region of the channel where the two dissimilar wall flows (generated by the smooth and rough surfaces) interact. Measurements have included profiles of all non-zero double and triple velocity correlations; spectra of the same correlations at several positions in the channel; skewness and flatness factors; and lateral two-point space correlations of the streamwise velocity fluctuation.

The region of greatest interaction is characterized by strong diffusional transport of turbulent shear stress and kinetic energy from the rough towards the smooth wall region, giving rise, inter alia, to an appreciable separation between the planes of zero shear stress and maximum mean velocity. The profiles of length scales of the larger-scale motion are, in contrast to the turbulent velocity field, nearly symmetric. Moreover, it appears that at high Reynolds numbers the small-scale motion may in many respects be treated as isotropic.

For the uniform flow past a semi-infinite flat plate subject to a blowing velocity profile equal to C(Uv/x),½ the conventional boundary-layer approximations break down as C approaches 0middot;6192. Here, we consider the structure of the flow for large Reynolds numbers R when C exceeds this critical value. It is shown that, for C > 0·6192, a region containing injected fluid O(R-1/3)) in thickness forms directly above the plate. To a first approximation the flow in this region is inviscid and the pressure a function of x only. This blowing region is separated from the free stream by a free shear boundary layer of thickness O(R-½). Thus the flow domain consists of three distinct regions which interact to yield a similarity solution valid for large values of Rx. This solution is then extended to higher order by expanding the stream function in each region in powers of (Rx)-1/3 and evaluating the first four terms in the resulting series using standard matching techniques. Finally, more general blowing profiles which also lead to boundary-layer ‘blow off’ are considered and an expression, valid far downstream of boundary-layer detachment, is derived for the position of the streamline separating the injected fluid from that of the free stream. For the case of uniform blowing the blowing region takes on the shape of a wedge, indicating that no solution can exist for the corresponding external flow if the plate is truly semi-infinite.

The two-dimensional low Mach number sound field from the passage of a line vortex around the edge of a rigid half plane is calculated by singular perturbation methods. Simple exact expressions are given for the space-time variation of the acoustic field, and for the total radiated energy and its frequency spectrum. These expressions show in particular that the effect of the half plane is to increase the energy radiated by a nearby vortical flow by M−3, where M is a characteristic Mach number.

Dispersion in curved tubes and channels is treated analytically, using the velocity distribution of Topakoglu (1967) for tubes and that of Goldstein (1965) for curved channels. The result for curved tubes is compared with that obtained previously by Erdogan & Chatwin (1967) and it is found that the presentdispersion coefficient contains the Erdogan & Chatwin result as a limiting case.

The most striking difference between the results is that Erdogan & Chatwin predict that the dispersion coefficient is always decreased by curvature if the Schmidt number exceeds 0.124, which is the ease for essentially all systems of practical interest. In contrast, the present result, equation (76), predicts that the dispersion coefficient may be increased substantially by curvature in low Reynolds number flows, particularly in liquid systems which would be of interest in biological systems.

Two competing mechanisms of dispersion are present in curved systems. Curvature increases the variation in residence time across the flow in comparison with straight systems and this in turn increases the dispersion coefficient. The secondary flow which occurs in curved tubes creates a transverse mixing which decreases the dispersion coefficient. The results demonstrate that the relative importance of these two effects changes with the Reynolds number, since the dispersion coefficient first increases and then decreases as the Reynolds number increases. Since secondary flows are not present in curved channels the dispersion coefficient is increased over that in straight channels for all cases.

The interfacial hydrodynamics of pools of dilute binary solutions heated from below is examined using linear stability analysis. Results show that the stabilizing effect of the solute can vary greatly with its interfacial properties, its concentration, and the rate and mechanism of its transfer between the bulk phase and the surface.

This paper examines the linear stability of antisymmetric disturbances in incompressible plane Poiseuille flow between identical flexible walls which undergo transverse displacements. Using a variational approach, an approximate solution of the problem is formulated in a form suitable for computational evaluation of the (complex) wave speeds of the system. A feature of this formulation is that the varying boundary conditions (and the Orr-Sommerfeld equation) are satisfied only in the mean; this reduces the labour involved in determining the approximate solution for a variety of wall conditions without increasing the difficulty of obtaining solutions to a given accuracy. In this paper the symmetric stream function distribution across the channel is represented by a series of cosines whose coefficients are determined by the variational solution. Comparisons with previous work, both for the flexible-wall and rigid-wall problems, show that the method gives results as accurate as those obtained previously by other methods while new results, for flexible walls, indicate the presence of a higher wave-number stability boundary which joins the distorted Tollmien-Schlichting stability boundary at lower wave-numbers. In some cases this upper unstable region, which is characterized by large amplification rates, may determine the critical Reynolds number of the system.