The distance between the separation point and the final approach to a fully developed turbulent mixing layer is found to be of the order of a thousand times the momentum-deficit thickness of the initial boundary layer, whether the latter be laminar or turbulent. There are correspondingly large shifts in the virtual origin of the mixing layer, resulting in spurious Reynolds-number effects which cause considerable difficulties in tests of model jets or blunt-based bodies, and which are probably responsible for the disagreements over the influence of Mach number on the development of free shear layers. These effects are explained.

Experimental and theoretical investigations were made of the instability and transition of the wake behind an axisymmetric slender body at high Reynolds number. The sound from a loudspeaker was used as an artificial disturbance. The velocity fluctuations induced by the sound are selectively amplified depending on the frequency. The wavelength, the phase velocity and the amplification rate of the velocity fluctuations were measured. A linearized stability equation of the disturbance superposed on the axisymmetric wake was solved numerically for both neutral and amplified disturbances. Theoretical results on eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the stability equation show good agreement with experimental results.

Measurements on phase distributions in streamwise and azimuthal directions indicate that the line of same phase forms a helix and not a series of discrete closed loops.

The changes of surface stress in a deep boundary layer passing from a surface of one roughness to another of different roughness are described fairly accurately by theories that assume self-preserving development of the flow modifications. It has been shown that the dynamical conditions for self-preserving flow can be satisfied if the change in friction velocity is small and if log l0/z0 is large (l0 is the depth of the modified flow and z0 is the roughness length of the surface). In this paper it is shown that, if the change of friction velocity is not small, the dynamical conditions can be satisfied to a good approximation over considerable fetches if log l0/z0 is large. The flow modification is then locally self-preserving, that is, the fields of mean velocity and turbulence are in a moving equilibrium but one which changes very slowly with fetch and depends on the ratio of the initial to the current friction velocity. In the limit of a very large increase in friction velocity, the moving equilibrium is essentially that of a boundary layer developing in a non-turbulent free stream. Equations describing the flow development are derived for all changes of friction velocity, and the form of the velocity changes is discussed. For large increases of friction velocity, the depth of the modified layer is substantially less than would be expected from the theories of Elliott and of Panofsky & Townsend.

The equilibrium burning of a spherical drop of pure non-gaseous fuel in a slow convective flow of hot oxidant is examined for Lewis number unity. A Stokes or Oseen flow with modified boundary conditions to permit mass transfer at the drop surface describes the velocity field. The method of inner and outer expansions is then adopted to describe the thermal and mass-fraction profiles under the model of a direct one-step irreversible indefinitely fast chemical reaction. The thin-flame position and surface mass-transfer rate, both functions of polar angle as well as radial position when convection is added to the conventional diffusive transport, are furnished in terms of the Peclet number. It is found that the interaction of the perturbational free-streaming with the asymmetric vaporization it induces can lead to drag coefficients in excess of the Stokes value.

The investigation of a separated shear layer was undertaken to clarify the non-linear mechanisms associated with instability and transition to turbulence. Such an investigation is of practical importance since profiles which resemble the separated shear layer are a common occurrence.

A two-dimensional free shear layer was formed by separation of a laminar boundary layer from a rearward-facing step. The free-stream speed was approximately 16 ft./sec. Hot-wire measurements were made in the region directly downstream of the plate trailing edge. The measurements included mean velocity profiles, frequency spectra of the longitudinal fluctuation, and root-mean-square amplitude and phase distributions of various spectral components of the longitudinal fluctuation. Several measurements were designed to detect the presence of periodic spanwise structure.

The most important findings were:

1. Significant non-linear distortion of the initial unstable wave occurred without periodic spanwise structure.

2. Non-linear distortion was first manifest by the growth of a subharmonic oscillation, which was strongly intermittent. Numerous harmonics of the sub-harmonic oscillation were also present.

3. Strong evidence suggests that secondary instabilities were present, which created still higher frequencies.

The maximum amplitude of the solitary wave of constant form is determined to be 0·83b, where b is the depth far from the crest. In the analysis it is assumed that the crest is pointed and the motion is two-dimensional and irrotational. The complex velocity potential is expressed in terms of known singularities and an infinite power series with unknown coefficients. Approximate solutions are obtained by truncating the power series after N terms, where N = 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. The amplitude, a measure of the error, and several other pertinent quantities are computed for each value of N.

