The Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instability develops and leads to turbulence when a heavy fluid falls under the action of gravity through a light one. We consider a model in which the RT instability is accompanied by a reactive transformation between the fluids. We study the model using direct numerical simulations (DNSs), focusing on the effect of the reaction (flame) on the turbulent mixing. We discuss ‘slow’ reactions in which the characteristic reaction time exceeds the temporal scale of the RT instability, τ ≫ tinst. In the early turbulent stage, tinst ≲ t ≲ τ, effects of the flame are distributed over a maturing mixing zone, whose development is weakly influenced by the reaction. At t ≳ τ, the fully mixed zone transforms into a conglomerate of pure-fluid patches of sizes proportional to the mixing zone width. In this ‘stirred flame’ regime, temperature fluctuations are consumed by reactions in the regions separating the pure-fluid patches. This DNS-based qualitative description is followed by a phenomenology suggesting that thin turbulent flame is of a single-fractal character, and thus distribution of the temperature field is strongly intermittent.

Three-dimensional velocity distributions and corresponding wall stresses are measured concurrently in the inner part of a turbulent boundary layer over a smooth wall using digital holographic microscopy. The measurements are performed in a square duct channel flow at Reδ = 50000 and Reτ = 1470. A spatial resolution of 3–8 wall units (δυ = μm) in streamwise and spanwise directions and 1 wall unit in the wall-normal direction are sufficient for resolving buffer layer structures and for measuring the instantaneous wall shear stresses from velocity gradients in the viscous sublayer. Mean velocity and Reynolds stress profiles agree well with previous publications. Rudimentary observations classify the buffer layer three-dimensional flow into (i) a pair of counter-rotating inclined vortices, (ii) multiple streamwise vortices, some of them powerful, and (iii) no apparent buffer layer structures. Each appears in about one third of the realizations. Conditional sampling based on local wall shear stress maxima and minima reveals two types of three-dimensional buffer layer structures that generate extreme stress events. The first structure develops as spanwise vorticity lifts from the wall abruptly and within a short distance of about 10 wall units, creating initially a vertical arch. Its only precursors are a slight velocity deficit that does not involve an inflection point and low levels of vertical vorticity. This arch is subsequently stretched vertically and in the streamwise direction, culminating in formation of a pair of inclined, counter-rotating vortices with similar strength and inclination angle exceeding 45°. A wall stress minimum exists under the point of initial lifting. A pair of stress maxima develops 35δυ downstream, on the outer (downflow) sides of the vortex pair and is displaced laterally by 35–40δυ from the minimum. This flow structure exists not only in the conditionally averaged field but in the instantaneous measurement as well and appears in 16.4% of the realizations. Most of the streamwise velocity deficit generated by this phenomenon develops during this initial lifting, but it persists between the pair of vortices. Distribution of velocity fluctuations shows that spanwise transport of streamwise momentum plays a dominant role and that vertical transport is small under the vortices. In other regions, e.g. during initial lifting, and between the vortices, vertical transport dominates. The characteristics of this structure are compared to early experimental findings, highlighting similarities and differences. Abundance of pairs of streamwise vortices with similar strength is inconsistent with conclusions of several studies based on analysis of direct numerical simulation (DNS) data. The second buffer layer structure generating high wall stresses is a single, predominantly streamwise vortex, with characteristic diameter of 20–40δυ and inclination angle of 12°. It generates an elongated, strong stress maximum on one side and a weak minimum on the other and has been observed in 20.4% of the realizations. Except for a limited region of sweep above the high-stress region, this low-lying vortex mostly induces spanwise momentum transport. This structure appears to be similar to those observed in several numerical studies.

An algebraic heat flux truncation model was derived for high-speed gaseous shear flows. The model was developed for high-temperature gases with caloric imperfections. Fluctuating dilatation moments were modelled via conservation of mass truncations. The present model provided significant improvements, up to 20%, in the temperature predictions over the gradient diffusion model for a Mach number ranging from 0.02 to 11.8. Analyses also showed that the near-wall dependence of the algebraic model agreed with expected scaling, where the constant Prandtl number model did not. This led to a simple modification of the turbulent Prandtl number model. Compressibility led to an explicit pressure gradient dependency with the present model. Analyses of a governing parameter indicated that these terms are negligibly small for low speeds. However, they may be important for high-speed flow.

