The initial-value problem for Taylor columns is considered for the oceanographically relevant case of slow flow over obstacles of small slope, and horizontal scale of order of the fluid depth or larger. In such flows depth variations cause, in the neighbourhood of the obstacle, a gradient of background potential vorticity. Topographic Rossby waves, forced in the starting flow, propagate across the gradient, cycling the obstacle in times of order of the topographic vortex-stretching time h/2Ωh0, where h is the fluid depth, Ω the background rotation rate and h0 the obstacle height. The linear inertialwave equation and the quasigeostrophic equations are related by considering the case where the inertial period is small compared with the topographic time, which is in turn small compared with the advection time.

When viscosity is present the waves decay to a steady motion in a time of order of the viscous spin-up time. In inviscid flow the waves do not decay. The flow oscillates about steady, irrotational, zero-circulation flow. The drag and lift on the obstacle oscillate with almost constant frequency and amplitude equal to the Coriolis force on a body of fluid whose volume matches that of the obstacle. Particles above a right cylinder move in closed orbits of diameter 1/S, where S is the topographic parameter introduced by Hide (1961). Particles away from the cylinder move irrotationally, but asymmetrically, from upstream to downstream. A shear layer is present at the boundary of the cylinder throughout the motion. The initial vorticity distribution for flow over a paraboloid is everywhere finite. However, regions of positive and negative vorticity interlace ever more closely during the motion, causing at large time a similar shear layer at the column boundary. By this time the vorticity is increasing without bound above the obstacle and neglected nonlinear, horizontal viscous, or vertical effects are important.

This paper illustrates the linear stability and the nonlinear evolution of two opposite-signed quasi-geostrophic vortices. We investigate the influence of the volume ratio between the two vortices as well as the influence of their vertical offset. Instability is always found for sufficiently close vortices. A convenient measure of the separation distance between the two vortices at their margin of stability is the horizontal gap between their two outermost edges. When the vortex volume ratio is very close to unity, the critical gap at the margin of stability tends to increase with the vertical offset. However, for volume ratios greater than 1.1, it decreases with the vertical offset. This is due to differences in the magnitude of the tilt angle of the vortices. The nonlinear evolution of unstable equilibria tends to be destructive, often breaking one vortex or both vortices into smaller vortices.

The stabilization of buoyant flows by a magnetic field is an important matter for crystal growth applications. It is studied here when the cavity is an infinite channel with rectangular cross-section typical of horizontal Bridgman configurations and when the magnetic field is applied in the vertical and transverse directions. The steady basic flow solution is first calculated: the usual counter flow structure is modified by the magnetic field and evolves towards jets in the cross-section corners when the magnetic field is vertical and towards a more uniform structure in the transverse direction when the magnetic field is transverse. The stability results show a very good stabilization of the convective flows for a vertical magnetic field with exponential increases of the thresholds for any width of the channel and for various Prandtl numbers Pr. The results for a transverse magnetic field are more surprising as a destabilizing effect corresponding to an initial decrease of the thresholds is obtained at Pr=0 and for small channel widths. A kinetic energy budget at the thresholds reveals that the main destabilizing factor is connected to the vertical shear of the longitudinal basic flow and that it is the modifications affecting this shear energy which are mainly responsible for the variation of the thresholds when a magnetic field is applied.

The three-dimensional laminar flow past a junction formed by a thin wing protruding normally from a locally flat body surface is considered for wings of finite span but short or long chord. The Reynolds number is taken to be large. The leading-edge interaction for a long wing has the triple-deck form, with the pressure due to the wing thickness forcing a three-dimensional flow response on the body surface alone. The same interaction describes the flow past an entire short wing. Linearized solutions are presented and discussed for long and short two-dimensional wings and for certain three-dimensional wings of interest. The trailing-edge interaction for a long wing is different, however, in that the three-dimensional motions on the wing and on the body are coupled together and in general the coupling is nonlinear. Linearized properties are retrieved only for reduced chord lengths. The overall flow structure for a long wing is also discussed, including the traditional three-dimensional corner layer, which is shown to have an unusual singular starting form near the leading edge. Qualitative comparisons with experiments are made.

