Symmetric laminar incompressible flow past a parabolic cylinder is considered for all Reynolds numbers. In the limit as the Reynolds number based on nose radius of curvature goes to zero, the solution for flow past a semi-infinite flat plate is obtained. All solutions are found by using an implicit alternating direction method to solve the time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations. The solutions found are compared with various other exact and approximate solutions. Results are presented for skin friction, surface pressure, friction drag and pressure drag. The numerical method developed is of particular interest since it combines the alternating direction method with the implicit method for solving the boundary-layer equations. This leads to fast convergence and may be of use in other problems.

This paper describes the results of a series of measurements made using a single beam schlieren system to investigate the density fluctuations present in the initial region of a supersonic axisymmetric turbulent jet with a Mach number of 1-82 in the flow a t the nozzle exit. A preheater was used to reduce the difference between the jet static temperature and that of the surrounding air to a relatively low level. The results show that significant density fluctuations are present in the potential core of the jet and that the distribution of fluctuating intensity across the shear layer differs from that obtained with a subsonic jet without preheating.

A general solution of the linear long-wave equation is obtained for arbitrary ground motion on a uniformly sloping beach. Numerical results are presented for specific shapes and time histories of ground motion. Near-shore large amplitude waves are also investigated using non-linear theory.

Plasma motions in the gaps between successive red cells in narrow-capillary blood flow are obtained in an idealized model, using a series of eigenfunctions to represent the disturbance to a basic Poiseuille flow created by the cells. The flow is matched, in the narrow entry and exit regions, to the lubrication flow in the constricted zone around the red cell (Fitz-Gerald 1969). Basically, the circulating toroidal motion predicted by Prothero & Burton (1961) is obtained in a reference frame in which the cells are considered stationary. Small secondary circulations are also found near the axis and close to the red cells, whose intensity is controlled by the amount of leakback past the cells. Zones of high shear are found along the capillary wall and in some cases on part of the red-cell face; implications of this for mass transport are discussed (see §4). Because of the unusual behaviour of the slowest-decaying dominant eigenfunction circulation and wall shear increase as the cell spacing decreases, contrary to expectation, until the spacing becomes very small indeed.

The intrinsic equation governing the curvature K and the torsion τ of an isolated very thin vortex filament without stretching in an incompressible inviscid fluid is reduced to a non-linear Schrödinger equation \[ \frac{{\rm l}}{i}\frac{\partial \psi}{\partial t} = \frac{\partial^2\psi}{\partial s^2}+{\textstyle\frac{1}{2}}(|\psi|^2+A)\psi, \] where t is the time, s the length measured along the filament, ψ is the complex variable \[ \psi = \kappa\exp\left(i\int_0^{s}\tau \,ds\right) \] and is a function oft. It is found that this equation yields a solution describing the propagation of a loop or a hump of helical motion along a line vortex, with a constant velocity 2τ. The relation to the system of intrinsic equations derived by Betchov (1965) is discussed.

The semi-empirical heat-transfer laws of Collis & Williams (1959) and Davies & Fisher (1964) give values of the heat-transfer rates for the flow past fine wires which are generally very different from one another. This paper describes some measurements of heat-transfer and convective time constants which show that the relationship of Collis & Williams is the more representative expression.

The physiology of the cochlea (part of the inner ear) is briefly examined in conjunction with a description of the ‘place’ theory of hearing. The role played fluid motions is seen to be of importance, and some attempts to bring fluid mechanics into a theory of hearing are reviewed. Following some general fluid-mechanical considerations a potential flow model of the cochlea is examined in some detail. A basic difference between this and previous investigations is that here we treat an enclosed two-dimensional cavity as opposed to one-dimensional and open two-dimensional models studied earlier. Also the two time-scale aspect of the problem, as a possible explanation for nonlinear effects in hearing, has not previously been considered. Thus observations on mechanical models indicate that potential flow models are applicable for times of the same scale as the frequency of the driving acoustic inputs. For larger time scales mechanical models show streaming motions which dominate the qualitative flow picture. The analytical study of these effects is left for a future paper.

Source-sink flows in a rotating pie-shaped basin provide a laboratory analogue of wind-driven ocean circulation (Stommel, Arons & Faller 1958). Experiments and theory are presented here for flows which are mildly nonlinear. Theory and experiment show satisfactory agreement for the intense flow in the western boundary-layer region which contains the strongest nonlinear effects. The strengths of the sources and sinks were increased in the experiments in an attempt to induce an instability in the western boundary layer. However, the western boundary layer was always stable, even for relatively large Rossby numbers. Photographs from experiments with a basin of semicircular cross-section show the difference between eastern and western boundary layers in a striking manner.

