The low horizontal wavenumber limit of waves on a plane under a constant rotation rate (the so-called $f$-plane) is degenerate: all wave frequencies asymptotically approach the inertial frequency. This degeneracy has no serious consequence when the rotation axis is perpendicular to the plane (traditional $f$-plane approximation). However, when the rotation axis is tilted from the vertical direction (non-traditional $f$-plane approximation), we encounter a type of ‘singularity’ in the sense that each term of the Taylor expansion of the wave frequency in the horizontal Coriolis parameter diverges in the limit of low horizontal wavenumber. Such a drastic change of the solution behaviour by adding the horizontal Coriolis parameter in the low horizontal wavenumber limit is rather counter-intuitive, because the conventional scale analysis suggests that the horizontal Coriolis effect is negligible in this limit. However, the degeneracy of the system makes this effect critical with a need for considering higher-order terms. Two possible asymptotic limits are proposed for resolving this degeneracy. One of them, as it turns out, amounts to a representation of the wave frequency by a Taylor expansion in the horizontal wavenumber.

The effect of viscosity and thermal conduction on the acoustics in a shear layer above an impedance wall is investigated numerically and asymptotically by solving the linearised compressible Navier–Stokes equations (LNSE). It is found that viscothermal effects can be as important as shear, and therefore including shear while neglecting viscothermal effects by solving the linearised Euler equations (LEE) is questionable. In particular, the damping rate of upstream-propagating waves is found to be under-predicted by the LEE, and dramatically so in certain instances. The effects of viscosity on stability are also found to be important. Short wavelength disturbances are stabilised by viscosity, greatly altering the characteristic wavelength and maximum growth rate of instability. For the parameters considered here (chosen to be typical of aeroacoustic situations), the Reynolds number below which the flow stabilises ranges from $10^{5}$ to $10^{7}$. By assuming a thin but non-zero-thickness boundary layer, asymptotic analysis leads to a system of boundary layer governing equations for the acoustics. This system may be solved numerically to produce an effective impedance boundary condition, applicable at the wall of a uniform inviscid flow, that accounts for both the shear and viscosity within the boundary layer. An alternative asymptotic analysis in the high-frequency limit yields a different set of boundary layer equations, which are solved to yield analytic solutions. The acoustic mode shapes and axial wavenumbers from both asymptotic analyses compare well with numerical solutions of the full LNSE. A closed-form effective impedance boundary condition is derived from the high-frequency asymptotics, suitable for application in frequency domain numerical simulations. Finally, surface waves are considered, and it is shown that a viscous flow over an impedance lining supports a greater number of surface wave modes than an inviscid flow.

We investigate numerically the transitions and oscillatory regimes in two-layer quasigeostrophic hetons and tripoles composed of patches of uniform potential vorticity (PV). The contour-surgery algorithms are employed, in which either some symmetries are preserved, or asymmetric evolution of the vortex structures is allowed, induced by generally asymmetric numerical noise. The fluid layers are assumed equally thick. First, the evolution of hetons is considered. A heton, a steadily translating pair of vortices residing in different layers, is antisymmetric in the sense that the two PV patches are opposite in sign and symmetric in shape about the axis of translation. A feebly stable heton, when exposed to weak antisymmetric perturbations, responds by developing an oscillation, which culminates in a transition to a new, substantially robust oscillating heton. The results obtained reinforce our earlier findings regarding the modon-to-modon transition (Kizner et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 468, 2002, pp. 239–270; Kizner, Phys. Fluids, vol. 18 (5), 2006, 056601; Kizner, UTAM Symposium on Hamiltonian Dynamics, Vortex Structures, Turbulence (ed. Borisov et al.), IUTAM Bookseries, vol. 6, 2008, pp. 125–133. Springer) and clarify the transition mechanism. Asymmetric perturbations might cause a heton-to-tripole transition. Next we consider the transitions and oscillations in carousel tripoles exposed to weak, generally asymmetric perturbations. A carousel tripole is a steadily rotating centrally symmetric ensemble of three PV patches, with the central vortex being located in one layer and the two remaining, satellite vortices in the other layer. Depending on the tripoles’ size, hence also on the shape of the satellite vortices, three different types of transition are revealed, the transition to a ringed (shielded) monopole being one of them. Whereas the transition of a ringed monopole into a tripole is a known phenomenon, the reverse transition in baroclinic flows is detected for the first time.

