The motion of a pair of bubbles rising side by side under the influence of external magnetic fields is numerically examined. Through solving the fully three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations, the results reveal that the bubble interactions are rather sensitive to the field direction and strength. At first, we identify that, in a hydrodynamic flow, whether the two bubbles will bounce or coalesce depends on the developments of the counter-rotating streamwise vortices during the collision. In particular, for an originally bouncing bubble pair, a streamwise magnetic field tends to promote their coalescence by weakening the strengths of the standing streamwise vortices, and such a weakening effect is caused by the asymmetric distribution of the Lorentz force in the presence of another bubble such that a torque is induced to offset the original streamwise vortices. Under a horizontal magnetic field, on the other hand, the influences are highly dependent on the angle between the bubble centroid line and the field: a transverse field or a moderate spanwise field always leads the bubble pair to coalescence while a strong spanwise field has the opposite effect. This anisotropic effect comes from the Lorentz force induced flow diffusion along the magnetic field, which not only produces two pairs of streamwise vortices at the bubble rear, but also homogenizes the pressure along the magnetic lines. As the competition between the two mechanisms varies with the magnetic direction and strength, the interaction between the bubble pair also changes. We show that the external magnetic fields control the bubble interaction through reconstructing the vortex structures, and hence the core mechanisms are identified.

Gas volumes with an equivalent spherical diameter greater than that of the tube in which they rise by buoyancy – so-called Taylor bubbles – assume a characteristic bullet shape and ascend with a velocity that is dependent primarily on the tube diameter, and also on the physical properties of the liquid, but, remarkably, is mostly independent of the gas volume. The requirement of liquid volume conservation suggests a plausible explanation of this paradoxical feature in that the space vacated under the rising bubble must be replenished by the liquid film falling along the bubble surface. It is demonstrated by numerical means that, by limiting the bubble diameter, a cylindrical ‘cage’ of thin vertical rods coaxial with the tube permits the flow rate of this film to increase, with the result that the bubble is able to ascend with a significantly higher velocity than in an empty tube with the same diameter.

The dynamics of thin, non-circular droplets evaporating in the diffusion-limited regime is examined. The challenging non-rectilinear mixed boundary problem this poses is solved using a novel asymptotic approach and an asymptotic expansion for the evaporative flux from the free surface of the droplet is found. While theoretically valid only for droplets that are close to circular, it is demonstrated that the methodology can successfully be applied to droplets with a wide variety of footprint shapes, including polygons and highly non-convex domains. As our solution for the flux fundamentally represents a novel result in potential theory, the applications are numerous, as the mixed boundary value problem arises in fields as diverse as electrostatics and contact mechanics. Here, we demonstrate the practicality of our result by considering the analytically tractable case of deposition of solute from large droplets in detail, including a matched asymptotic analysis to resolve the pressure, streamlines and deposition up to second order.

A turbulent circular disk wake database (Chongsiripinyo & Sarkar, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 885, 2020) at Reynolds number $Re = U_\infty D/\nu = 5 \times 10^{4}$ is interrogated to identify the presence of large-scale streaks – coherent elongated regions of streamwise velocity. The unprecedented streamwise length – until $x/D \approx 120$ – of the simulation enables investigation of the near and far wakes. The near wake is dominated by the vortex shedding (VS) mode residing at azimuthal wavenumber $m=1$ and Strouhal number $St = 0.135$. After filtering out the VS structure, conclusive evidence of large-scale streaks with frequency $St \rightarrow 0$, equivalently streamwise wavenumber $k_x \rightarrow 0$ in the wake, becomes apparent in visualizations and spectra. These streaky structures are found throughout the simulation domain beyond $x/D \approx 10$. Conditionally averaged streamwise vorticity fields reveal that the lift-up mechanism is active in the near as well as the far wake, and that ejections contribute more than sweeps to events of intense $-u'_xu'_r$. Spectral proper orthogonal decomposition is employed to extract the energy and the spatiotemporal features of the large-scale streaks. The streak energy is concentrated in the $m=2$ azimuthal mode over the entire domain. Finally, bispectral mode decomposition is conducted to reveal strong interaction between $m=1$ and $St = \pm 0.135$ modes to give the $m=2$, $St \rightarrow 0$ streak mode. Our results indicate that the self-interaction of the VS mode generates the $m=2$, $St \rightarrow 0$ streamwise vortices, which leads to streak formation through the lift-up process. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that reports and characterizes large-scale low-frequency streaks and the associated lift-up mechanism in a turbulent wake.