The behaviour of inertial waves in a rotating spherical container, filled with homogeneous fluid, is here investigated by means of a three-dimensional ray tracing algorithm, in a linear, inviscid framework. In particular, the classical, two-dimensional association between regular modes and periodic trajectories is addressed here for the first time in a fully three-dimensional setting. Three-dimensional, repelling periodic trajectories are found and classified on the basis of the associated frequency and spatial structure, although associated frequencies are hardly reconcilable to Bryan’s (Proc. R. Soc. Lond., vol. 45, 1889, pp. 42–45) classical solutions for inertial waves in the sphere. The normalized squared frequency $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}\omega ^2 = 1/2$ appears to divide the frequency range into two different trajectory regimes, where critical latitudes play a different role. Chaotic orbits are not found, as expected, while invariant, non-domain-filling orbits (whispering gallery modes) constitute the majority of the trajectories in the sphere. From ray tracing alone, the wavefield is still far from being completely reconstructed, and a study performed in such a simplified setting is clearly far from any realistic application, however, it appears that three-dimensional ray dynamics constitutes a valid approach to infer information on the spectrum and regularity properties of a system, and is then able to bring new insight in a variety of fundamental problems of geophysical and astrophysical relevance, once its power and limitations have been recognized.

The linearized theory of free-surface gravity flow past submerged or floating bodies is based on a perturbation expansion of the velocity potential in the slenderness parameter e with the Froude number F kept fixed. It is shown that, although the free-wave amplitude and the associated wave resistance tend to zero as F → 0, the linearized solution is not uniform in this limit: the ratio between the second- and first-order terms becomes unbounded as F → 0 with ε fixed. This non-uniformity (called ‘the second Froude number paradox’ in previous work) is related to the nonlinearity of the free-surface condition. Criteria for uniformity of the thin-body expansion, combining ε and F, are derived for two-dimensional flows. These criteria depend on the shape of the leading (and trailing) edge: as the shape becomes finer the linearized solution becomes valid for smaller F.

Uniform first-order approximations for two-dimensional flow past submerged bodies are derived with the aid of the method of co-ordinate straining. The straining leads to an apparent displacement of the most singular points of the body contour (the leading and trailing edges for a smooth shape) and, therefore, to an apparent change in the effective Froude number.

We experimentally investigate the two-phase interplay in an open-channel turbulent boundary layer laden with finite-size particles at global volume fractions between 4 and 25 %. The working fluid (water) and the dispersed phase (hydrogel spheres) have closely matched refractive indices, allowing us to measure the properties of both phases using particle image velocimetry and particle tracking velocimetry, respectively. The particles have a diameter of approximately 9 % of the channel depth and are slightly denser than the fluid. The negative buoyancy causes a strong vertical concentration gradient, characterized by discrete and closely spaced particle layers parallel to the wall. Even at the lowest considered volume fractions, the near-wall fluid velocity and velocity gradients are strongly reduced, with large mean shear throughout most of the channel height. This indicates that the local effective viscosity of the suspension is greatly increased due to the friction between particle layers sliding over one another. The particles consistently lag the fluid and leave their footprint on its mean and fluctuating velocity profiles. The turbulent activity is damped near the wall, where the nearly packed particles disrupt and suppress large-scale turbulent fluctuations and redistribute some of the kinetic energy to smaller scales. On the other hand, in the outer region of the flow where the local particle concentration is low, the mean shear produces strong Reynolds stresses, with enhanced sweeps and ejections and frequent swirling events.

We describe a model for the speed of an internal bore as a function of amplitude in continuous stratification of arbitrary form. The model is developed from the Dubreil-Jacotin–Long theory for nonlinear solitary waves in the conjugate flow limit, which represents an internal hydraulic jump, by allowing dissipation across the jump. The bore speeds predicted by the model are consistent in both the small- and large-amplitude limits with the waveguide intrinsic to the ambient stratification. The model therefore represents a significant advancement over previous theories limited to sharp two-layer stratification. The model shows good agreement with Navier–Stokes simulations of both undular and turbulent internal bores generated by dam break into a continuously stratified ambient with a finite pycnocline, predicting both the front speed as well as the velocity and density structure through the bore. A model is required for the structure of the energy dissipation, and we introduce a one-parameter closure that produces excellent agreement with numerical results, particularly in the parameter limit that maximizes the overall dissipation. By varying the dissipation parameter, the model reproduces previous two-layer theories in the thin-pycnocline limit, and suggests an improved two-layer front speed relationship. It is demonstrated that, even for the sharp two-layer limit, continuous stratification, and particularly the nonlinear waveguide, must be accounted for in order to accurately predict the bore speed and structure.

A simplified theoretical model of a collapsing mixed region in a stably stratified fluid, as studied experimentally by Wu (1969), is presented. Unlike previous work the model describes the mixed region itself in the ‘principal stage’ of collapse. An inertia-buoyancy balance assumption is invoked, resulting in good quantitative agreement with Wu's results.