Predicting how much mixing occurs when a given amount of energy is injected into a Boussinesq fluid is a long-standing problem in stratified turbulence. The huge number of degrees of freedom involved in these processes renders extremely difficult a deterministic approach to the problem. Here we present a statistical mechanics approach yielding a prediction for a cumulative, global mixing efficiency as a function of a global Richardson number and the background buoyancy profile. Assuming random evolution through turbulent stirring, the theory predicts that the inviscid, adiabatic dynamics is attracted irreversibly towards an equilibrium state characterised by a smooth, stable buoyancy profile at a coarse-grained level, upon which are fine-scale fluctuations of velocity and buoyancy. The convergence towards a coarse-grained buoyancy profile different from the initial one corresponds to an irreversible increase of potential energy, and the efficiency of mixing is quantified as the ratio of this potential energy increase to the total energy injected into the system. The remaining part of the energy is lost into small-scale fluctuations. We show that for sufficiently large Richardson number, there is equipartition between potential and kinetic energy, provided that the background buoyancy profile is strictly monotonic. This yields a mixing efficiency of 0.25, which provides statistical mechanics support for previous predictions based on phenomenological kinematics arguments. In the general case, the cumulative, global mixing efficiency predicted by the equilibrium theory can be computed using an algorithm based on a maximum entropy production principle. It is shown in particular that the variation of mixing efficiency with the Richardson number strongly depends on the background buoyancy profile. This approach could be useful to the understanding of mixing in stratified turbulence in the limit of large Reynolds and Péclet numbers.

We have performed numerical calculations of fluid mixing driven by Rayleigh–Taylor instability for density profiles based on the stratified density experiments of Lawrie & Dalziel (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 688, 2011, pp. 507–527) and Davies Wykes & Dalziel (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 756, 2014, pp. 1027–1057). We find that the late-time mixing profiles are similar to their experimental results for similar initial conditions; we consider a range of additional initial conditions to investigate the robustness of the results. A model for the late-time structure of the mixing layer, based on the maximization of configurational entropy, is compared with the results of the numerical calculations, and shows good agreement.

The Lagrangian paths, horizontal Lagrangian drift velocity, $U_{L}$, and the Lagrangian excess period, $T_{L}-T_{0}$, where $T_{L}$ is the Lagrangian period and $T_{0}$ the Eulerian linear period, are obtained by particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) in non-breaking periodic laboratory waves at a finite water depth of $h=0.2~\text{m}$, wave height of $H=0.49h$ and wavenumber of $k=0.785/h$. Both $U_{L}$ and $T_{L}-T_{0}$ are functions of the average vertical position of the paths, $\bar{Y}$, where $-1<\bar{Y}/h<0$. The functional relationships $U_{L}(\bar{Y})$ and $T_{L}-T_{0}=f(\bar{Y})$ are very similar. Comparisons to calculations by the inviscid strongly nonlinear Fenton method and the second-order theory show that the streaming velocities in the boundary layers below the wave surface and above the fluid bottom contribute to a strongly enhanced forward drift velocity and excess period. The experimental drift velocity shear becomes more than twice that obtained by the Fenton method, which again is approximately twice that of the second-order theory close to the surface. There is no mass flux of the periodic experimental waves and no pressure gradient. The results from a total number of 80 000 experimental particle paths in the different phases and vertical positions of the waves show a strong collapse. The particle paths are closed at the two vertical positions where $U_{L}=0$.