Measurements are described of the fluid velocities close to rough beds oscillating in their own plane. The roughness with which most of the results were obtained consisted of smooth spheres closely packed in hexagonal formation. Some results are also given for beds of gravel. The beds were oscillated with simple harmonic motion in still air and the measurements were made with a hot-wire anemometer.

The measurements very close to the beds of smooth spheres show two maxima in the velocity profile during each half-cycle. One maximum corresponds to a component of velocity which varies nearly sinusoidally with time. The second forms quite a sharp peak and occurs close to ωt = 90°, 270°, where ω is the angular frequency of oscillation and t is time measured from the instant of maximum velocity of the plate. The phase at which this peak occurs shows little variation with distance from the bed. For values of βD > 3·0, where β = (ω/2ν)½, ν is the kinematic viscosity and D is the sphere diameter, the maximum velocity during each half-cycle is found at this peak over at least a certain range of distances from the bed. The variation with height of the nearly sinusoidal component of velocity is quite close to that given by Stokes’ (1851) solution for a flat plate. The peak at ωt = 90°, 270°, however, rises from zero at the bed to a maximum at a distance of about one-eighth of a sphere diameter above the crests and then falls off again.

The measurements with beds of gravel show a variation in velocity similar to that observed by Kalkanis (1957, 1964) and Sleath (1970). Because of the irregularity of the surface it is difficult to draw definite conclusions about the flow in the immediate vicinity of the bed.

A number of tests were carried out, with the beds of spheres, using a wire slanted at 45° to the bed in order to determine the velocity product uw.