In this theoretical study, a linear spatio-temporal analysis is performed on unconfined and confined inviscid jet/wake flows with surface tension in order to determine convective/absolute instability criteria. There is a single mode that is due to surface tension and many modes that are due to the jet/wake column. In the unconfined case, the full impulse response is considered in the entire outer flow. On the one hand, the surface tension mode propagates slowly in the cross-stream direction but dominates at the front and back of the wavepacket. On the other hand, the jet/wake column modes propagate more quickly in the cross-stream direction and therefore define the boundaries of the central region of the wavepacket. The flow is particularly unstable when these modes interact. For unconfined flows, it is found that at low and intermediate surface tensions the flow can be more absolutely unstable than that without surface tension but at high surface tensions the flow is stabilized. The effect of confinement has previously been studied but not with the inclusion of surface tension. Confinement and surface tension combined cause the transition from convective to absolute instability to occur even with significant coflow. This effect is examined over an infinite domain of density ratios and confinement.

Two-layer exchange flow through a contraction with both friction and barotropic forcing is modelled in terms of three parameters reflecting the friction and the strength and period of the barotropic forcing. In the appropriate limits, the results for steady flow with and without friction, and inviscid barotropically forced flow are recovered. The predicted time-dependent interface position compares well with laboratory experiments, improving on the inviscid formulation. The concurrent effects of friction and barotropic forcing on average exchange flow rate are determined. When friction is weak barotropic forcing increases the exchange rate. However, when friction is high, tidal forcing can result in a reduced exchange rate, a phenomena that we call tidal inhibition. When friction is weak maximal exchange occurs throughout the tidal cycle, but as friction is increased submaximal flow develops for longer and longer periods. As friction is increased even further the flow becomes hydraulically uncontrolled. The parameter range for major sea straits includes tidally enhanced and tidally inhibited flows, as well as maximal, submaximal and uncontrolled flows.

A theoretical model based on a depth-averaged version of two-phase flow equations is developed to describe the initiation of underwater granular avalanches. The rheology of the granular phase is based on a shear-rate-dependent critical state theory, which combines a critical state theory proposed by Roux & Radjai (1998), and a rheological model recently proposed for immersed granular flows. Using those phenomenological constitutive equations, the model is able to describe both the dilatancy effects experienced by the granular skeleton during the initial deformations and the rheology of wet granular media when the flow is fully developed. Numerical solutions of the two-phase flow model are computed in the case of a uniform layer of granular material fully immersed in a liquid and suddenly inclined from horizontal. The predictions are quantitatively compared with experiments by Pailha, Nicolas & Pouliquen (2008), who have studied the role of the initial volume fraction on the dynamics of underwater granular avalanches. Once the rheology is calibrated using steady-state regimes, the model correctly predicts the complex transient dynamics observed in the experiments and the crucial role of the initial volume fraction. Quantitative predictions are obtained for the triggering time of the avalanche, for the acceleration of the layer and for the pore pressure.

We consider the steady flow near a free surface at intermediate to high Reynolds numbers, both experimentally and theoretically. In our experiment, an axisymmetric capillary meniscus is suspended from a cylindrical tube, held slightly above a horizontal water surface. A flow of dyed water is released through the tube into the reservoir, and flow lines are thus recorded. At low Reynolds numbers, flow lines follow the free surface, and injected water spreads horizontally inside the container. Increasing the Reynolds number, the injected fluid penetrates to a certain distance into the bath, but ultimately follows the free surface. Above a critical Reynolds number of approximately 60, the flow separates from the free surface in the meniscus region and a jet projects vertically into the bath. We find no indication that the flow reattaches at higher Reynolds numbers, nor are our findings sensitive to surface contamination. We show theoretically and confirm experimentally that the separating streamline forms a right angle with the free surface.

The wall-shear stress distribution in turbulent duct flow has been assessed using the micro-pillar shear-stress sensor MPS3. The spatial resolution of the sensor line is 10.8l+ (viscous units) and the total field of view of 120l+ along the spanwise direction allows to capture characteristic dimensions of the wall-shear stress distribution at sufficiently high resolution. The results show the coexistence of low-shear and high-shear regions representing ‘footprints’ of near-wall coherent structures. The regions of low shear resemble long meandering bands locally interrupted by areas of higher shear stress. Conditional averages of the flow field indicate the existence of nearly streamwise counter-rotating vortices aligned in the streamwise direction. The results further show periods of very strong spanwise wall-shear stress to be related to the occurrence of high streamwise shear regions and momentum transfer towards the wall. These events go along with a spanwise oscillation and a meandering of the low-shear regions.

