The Orr–Sommerfeld equation is solved numerically using expansions in Chebyshev polynomials and the generalized Rayleigh quotient iteration. Accurate results for large values of the parameters are obtained, and these further verify the belief that plane Couette flow is stable to infinitesimal disturbances. For finite disturbances, a formal expansion based on the method of Stuart and Watson as modified by Reynolds & Potter is used. This method shows a transition to instability for a large enough amplitude.

Mass transport close to the sea bottom is investigated for simple harmonic waves around a body with a small horizontal dimension. For gravity waves it is shown that the mass transport very near the bottom points towards a convex corner, but near the top of the boundary layer its direction reverses. Possible implications for silting near a pile and a harbour entrance are discussed and some experimental evidence given. For tides, the Coriolis force introduces a spiralling variation within the boundary layer, and possible inferences for coastline modification are drawn.

The oscillation of the wall shear stress caused by imposing sound on a turbulent boundary-layer flow constitutes a boundary condition for the solution of the acoustic wave equation. The no-slip condition at the wall requires the excitation of a shear wave which is superimposed on the sound wave. The shear wave propagates into the turbulent medium. The wall impedance (shear stress/velocity) of streamwise polarized shear waves has been measured in two different ways, namely (a) by evaluating the phase velocity and the attenuation of a plane sound, wave which propagates in turbulent pipe flow, and (b) by evaluating the resonance frequency and the quality factor of a longitudinally vibrating glass pipe which carries turbulent flow. The results, which were obtained over a wide range of Strouhal numbers, exhibit very good agreement between the two measuring methods. The wall shear stress impedance is strongly affected by the turbulence. This indicates that the turbulent shear stress is modulated by the shear wave. At all measuring conditions, the propagation of the shear wave was confined essentially to the inner portion of the turbulent boundary layer. In principle, two different Strouhal numbers, based on inner and outer variables respectively, describe the dynamics of the Reynolds stress, even in the inner layer (Laufer & Badri Narayanan 1971). However, it turns out that the outer Strouhal number (based on the diameter and the centre-line velocity) has no noticeable effect on the wall shear stress impedance. The dependence of the impedance on the inner Strouhal number (based on the friction velocity and the viscosity) reveals that the shear wave is strongly reflected at the edge of the viscous sublayer. It is concluded that the stress-to-strain ratio at the edge of the viscous sublayer corresponds either to a viscoelastic medium or even to a medium with negative viscosity.

The propagation of waves in slightly inhomogeneous dispersive media is conveniently described by a geometrical or kinematic theory. In such frameworks the solution of the propagation problem is constructed by (a) deriving a dispersion relation and determining its characteristic lines and (b) solving an equation expressing the conservation of a field invariant like the wave action. This paper is concerned with the implementation of the last step under general field and boundary conditions. The method presented is based on the derivation of a variational system of differential equations for the geodesic elements of the wave front. The elementary cross-section of the wave front is obtained by integration and the principle of conservation of the field invariant directly yields the field amplitude. In addition, suitable jump conditions are derived for treating specular reflexions at solid boundaries. The method is illustrated by specific problems of interest in aeroacoustics.

In this paper we solve some model problems by the method of matched expansions and deduce some features of Green's function using the reciprocal theorem to demonstrate that scattering by density gradients can enhance the radiation efficiency of quadrupoles to that of dipoles. If a fluid is subjected to body forces close to and on both sides of a density interface, then the source system degenerates to a quadrupole only if the components of the forces perpendicular to the interface are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction and, additionally, the components of the forces per unit fluid density parallel to the interface are equal but opposite. In other cases dipole rather than quadrupole radiation efficiency is achieved. But we also show that, despite published assertions to the contrary, the radiation efficiency is not enhanced further and there is no monopole contribution to the radiated sound.

Calculated values of the three velocity components and measured values of the longitudinal component are reported for the flow of water in a 90° bend of 40 x 40mm cross-section; the bend had a mean radius of 92mm and was located downstream of a 1[sdot ]8m and upstream of a 1[sdot ]2m straight section. The experiments were carried out at a Reynolds number, based on the hydraulic diameter and bulk velocity, of 790 (corresponding to a Dean number of 368). Flow visualization was used to identify qualitatively the characteristics of the flow and laser-Doppler anemometry to quantify the velocity field. The results confirm and quantify that the location of maximum velocity moves from the centre of the duct towards the outer wall and, in the 90° plane, is located around 85% of the duct width from the inner wall. Secondary velocities up to 65% of the bulk longitudinal velocity were calculated and small regions of recirculation, close to the outer corners of the duct and in the upstream region, were also observed.