In Hammerton & Kerschen (1996), the effect of the nose radius of a body on boundary-layer receptivity was analysed for the case of a symmetric mean flow past a two-dimensional body with a parabolic leading edge. A low-Mach-number two-dimensional flow was considered. The radius of curvature of the leading edge, rn, enters the theory through a Strouhal number, S=ωrn/U, where ω is the frequency of the unsteady free-stream disturbance and U is the mean flow speed. Numerical results revealed that the variation of receptivity for small S was very different for free-stream acoustic waves propagating parallel to the mean flow and those free-stream waves propagating at an angle to the mean flow. In this paper the small-S asymptotic theory is presented. For free-stream acoustic waves propagating parallel to the symmetric mean flow, the receptivity is found to vary linearly with S, giving a small increase in the amplitude of the receptivity coefficient for small S compared to the flat-plate value. In contrast, for oblique free-stream acoustic waves, the receptivity varies with S1/2, leading to a sharp decrease in the amplitude of the receptivity coefficient relative to the flat-plate value. Comparison of the asymptotic theory with numerical results obtained in the earlier paper confirms the asymptotic results but reveals that the numerical results diverge from the asymptotic result for unexpectedly small values of S.

The inviscid flow above an obstacle in slow transverse motion inside a rotating vessel is analysed to study the influence of the container depth on the basic steady flow structure. An asymptotic theory is presented for an arbitrarily small Rossby number Ro = U0/2Ωl under a fixed H = hRo/l (where Ω is the angular velocity of the container, U0 the obstacle velocity relative to the vessel, h the depth of the container, and l a body length measured transversely to the rotation axis). The equations when linearized for a thin obstacle or shallow topography take on the form of the inertial-wave equation; their solutions for non-vanishing H are obtained for obstacles of three-dimensional as well as ridge-like two-dimensional shapes. In all cases analysed, the solution possesses a bimodal structure, of which one part is column-like with a vorticity proportional to the body elevation (or ground topography). The other part is confined mainly to a region enclosing the body, extending a distance O(H½) upstream of the obstacle and behind a wedge-shaped caustic front at large distances; its contribution consists of lee waves similar to that discussed by Cheng (1977) for an infinite depth. The field associated with the lee waves is then biased on the downstream side, but there is little indication of any tendency to tilting in the sense of Hide, Ibbetson & Lighthill (1968).

A new theory is given for calculating the wave pattern and wave resistance of a ship moving at low Froude number F. It applies to ships of any width, either full-bodied or slender. In this theory, the waves travel along rays which start at source points, such as the bow and stern, on the water-line. They propagate with the speed of waves in deep water, but are also advected by the double body flow. This is the flow about the ship and its image in the undisturbed free surface. The phase of a wave at any point on a ray is the optical length of the ray from the source to that point. The amplitude is determined by an excitation coefficient, which determines its initial value, and by an integral along the ray. The total wave height at any point is the sum of the heights on all the rays through the point. The theory is incomplete because the excitation coefficients are known only for thin ships. As an illustration, the theory is applied to the thin ship case, and the results then agree with Michell's thin ship solution evaluated for F small.

A new class of ships, which we call streamlined ships, is introduced next. The usual linear free surface condition applies to the waves they produce. The ray theory is developed for these waves at low F, and it involves straight rays produced at all points on the rear half of the water-line. In addition, as an alternative to the ray theory, another method is presented for obtaining the waves at low F. It involves a Schrödinger-like equation in which distance along the ship's centre-line is the time-like co-ordinate.

The Oseen equations for the two-dimensional flow of a Boussinesq fluid over a thin barrier placed in a channel of finite depth are solved in the double limit ν → 0, t → ∞ under the hypothesis that the velocity at the tip of the barrier is as weakly singular as possible. The predicted flow patterns and drag coefficients are in closer agreement with Davis's experimental observations than those of the Long model.

The steady laminar annular spread of a thin liquid film generated by a circular jet which impinges perpendicularly in direction of gravity on the centre of a rotating disc is examined both analytically and numerically. Matched asymptotic expansions of the flow quantities provide the proper means for studying the individual flow regimes arising due to the largeness of the Reynolds number formed with the radius of the jet, its slenderness and the relative magnitude of the centrifugal body force. This is measured by a suitably defined Rossby number, $Ro$. The careful analysis of jet impingement predicts a marked influence of gravity and surface tension on the film flow, considered in the spirit of a shallow-water approach, only through the vorticity imposed by the jet flow. Accordingly, associated downstream conditions are disregarded as the local Froude and Weber numbers are taken to be sufficiently large. Hence, the parabolic problem shaped from the governing equations in a rigorous manner describes the strongly supercritical spread of a developed viscous film past an infinite disc, essentially controlled by $Ro$. Its numerical solutions are discussed for a wide range of values of $Ro$. The different flow regimes reflecting varying effects of viscous shear and centrifugal force are elucidated systematically to clarify the surprising richness of flow phenomena. Special attention is paid to the cases $Ro\gg 1$ and $Ro\ll 1$. The latter, referring to relatively high disc spin, implies a delicate breakdown of the asymptotic flow structure, thus requiring a specific analytical and numerical treatment. Finally, the impact of gravity and capillarity and thus of the disc edge on the film flow is envisaged in brief.