The structure and propagation of lock-release bottom gravity currents in a linearly stratified ambient with the presence of a submerged canopy are investigated for the first time using large-eddy simulations. The canopy density (i.e. the solid volume fraction), the strength of ambient stratification and the canopy height are varied to study their respective effects on the gravity current. Both denser canopies and stronger ambient stratification tend to switch the horizontal boundary along which the current propagates from the channel bed towards the canopy top (i.e. the through-to-over flow transition). It is found that the dilution of the current density is enhanced by denser canopies but is weakened by stronger ambient stratification. The non-monotonic relationship between front velocity and canopy density proposed by Zhou et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 831, 2017, pp. 394–417) in homogeneous environments is also observed in stratified environments. However, as the ambient stratification is strengthened, the present study shows a shift of the turning point (beyond which increasing canopy density leads to faster current propagation) towards sparser canopies, accompanied by a more pronounced recovery of the front velocity. This is the combined action of three stratification-induced mechanisms: the promotion of through-to-over flow transition (less canopy drag), the upward displacement of current nose in a stably stratified water column (more buoyancy gain) and the weakening of current dilution (less buoyancy loss). Under stronger ambient stratification, the propagation of gravity currents shows a lower sensitivity to the retarding effect of the submerged canopy.

The effect of gravity during the water entry of two-dimensional and axisymmetric bodies is investigated analytically and numerically. An extension to the Wagner model of water impact is proposed in order to take into account the effect of gravity. For this purpose, the free-surface condition is modified. The pressure is computed using the modified Logvinovich model of Korobkin (Eur. J. Appl. Maths, vol. 6, 2004, pp. 821–838). The model has been implemented and validated through comparisons with fully nonlinear potential flow simulations of different two-dimensional and axisymmetric water entry problems. Our investigation shows that it is equally important to account for gravity when computing the pressure distribution and to account for gravity when computing the size of the wetted surface in order to obtain accurate force results with the Wagner model. Simulations of wedges and cones with different values of deadrise angle ($\beta$) entering water at constant speed ($V$) demonstrate the accuracy of the semi-analytical model and show that the effect of gravity in such water impacts is governed by the effective Froude number defined as $Fr^*=V/(\sqrt {gh}\sqrt {\tan \beta })$, with $g$ the acceleration due to gravity and $h$ the penetration depth. The accuracy of the semi-analytical model for decelerated water entries is also demonstrated by investigating the water entry of a wedge and a cone with a $15^\circ$ deadrise angle with deceleration until full stop. The semi-analytical model is able to accurately predict the effect of gravity during both two-dimensional and axisymmetric water entry problems with deceleration.

A droplet charged above the Rayleigh limit is unstable. In the resulting dynamical process, referred to as a Coulomb explosion, smaller droplets with higher charge-to-mass ratios are ejected, reducing the charge of the parent droplet below the Rayleigh limit. Furthermore, if the droplet is sufficiently small, the electric field on its surface can promote ion field emission. Ion emission can lower the charge of a spherical droplet below its Rayleigh limit, keeping it stable, or reduce the charge of a deforming droplet, changing its dynamics and potentially preventing the Coulomb explosion. This article develops a continuum phase field electrohydrodynamic model to study the interplay between Coulomb explosions and ion emission, using charged nanodroplets of the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (EMI-Im) as a case study. In small droplets (diameter $D \lesssim 20$ nm for EMI-Im), the electric field is strong enough to emit ions in the early phase of the droplet's evolution, suppressing the Coulomb explosion. For $20 \lesssim D \lesssim 45$ nm, the electric field on the EMI-Im droplet may not promote significant ion emission; however, as the unstable droplet becomes ellipsoidal, ions are emitted from its vertices, ultimately suppressing the Coulomb explosion while shedding $20\unicode{x2013}40\,\%$ of the initial charge. For larger EMI-Im droplets, $45 \lesssim D \lesssim 100$ nm, the evolution typical of a Coulomb explosion is observed, accompanied by ion emission which is however insufficient to prevent the Coulomb explosion. Ion emission and the smaller progeny droplets account for $24\,\%$ and $16\,\%$ of the initial charge, respectively.

