A study has been made of the flow past thin, inflated lenticular aerofoils at zero angle of incidence. The configuration is an idealization of the flow past long low inflated buildings when the effects of the earth's boundary layer are neglected. It is shown theoretically, and confirmed experimentally, that the non-dimensional tension coefficient in the inflated membranes comprising the aerofoil is a unique function of the internal pressure coefficient divided by the square root of the excess-length ratio. This applies for excess length ratios up to at least 0·05 which corresponds to a thickness-to-chord ratio, wind off, of 0·28. The aerofoil is found to become unstable at negative internal pressures corresponding to tension coefficients of approximately 0·4.

The theory has also been used to predict the shape of the aerofoil and the pressure distribution over it. With increasing wind speed at positive internal pressures, the membrane theoretically changes shape from a circular arc to a form involving inflexion points and in all cases the contours are symmetrical about the half-chord point. The non-dimensional membrane slope at the leading and trailing edges agrees fairly well with the experimental values. However, the measured pressure distributions show some fore-and-aft asymmetry and the maximum thickness is slightly downwind of the half-chord point. Nevertheless the comparison between theory and experiment is satisfactory for small values of the excess-length ratio.

The mixing produced by dropping a horizontal grid through a sharp density interface is examined experimentally. The fraction of the available kinetic energy used to mix the fluid, the flux Richardson number Rf, is measured as a function of the overall Richardson number Ri0. It is found that Rf increases from zero as Ri0 does, reaches a maximum, and then decreases with further increase in Ri0. The final interface thickness is found to be a decreasing function of Ri0, and the equivalent vertical diffusion coefficient is calculated. Qualitative observations of the flow show that the final stages of the decay of motion in the interface are characterized by pancake-shaped modes with large horizontal and small vertical scales.

The role of large vortex structures in the evolution of a two-dimensional shear layer is studied numerically. The motion of up to 4096 vortices is followed on a 256 × 256 grid using the cloud-in-cell algorithm. The scaling predictions of self-preservation theory are confirmed for low-order velocity correlations, although the existence of vortex structures produces large fluctuations even in a simulation of this size. The simple picture of the shear layer as a line of vortex blobs, that merge pairwise thus thickening the layer, is not seen. On the contrary, the layer seems to thicken by the scattering of vortex structures of roughly fixed size about the midline. The size of the vortex structures does not scale with the layer thickness. A study of the entrainment of a passive marker shows that flow visualization experiments may have overestimated the size of the vortex structures. It appears that the finite area vortices have time to equilibrate between mergings, and the consequences of applying equilibrium statistical mechanics to their internal structure are explored. A simple model is presented which demonstrates how the size and separation of vortex structures may lock into a fixed ratio. This is precisely the type of mechanism that is needed to produce simple scaling in a flow that has initially several distinct length scales. A number of consistency checks on the numerical results are performed. In particular, the evolution of the same vortex configuration on two grids of different size is compared. This test showed that, although errors on subgrid scales do propagate to small wavenumbers, the dominant wavenumber of vorticity cascades back ahead of the peak in the error spectrum.

This paper presents a study of steady gravity currents entering a two-layer system, with the current travelling either along the boundary to form a boundary current, or between the two different layers to form an intrusion. It is shown that, at the front of an intrusion, the streamlines meet at angles of 120° at a stagnation point. For an energy-conserving current the volume inflow rate to the current, the velocity of propagation and the downstream depths are determined. In contrast to the pioneering study of Benjamin (1968), it is found that the depth of the current is not always uniquely determined and it is necessary to use some principle additional to the conservation relationships to determine which solution occurs. An appropriate principle is obtained by considering dissipative currents. In general, if the volume inflow rate to a current is prescribed, the current loses energy in order to maintain a momentum balance. We thus suggest the criterion that the energy dissipation is a maximum for a fixed volume inflow rate. It is postulated that the energy which is lost will go to form a stationary wave train behind the current. A nonlinear calculation is carried out to determine the amplitude and wavelength of these waves for intrusions. Such waves have been observed on intrusions in laboratory experiments and the results of the calculation are found to agree well with the experiments. Similar waves have not been observed on boundary currents because the resulting waves have too much energy and break.

We consider the free-convective flow from a heated sphere, in the Boussinesq approximation, at high Grashof number. The characteristics of the boundary layer close to the surface of the sphere are evaluated numerically, and the eruption of the fluid from the boundary layer into the plume above the sphere is discussed.

The shape of the liquid/gas interface of a weld pool is determined by the balance of gravitational and surface tension forces. Equilibrium profiles and stability criteria are derived for vertical and horizontal situations.

The classical series expansion procedure of Michell is used to calculate some new highest-wave solutions. These solutions are shown to correspond to the types of gravity waves studied recently by Chen & Saffman (1980). Results are presented for wave profiles, phase speeds, and kinetic and potential energies.

In this note we confirm the time dependence of the decay of disturbances in a stratified linear shear flow found by Eliassen, Høiland & Riis (1953) and by Booker & Bretherton (1967). The result differs from those of Case (1960b) and of Chimonas (1979) which are incorrect.

The incompressible flow in a labyrinth seal is computed using the ‘κ−ε’ turbulence model with a pressure-velocity computer code in order to explain leakage phenomena against the mean pressure gradient. The flow is axisymmetric between a rotating shaft and an enclosing cylinder at rest. The main stream in circumferential direction induces a secondary mean flow vortex pattern inside annular cavities on the surface of the shaft. The domain of interest is one such cavity of an enlarged model of a labyrinth seal, where the finite difference result of a computer program is compared with measurements obtained by a back-scattering laser-Doppler anemometer at a cavity Reynolds number of ∼ 3 × 104 and a Taylor number of ∼ 1·2 × 104. The turbulent kinetic energy and the turbulence dissipation rate are verified experimentally for a comparison with the result of the turbulence model.

The motion of a spherical microcapsule freely suspended in a simple shear flow is studied. The particle consists of a thin elastic spherical membrane enclosing an incompressible Newtonian viscous fluid. The motions of the internal liquid and of the suspending fluid are both described by Stokes equations. On the deformed surface of the membrane, continuity of velocities is imposed together with dynamic equilibrium of viscous and elastic forces. Since this problem is highly nonlinear, a regular perturbation solution is sought in the limiting case where the deviation from sphericity is small. In particular, the nonlinear theory of large deformation of membrane shells is expanded up to second-order terms. The deformation and orientation of the microcapsule are obtained explicitly in terms of the magnitude of the shear rate, the elastic coefficients of the membrane, the ratio of internal to external viscosities. It appears that the very viscous capsules are tilted towards the streamlines, whereas the less viscous particles are oriented at nearly 45° to the streamlines. The tank-treading motion of the membrane around the liquid contents is predicted by the model and appears as the consequence of a solid-body rotation superimposed upon a constant elastic deformation.