Most of the wave resistance of blunt bow displacement ships is caused by the bow-breaking wave. A theoretical study of the phenomenon for the two-dimensional steady flow past a blunt body of semi-infinite length is presented. The exact equations of free-surface gravity flow are solved approximately by two perturbation expansions. The small Froude number solution, representing the flow beneath an unbroken free surface before the body, is carried out to second order. The breaking of the free surface is assumed to be related to a local Taylor instability, and the application of the stability criterion determines the value of the critical Froude number which characterizes breaking. The high Froude number solution is based on the model of a jet detaching from the bow and not returning to the flow field. The outer expansion of the equations yields the linearized gravity flow equations, which are solved by the Wiener-Hopf technique. The inner expansion gives a nonlinear gravity-free flow in the vicinity of the bow a t zero order. The matching of the inner and outer expansions provides the jet thickness as well as the associated drag.

This paper investigates the boundary-layer characteristics on a helical blade of large chord length, enclosed in an annulus and rotating in a fluid otherwise at rest. The three-dimensional form of momentum integral equations is derived, and used to predict the boundary-layer growth and limiting streamline angles on the blade surface. The measurements are in general agreement with the predictions. The wall shear stress correlation, which includes both Reynolds number and rotation parameters, valid for a rotating blade operating at zero pressure gradient, is derived. Radial and tangential velocity profiles, the tangential component of turbulence intensity and blade static pressures are measured at several locations on the blade surface. The nature of flow near the blade tip is discussed. An expression for the radial velocity profile, valid in the outer region of the boundary layer, is derived theoretically.

An approximate binary collision procedure is devised for the loaded-sphere molecular model and is used with Bird's direct simulation technique for computer experiments on diatomic gases. The collision procedure is tested by simulating the approach to equilibrium of a constant-speed gas of loaded spheres and good agreement with Jeans's (1904) theoretical prediction is obtained. The procedure is then used to study the structure of normal shock waves in the diatomic gas, giving mean velocity, density and temperature profiles. It is found that the present procedure consumes considerably more computer time than comparable simulations of monatomic gases.

The deformation of a liquid drop immersed in a conducting fluid by the imposition of a uniform electric field is investigated. The flow field set up is due to the surface charge and the tangential electric field stress over the surface of the drop, and the rotationality of the Lorentz force which is set up by the electric current and the associated magnetic field. It is shown that when the fluids are poor conductors and good dielectrics the effects of the Lorentz force are minimal and the flow field is due to the stresses of the electric field tangential to the surface of the drop, in agreement with other authors. When, however, the fluids are highly conducting and poor dielectrics the effects of the Lorentz force may be predominant, especially for larger drops.

The stability of spiral flow between rotating and sliding cylinders is considered. In the limit of narrow gap, a’ modified’ energy theory is constructed. This theory exploits the consequences of assuming the existence of a preferred spiral direction along which disturbances do not vary. The flow is also analyzed from the viewpoint of linearized theory. Both problems depend strongly on the sign of Rayleigh's discriminant, – 2Ωζ. Here Ω is the component of angular velocity, and ζ is the component of total vorticity of the basic flow in the direction perpendicular to the spiral ribbons on which the disturbance is constant. When the discriminant is negative, there is evidently no instability to infinitesimal disturbances, and the spiral disturbance whose energy increases at the smallest R is a roll whose axis is perpendicular to the stream. This restores and generalizes Orr's non-linear results for disturbances having a preferred spiral direction. When the discriminant is positive, the critical disturbances of linear theory and the modified energy theory are spiral vortices. The differences between the energy and linear limits can be made smaller in the restricted class of disturbances with coincidence achieved for axisymmetric disturbances in the rotating cylinder problem in the limit of narrow gap. For the sliding-rotating case, the critical disturbance of the linear theory appears as a periodic wave in a co-ordinate system fixed on the outer cylinder. This wave has a dimensionless frequency equal to - ½ a sin (χ-ψ), where a is the wave-number, χ is the angle between the pipe axis and the direction of motion of the inner cylinder relative to the outer one, and ψ is the disturbance spiral angle.

Instability limits, frequencies and wave-numbers are computed numerically when the cylinder gap is not narrow. These are in even closer agreement with Ludwieg's experimental results than the approximate results which were given in part 1.

The linear initial-value problem of a partially mixed cylindrical wake in a, uniformly stratified fluid is formulated and exact solutions are given for the density and velocity fields inside and just outside the original cylinder. An asymptotic expression for the far-field internal wave radiation is given and the corresponding solutions for a spherical wake geometry are noted. The treatment emphasizes the inadequancy of the usual linear Boussinesq approximation to describe the detailed nature of similar problems, in particular the fully mixed wake-collapse problem.