This investigation addresses the unsteady wake from a blunt trailing edge subjected to controlled perturbations. The relationship between the structure of the near wake, the surface loading on the edge, and the motion of the edge is characterized by flow visualization in conjunction with velocity and pressure measurements. The response of the near wake can be classified into two general categories: a modulated wake, characterized by ordered variations in the near-wake flow structure over a number of cycles of oscillation of the trailing edge; and a phase-locked wake, whereby the near-wake structure does not change from cycle to cycle of the edge oscillation. For the modulated wake, there are large, repetitive excursions of the near-wake vortex pattern in the stream wise direction due to coexistence of the self-excited global instability of the wake and the applied excitation. These excursions can have an amplitude two orders of magnitude larger than the amplitude of the edge motion. The duration of these excursions, in relation to the cyclic motion of the trailing edge, is deterministic. For the phase-locked wake, small changes of the edge oscillation frequency produce large changes in the phase shift of the initially formed vortex from the edge. These phase shifts are due to changes in the times required for vortex formation and departure from the near wake. The corresponding mechanisms are interpreted in terms of the crucial topological features of the near wake and a phase clock concept.

A further refinement of the Howard-Kochar-Jain theorem is given which allows the estimation of the range of complex wave velocity for growing perturbations in a stratified shear flow. According to the results obtained, the boundary of this region depends both on the minimum Richardson number and on the wavenumber of the perturbations. The effect of external boundaries on the stability of parallel flows is defined. An estimate of the maximum rate of growth versus dimensionless wave-number is found. The theoretical results are compared with numerical computations and laboratory experiments of other authors.

Understanding biolocomotion in fluids has long been a focus of fluid dynamicists. One method to quantify the impact of environmental stresses on locomotion is to systematically change the mechanical properties of the surrounding medium, and measure how that change influences swimming kinematics and energetics. In a recently published investigation, Gagnon et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 758, 2014, R3) employ that approach to investigate the locomotion of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans in complex fluids. Specifically, they characterize experimentally how the presence of shear-thinning rheology influences the flow around the organism and its swimming ability. Surprisingly, while they measure an important change to the flow structure around the organism, they find no change in its waving motion and the speed at which it is able to swim. While ‘gooeyness’ is a universal feature of natural biological and environmental media, C. elegans seems to find it perfectly bearable.

Invariant solutions of shear flows have recently been extended from spatially periodic solutions in minimal flow units to spatially localized solutions on extended domains. One set of spanwise-localized solutions of plane Couette flow exhibits homoclinic snaking, a process by which steady-state solutions grow additional structure smoothly at their fronts when continued parametrically. Homoclinic snaking is well understood mathematically in the context of the one-dimensional Swift–Hohenberg equation. Consequently, the snaking solutions of plane Couette flow form a promising connection between the largely phenomenological study of laminar–turbulent patterns in viscous shear flows and the mathematically well-developed field of pattern-formation theory. In this paper we present a numerical study of the snaking solutions of plane Couette flow, generalizing beyond the fixed streamwise wavelength of previous studies. We find a number of new solution features, including bending, skewing and finite-size effects. We establish the parameter regions over which snaking occurs and show that the finite-size effects of the travelling wave solution are due to a coupling between its fronts and interior that results from its shift-reflect symmetry. A new winding solution of plane Couette flow is derived from a strongly skewed localized equilibrium.

Diffusive bottom boundary layers can produce upslope flows in a stratified fluid. Accumulating observations suggest that these boundary layers may drive upwelling and mixing in mid-ocean ridge flank canyons. However, most studies of diffusive bottom boundary layers to date have concentrated on constant bottom slopes. We present a study of how diffusive boundary layers interact with various idealized topography, such as changes in bottom slope, slopes with corrugations and isolated sills. We use linear theory and numerical simulations in the regional ocean modeling system (ROMS) model to show changes in bottom slope can cause convergences and divergences within the boundary layer, in turn causing fluid exchanges that reach far into the overlying fluid and alter stratification far from the bottom. We also identify several different regimes of boundary-layer behaviour for topography with oceanographically relevant size and shape, including reversing flows and overflows, and we develop a simple theory that predicts the regime boundaries, including what topographies will generate overflows. As observations also suggest there may be overflows in deep canyons where the flow passes over isolated bumps and sills, this parameter range may be particularly significant for understanding the role of boundary layers in the deep ocean.