The subcritical transition in plane Poiseuille flow (generated in a long wind channel of rectangular cross-section) was studied experimentally. Cylinder-generated vortical disturbances were introduced into the parabolic flow (in the test section) or the inlet flow. The parabolic flow was also disturbed by a controlled periodic jet from a wall orifice. On the basis of the three kinds of observations, we come to the conclusion that the minimum transition Reynolds number is about 1000 and the related threshold intensity (of the external disturbance triggering the transition) is comparable to the maximum intensity of u-fluctuations in fully turbulent channel flows.

Three-dimensional numerical solutions are obtained describing convection with a square lattice in a layer heated from below with no-slip top and bottom boundaries. The limit of infinite Prandtl number and a linear dependence of the viscosity on temperature are assumed. The stability of the three-dimensional solutions with respect to disturbances fitting the square lattice is analysed. It is shown that convection in the form of two-dimensional rolls is stable for low variations of viscosity, while square-pattern convection becomes stable when the viscosity contrast between upper and lower parts of the fluid layer is sufficiently strong. The theoretical results are in qualitative agreement with experimental observations.

A two-dimensional analysis, based on linear surface-wave theory, is developed for an oscillating-water-column wave-energy device in water of arbitrary constant depth. The immersed part of the structure is assumed of shallow draught except for a submerged vertical reflecting wall. Both the cases of linear and nonlinear power take-off are considered. The results show that air compressibility can be important in practice, and its effects may in general be satisfactorily represented by linearization. The analysis indicates that using a turbine whose characteristic exhibits a phase difference between pressure and flow rate may be a method of strongly reducing the chamber length and turbine size with little change in the capability of energy extraction from regular waves. It was found in two examples of devices with strongly nonlinear power take-off that the maximum efficiency is only marginally inferior to what can be achieved in the linear case.

Steady finite-amplitude solutions for two-dimensional convection in a layer heated from below with stress-free boundaries are obtained numerically by a Galerkin method. The stability of the steady convection rolls with respect to arbitrary three-dimensional infinitesimal disturbances is investigated. Stability is found only in a small fraction of the Rayleigh-number-wavenumber space where steady solutions exist. The cross-roll instability and the oscillatory and monotonic skewed varicose instabilities are most important in limiting the stability of steady convection rolls. The Prandtlnumbers P = 0.71, 7, 104 areemphasized, but the stability boundaries are sufficiently smoothly dependent on the parameters of the problem to permit qualitative extrapolations to other Prandtl numbers.