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of the wake of a circular disk placed normal to a uniform flow show that, as the Reynolds number is increased, the flow undergoes a sequence of successive bifurcations, each state being characterized by specific time and space symmetry breaking or recovering (Fabre, Auguste & Magnaudet, Phys. Fluids, vol. 20 (5), 2008, p. 1). To explain this bifurcation scenario, we investigate the stability of the axisymmetric steady wake in the framework of the global stability theory. Both the direct and adjoint eigenvalue problems are solved. The threshold Reynolds numbers Re and characteristics of the destabilizing modes agree with the study of Natarajan & Acrivos (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 254, 1993, p. 323): the first destabilization occurs for a stationary mode of azimuthal wavenumber m = 1 at RecA = 116.9, and the second destabilization of the axisymmetric flow occurs for two oscillating modes of azimuthal wavenumbers m ± 1 at RecB = 125.3. Since these critical Reynolds numbers are close to one another, we use a multiple time scale expansion to compute analytically the leading-order equations that describe the nonlinear interaction of these three leading eigenmodes. This set of equations is given by imposing, at third order in the expansion, a Fredholm alternative to avoid any secular term. It turns out to be identical to the normal form predicted by symmetry arguments. Though, all coefficients of the normal form are here analytically computed as the scalar product of an adjoint global mode with a resonant third-order forcing term, arising from the second-order base flow modification and harmonics generation. We show that all nonlinear interactions between modes take place in the recirculation bubble, as the contribution to the scalar product of regions located outside the recirculation bubble is zero. The normal form accurately predicts the sequence of bifurcations, the associated thresholds and symmetry properties observed in the DNS calculations.

The detailed investigation of an unstable meandering bubble plume created in a 2-m-diameter vessel with a water depth of 1.5 m is reported for void fractions up to 4% and bubble size of the order of 2.5 mm. Simultaneous particle image velocity (PIV) measurements of bubble and liquid velocities and video recordings of the projection of the plume on two vertical perpendicular planes were produced in order to characterize the state of the plume by the location of its centreline and its equivalent diameter. The data were conditionally ensemble averaged using only PIV sets corresponding to plume states in a range as narrow as possible, separating the small-scale fluctuations of the flow from the large-scale motions, namely plume meandering and instantaneous cross-sectional area fluctuations. Meandering produces an apparent spreading of the average plume velocity and void fraction profiles that were shown to remain self-similar in the instantaneous plume cross-section. Differences between the true local time-average relative velocities and the difference of the averaged phase velocities were measured; the complex variation of the relative velocity was explained by the effects of passing vortices and by the fact that the bubbles do not reach an equilibrium velocity as they migrate radially, producing momentum exchanges between high- and low-velocity regions. Local entrainment effects decrease with larger plume diameters, contradicting the classical dependence of entrainment on the time-averaged plume diameter. Small plume diameters tend to trigger ‘entrainment eddies’ that promote the inward-flow motion. The global turbulent kinetic energy was found to be dominated by the vertical stresses. Conditional averages according to the plume diameter showed that the large-scale motions did not affect the instantaneous turbulent kinetic energy distribution in the plume, suggesting that large scales and small scales are not correlated. With conditional averaging, meandering was a minor effect on the global kinetic energy and the Reynolds stresses. In contrast, plume diameter fluctuations produce a substantial effect on these quantities.

The creeping motion of a hydrodynamically ‘Janus’ spherical particle, whose surface is partitioned into two distinct regions, is investigated. On one region, fluid adjacent to the particle obeys the no-slip condition, whereas on the other, fluid slips past the particle. The fore-aft asymmetry of this ‘slip–stick’ sphere (Swan & Khair, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 606, 2008, p. 115) leads to a number of interesting results when it is placed in different flows, which is illustrated by computing the particle motion to first order in the ratio of slip length to particle radius. For example, in a pure straining field the sphere attains an equilibrium orientation either along the compressional or extensional axis of the flow, depending on the ratio of slip-to-stick surface areas. In a simple shear flow, on the other hand, the slip–stick sphere undergoes a periodic rotational motion, or Jeffrey orbit. Moreover, depending on its initial orientation, the particle can either follow a periodic {translational} orbit or undergo a net displacement along the flow direction. Lastly, to first order in the volume fraction of slip–stick spheres, the suspension rheology is non-Newtonian, with non-zero first and second normal stress differences.