The calculated results were obtained by solving the Navier–Stokes equations in cylindrical co-ordinates. They are shown to exhibit the same trends as the experiments and to be in reasonable quantitative agreement even though the number of node points used to discretize the flow for the finite-difference solution of the differential equations was limited by available computer time and storage. The region of recirculation observed experimentally is confirmed by the calculations. The magnitude of the various terms in the equations is examined to determine the extent to which the details of the flow can be represented by reduced forms of the Navier–Stokes equations. The implications of the use of so-called ‘partially parabolic’ equations and of potential- and rotational-flow analysis of an ideal fluid are quantified.

A solution to the dispersion of small particles suspended in a turbulent fluid is presented, based on the approximation proposed by Phythian for the dispersion of fluid points in an incompressible random fluid. Motion is considered in a frame moving with the mean velocity of the fluid, the forces acting on the particle being taken as gravity and a fluid drag assumed linear in the particle velocity relative to that of the fluid. The probability distribution of the fluid velocity field in this frame is taken as Gaussian, homogeneous, isotropic, stationary and of zero mean. It is shown that, in the absence of gravity, the long-time particle diffusion coefficient is in general greater than that of the fluid, approaching with increasing particle relaxation time a value consistent with the particle being in an Eulerian frame of reference. The effect of gravity is consistent with Yudine's effect of crossing trajectories, reducing unequally the particle diffusion in directions normal to and parallel to the direction of the gravitational field. To characterize the effect of flow and gravity on particle diffusion it has been found useful to use a Froude number defined in terms of the turbulent intensity rather than the mean velocity. Depending upon the value of this number, it is found that the particle integral time scale may initially decrease with increasing particle relaxation time though it eventually rises and approaches the particle relaxation time. It is finally shown how this analysis may be extended to include the extra forces generated by the fluid and particle accelerations.

High-frequency fluctuations in temperature and velocity were measured at a height of 2 m above a harvested, nearly level field of rye grass. Conditions were both stably and unstably stratified. Reynolds numbers ranged from 370000 to 740000. Measurements of velocity were made with a hot-wire anemometer and measurements of temperature with a platinum resistance element which had a diameter of 0[sdot ]5 μm and a length of 1 mm. Thirteen runs ranging in length from 78 to 238 s were analysed.

Spectra of velocity fluctuations are consistent with previously reported universal forms. Spectra of temperature, however, exhibit an increase in slope with increasing wavenumber as the maximum in the one-dimensional dissipation spectrum is approached. The peak of the one-dimensional dissipation spectrum for temperature fluctuations occurs at a higher wavenumber than that of simultaneous spectra of the dissipation of velocity fluctuations. It is suggested that the change in slope of the temperature spectra and the dissimilarity between temperature and velocity spectra may be due to spatial dissimilarity in the dissipation of temperature and velocity fluctuations. The temperature spectra are compared with a theoretical prediction for fluids with large Prandtl number, due to Batchelor (1959). Even though air has a Prandtl number of 0[sdot ]7, the observations are in qualitative agreement with predictions of the theory. The non-dimensional wavenumber at which the increase in slope occurs is about 0[sdot ]02, in good agreement with observations in the ocean reported by Grant et al. (1968).

For the two runs for which the stratification was stable, the normalized spectra of the temperature derivative fall on average slightly below the mean of the spectra of the remaining runs in the range in which the slope is approximately one-third. Hence the Reynolds number may not have always been sufficiently high to satisfy completely the conditions for an inertial subrange.

Universal inertial-subrange constants were directly evaluated from one-dimensional dissipation spectra and found to be 0[sdot ]54 and 1[sdot ]00 for velocity and temperature, respectively. The constant for velocity is consistent with previously reported values, while the value for temperature differs from some of the previous direct estimates but is only 20% greater than the mean of the indirect estimates. This discrepancy may be explained by the neglect in the indirect estimates of the divergence terms in the conservation equation for the variance of temperature fluctuations. There is weak evidence that the one-dimensional constant, and hence the temperature spectra, may depend upon the turbulence Reynolds number, which varied from 1200 to 4300 in the observations reported.

Linearized theory is used to study the unsteady flow in a supersonic cascade with in-passage shock waves. We use the Wiener–Hopf technique to obtain a closed-form analytical solution for the supersonic region. To obtain a solution for the rotational flow in the subsonic region we must solve an infinite set of linear algebraic equations. The analysis shows that it is possible to correlate quantitatively the oscillatory shock motion with the Kutta condition at the trailing edges of the blades. This feature allows us to account for the effect of shock motion on the stability of the cascade.

Unlike the theory for a completely supersonic flow, the present study predicts the occurrence of supersonic bending flutter. It therefore provides a possible explanation for the bending flutter that has recently been detected in aircraft-engine compressors at higher blade loadings.