The structure and mode of propagation of spinning detonation waves in stoichiometric oxyhydrogen, at initial pressures of 20–30 mm, have been investigated. The waves were generated in a square-section tube and observations have been made by the smoked-film technique, spark schlieren photography and pressure gauges. At the front of the self-sustaining detonation waves obtained at these pressures, two Mach interactions exist, the trajectories of which are derived from the imprints made on the smoked foil. As the triple point traverses the tube section, its direction of motion is found to vary between 50° and 70° with the tube diameter. An analysis of a Mach triple point for these conditions predicts the absence of chemical reaction behind the Mach stem in the immediate neighbourhood of the triple point. Experimentally determined pressures and triple shock angles confirm, to within experimental error, the postulated theoretical configuration.

A series of experiments is described in which a jet issues from an orifice at the nose of a body in supersonic flow to oppose the mainstream. An analytical model of the flow is developed which suggests that the aerodynamic features of a steady flow depend primarily on a jet flow-force coefficient, and the Mach number of the jet in its exit plane. A sufficient condition for steady flow is developed. The experiments are found to agree well with predictions based on the flow model. A short account is presented of some previous investigations, and some of their conclusions are re-examined in the light of the present study.

In the presence of an air stream, a uniform liquid film on a horizontal flat plate may be unstable to small disturbances, and waves may arise. In this paper the hydrodynamic stability of thin liquid films is examined both experimentally and theoretically.

The experiments concern water films thinner than those which have been examined in the past. It is found that, when the film thickness is sufficiently small, a previously unknown type of instability occurs. The theoretical analysis explains this surprising phenomenon.

Due to interaction of the mean airflow and small disturbances of the liquid-air interface, normal and tangential stress perturbations are produced at the liquid surface. It is shown that small wave-like disturbances become unstable when the joint influence of the component of normal stress in phase with the wave elevation and the component of tangential stress in phase with the wave slope is sufficient to overcome the ‘stiffness’ of the liquid surface due to gravity and surface tension. It is found that the destabilizing role of the tangential stress component is dominant for very thin films, and that instability may occur whatever the velocity of the air stream, provided the film is made sufficiently thin.

A symposium on ‘Rotating fluid systems’ was held at La Jolla, California, from 28 March to 1 April 1966. The meeting was organized under the auspices of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, and took place at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics of the University of California. There were 75 participants, and attendance was by invitation. The subjects discussed included steady flows, both thermally driven and non-thermal; transient motions and instabilities; planetary waves and gravity waves affected by rotation; inertial oscillations; and hydromagnetic flows relating to the Earth's interior. The following is a brief account of the proceedings as seen by the authors. No formal volume of the papers presented is to be published, but references to published or unpublished work are given at the end of this article.

The dynamics of rotating fluids was, in the main, developed by methods special to the field, using the equationsof motion of a fluid inarotatingframe of reference. It is, nevertheless, possible to derive all the leading results from the classical principles of fluid dynamics in non-rotating frames; specifically, from the rules governing rate of change of vorticity. Although writers on the subject have adopted this approach increasingly often in recent years, the author believes that a broad survey of the field, deriving results from those classical rules concerning vorticity, has not previously been given and may be of some interest to fluid dynamicists in general.

The present survey was read to the IUTAM Symposium on Rotating Fluid Systems at La Jolla, California, on 28 March 1966. It states briefly (§2) the rules governing rate of change of vorticity, and then applies them, first, to problems of steady relative motion of rotating fluids; in particular, of the atmosphere (§3), of rotating fluids in the laboratory (§4), and of the oceans (§5). Waves and wavy movements are then studied, first (§6) for systems with constant Coriolis parameter, including inertial waves, surface waves, ‘long waves’ and internal waves, and, secondly (§7)) for systems with variable Coriolis parameter, including Rossby-Haurwitz waves with and without the influence of tidal effects, as well as problems of barotropic and baroclinic instability. Vorticity principles are used as the sole theoretical tool throughout the survey.