In the present paper, the profiles of incipient spilling breaking waves with wavelengths ranging from 10 to 120cm were studied experimentally in clean water. Short-wavelength breakers were generated by wind, while longer-wavelength breakers were generated by a mechanical wavemaker, using either a dispersive focusing or a sideband instability mechanism. The crest profiles of these waves were measured with a high-speed cinematic laser-induced fluorescence technique. For all the wave conditions reported herein, wave breaking was initiated with a capillary-ripple pattern as described in Duncan et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 379, 1999, pp. 191–222). In the present paper, it is shown that at incipient breaking the crest shape is self-similar with two geometrical parameters that depend only on the slope of a particular point on the front face of the gravity wave. The scaling relationships appear to be universal for the range of wavelengths studied herein and hold for waves generated by mechanical wavemakers and by wind. The slope measure is found to be dependent on the wave phase speed and the rate of growth of the crest height prior to incipient breaking.

The motion of an initially quiescent shallow layer of fluid within an impulsively tilted flume is modelled using the nonlinear shallow water equations. Analytical solutions for the two-dimensional flow are constructed using the method of characteristics and, in regions where neither of the characteristic variables is constant, by adopting hodograph variables and using the Riemann construction for the solution. These solutions reveal that the motion is strongly influenced by the impermeable endwalls of the flume. They show that discontinuous solutions emerge after some period following the initiation of the flow and that for sufficiently long flumes there is a moving interface between wetted and dry regions. Using the hodograph variables we are able to track the evolution of the flow analytically. After the discontinuities develop, we also calculate the velocity and height fields by using jump conditions to express conservation of mass and momentum across the shock and thus we show how the hydraulic jump moves within the domain and how its magnitude grows. In addition to providing the behaviour of the flow in this physical scenario, this unsteady solution also provides an important test case for numerical algorithms designed to integrate the shallow water equations.

Under the assumptions of the linearized theory of small-amplitude water waves, it is proved that plane waves, normally incident upon a semi-immersed cylinder of uniform circular cross-section floating freely on the surface of a fluid of infinite depth, are capable of being totally reflected. Numerically, this is shown to occur at a single non-dimensional frequency. This remarkable result is used to construct examples of motion-trapped modes, involving pairs of freely floating cylinders moving either in phase or out of phase. The former case is equivalent to having a motion-trapped mode for a single such cylinder next to a rigid vertical wall. In the latter out-of-phase case, the pair of cylinders move as if they form the wetted sections of a single rigidly connected catamaran structure.

The effects are investigated of including inertial terms, in both small- and large-surface-tension limits, in a remodelling of the influential and fundamental problem first formulated by Moffatt and Pukhnachov in 1977: that of viscous thin-film free-surface Stokes flow exterior to a circular cylinder rotating about its horizontal axis in a vertical gravitational field.

An analysis of the non-dimensionalizations of previous related literature is made and the precise manner in which different rescalings lead to the asymptotic promotion or demotion of pure-inertial flux terms over gravitational-inertial terms is highlighted. An asymptotic mass-conserving evolution equation for a perturbed-film thickness is derived and solved using two-timescale asymptotics with a strained fast timescale. By using an algebraic manipulator to automate the asymptotics to high orders in the small expansion parameter of the ratio of the film thickness to the cylinder radius, consistent a posteriori truncations are obtained.

Via two-timescale and numerical solutions of the evolution equation, new light is shed on diverse effects of inertia in both small- and large-surface-tension limits, in each of which a critical Reynolds number is discovered above which the thin-film evolution equation has no steady-state solution due to the strength of the destabilizing inertial centrifugal force. Extensions of the theory to the treatment of thicker films are discussed.

We present results on parametrically forced capillary waves in a circular cylinder, obtained in the limit of large fluid depth, using two low-viscosity liquids whose surface tensions differ by an order of magnitude. The evolution of the wave patterns from the instability to the wave-breaking threshold is investigated in a forcing frequency range (f = ω/2π = 25–100 Hz) that is around the crossover frequency (ωot) from gravity to capillary waves (ωot/2≤ω/2≤4ωot). As expected, near the instability threshold the wave pattern depends on the container geometry, but as the forcing amplitude is increased the wave pattern becomes random, and the wall effects are insignificant. Near breaking, the distribution of random wavelengths can be fitted by a Gaussian. A new gravity–capillary scaling is introduced that is more appropriate, than the usual viscous scaling, for low-viscosity fluids and forcing frequencies <103 Hz. In terms of these scales, a criterion is derived to predict the crossover from capillary- to gravity-dominated breaking. A wave-breaking model is developed that gives the relation between the container and the wave accelerations in agreement with experiments. The measured drop size distribution of the ejected drops above the breaking threshold is well approximated by a gamma distribution. The mean drop diameter is proportional to the wavelength determined from the dispersion relation; this wavelength is also close to the most likely wavelength of the random waves at drop ejection. The dimensionless drop ejection rate is shown to have a cubic power law dependence on the dimensionless excess acceleration ε′d an inertial–gravitational ligament formation model is consistent with such a power law.