Wake interaction of two rotationally oscillating cylinders in side-by-side configuration is studied experimentally at a Reynolds number of 150. Five spacing ratios, $T/D$ (ratio of centre-to-centre spacing to cylinder diameter), are considered, namely, 1.4, 1.8, 2.5, 4.0 and 7.5. Both in-phase and antiphase forcing are investigated. Oscillation amplitude is varied from ${\rm \pi} /8$ to ${\rm \pi}$, and forcing frequency, $FR$ (ratio of the oscillation frequency to the vortex-shedding frequency of a stationary cylinder) is varied from 0 to 5. The experimental investigation is done using laser-induced fluorescence, hot film anemometry and particle-image velocimetry (PIV). The interaction between the two cylinders under forcing results in new wake modes and vortex structures and a comprehensive study from the wake visualisations is conducted. Quantitative results are presented in terms of streamwise and cross-stream mean velocity profiles, centreline velocity recovery, peak velocity deficit, wake width, fluctuation intensity, circulation, vorticity contours and drag coefficient. The magnitude of streamwise velocity deficit and cross-stream velocity variation is strongly affected by the presence of second cylinder. The recirculation region behind the cylinders is found to extend further downstream with increase in the forcing. Scaling analysis is carried out to express the peak velocity deficit variation with forcing. It is observed that the relative strength of the vortices shed from inner and outer shear layers depends on the phase of oscillation. An experimental set-up for direct force measurement is designed and the drag force acting on the oscillating cylinders assembly is directly measured and the effect of forcing on the variation of ${C}_{d}$ is studied. An estimate for drag coefficient is also made from the PIV data following a detailed control volume analysis. It is observed that the set of forcing parameters that correspond to maximum and minimum drag also yield extrema in the values of circulation and fluctuation intensity.

We investigated the linear stability of pipe flow with anisotropic slip length at the wall by considering streamwise and azimuthal slip separately as the limiting cases. Our numerical analysis shows that streamwise slip renders the flow less stable but does not cause instability. The exponential decay rate of the least stable mode appears to be $\propto Re^{-1}$ when the Reynolds number is sufficiently large. Azimuthal slip can cause linear instability if the slip length is sufficiently large. The critical Reynolds number can be reduced to a few hundred given large slip lengths. In addition to numerical calculations, we present a proof of the linear stability of the flow to three-dimensional yet streamwise-independent disturbances for arbitrary Reynolds number and slip length, as an alternative to the usual energy analysis. Meanwhile we derived analytical solutions to the eigenvalue and eigenvector, and explained the structure of the spectrum and the dependence of the leading eigenvalue on the slip length. The scaling of the exponential decay rate of streamwise independent modes is shown to be rigorously $\propto Re^{-1}$. Our non-modal analysis shows that overall streamwise slip reduces the non-modal growth, and azimuthal slip has the opposite effect. Nevertheless, both slip cases still give the $Re^2$-scaling of the maximum non-modal growth and the most amplified disturbances are still streamwise rolls, which are qualitatively the same as in the no-slip case.

We perform numerical simulations of the interaction between a vortex ring and a free surface, and provide a new interpretation of the mechanism by which the vortex ring connects to the free surface. Large vorticity gradients at the free surface result in the diffusion of surface-tangential vorticity out of the fluid. This is accompanied by the diffusion of opposite-signed surface-normal vorticity away from the connection line, along the free surface, which results in the attachment of the vortex ring to the free surface. Compared to existing descriptions, this interpretation explains better how the solenoidal property that vortex lines do not end in the fluid is maintained. By including an interface vortex sheet at the free surface, the important property of vorticity conservation is maintained throughout the interaction. The upper part of the vortex ring simply diffuses out of the fluid, and into the interface vortex sheet, with the total circulation remaining constant.