In this paper we study the transient surface cavity which is created by the controlled impact of a disk of radius h0 on a water surface at Froude numbers below 200. The dynamics of the transient free surface is recorded by high-speed imaging and compared to boundary integral simulations giving excellent agreement. The flow surrounding the cavity is measured with high-speed particle image velocimetry and is found to also agree perfectly with the flow field obtained from the simulations.

We present a simple model for the radial dynamics of the cavity based on the collapse of an infinite cylinder. This model accounts for the observed asymmetry of the radial dynamics between the expansion and the contraction phases of the cavity. It reproduces the scaling of the closure depth and total depth of the cavity which are both found to scale roughly as ∝ Fr1/2 with a weakly Froude-number-dependent prefactor. In addition, the model accurately captures the dynamics of the minimal radius of the cavity and the scaling of the volume Vbubble of air entrained by the process, namely, Vbubble/h03∝(1 + 0.26Fr1/2)Fr1/2.

We present an experimental study of a symmetric foil performing pitching oscillations in a vertically flowing soap film. By varying the frequency and amplitude of the oscillation we visualize a variety of wakes with up to 16 vortices per oscillation period, including von Kármán vortex street, inverted von Kármán vortex street, 2P wake, 2P+2S wake and novel wakes ranging from 4P to 8P. We map out the wake types in a phase diagram spanned by the width-based Strouhal number and the dimensionless amplitude. We follow the time evolution of the vortex formation near the round leading edge and the shedding process at the sharp trailing edge in detail. This allows us to identify the origins of the vortices in the 2P wake, to understand that two distinct 2P regions are present in the phase diagram due to the timing of the vortex shedding at the leading edge and the trailing edge and to propose a simple model for the vorticity generation. We use the model to describe the transition from 2P wake to 2S wake with increasing oscillation frequency and the transition from the von Kármán wake, typically associated with drag, to the inverted von Kármán wake, typically associated with thrust generation.

We report on experimental and numerical studies of pairs of cavitation bubbles growing and collapsing close to each other in a narrow gap. The bubbles are generated with a pulsed and focused laser in a liquid-filled gap of 15 μm height; during their lifetime which is shorter than 14 μs they expand to a maximum radius of up to Rmax = 38 μm. Their motion is recorded with high-speed photography at up to 500000 frames s−1. The separation at which equally sized bubbles are created, d, is varied from d = 46–140 μm which results into a non-dimensional stand-off distance, γ = d/(2Rmax), from 0.65 to 2. For large separation the bubbles shrink almost radially symmetric; for smaller separation the bubbles repulse each other during expansion and during collapse move towards each other. At closer distances we find a flattening of the proximal bubbles walls. Interestingly, due to the short lifetime of the bubbles (≤14 μs), the radial and centroidal motion can be modelled successfully with a two-dimensional potential flow ansatz, i.e. neglecting viscosity. We derive the equations for arbitrary configurations of two-dimensional bubbles. The good agreement between model and experiments supports that the fluid dynamics is essentially a potential flow for the experimental conditions of this study. The interaction force (secondary Bjerknes force) is long ranged dropping off only with 1/d as compared to previously studied three-dimensional geometries where the force is proportional to 1/d2.

We study numerically the two-dimensional flow past a circular cylinder as a prototypical transitional flow, and investigate the influence of a generic slip boundary condition on the wake dynamics. We show that slip significantly delays the onset of recirculation and shedding in the wake behind the cylinder. As expected, the drag on the cylinder decreases with slip, with an increased drag sensitivity for large Reynolds numbers. We also show that past the critical shedding Reynolds number, slip decreases the vorticity intensity in the wake, as well as the lift forces on the cylinder, but increases the shedding frequency. We further provide evidence that the shedding transition can be interpreted as a critical accumulation of surface vorticity, similarly to related studies on wake instability of axisymmetric bodies. Finally, we propose that our results could be used as a passive method to infer the effective friction properties of slipping surfaces.