A nonlinear theory is developed for a recent wave energy converter design inspired by the mechanics of animal arteries. The device is a long and hollow rubber tube immersed beneath the sea surface. Excited by passing water waves outside, pressure waves are resonated inside the tube and advance toward the stern to spin a turbine for power production. To account for significant magnification, the classical linear theory of blood vessels is modified. Diffraction is neglected but nonlinearity and wall friction are included. The spatial evolution of harmonic amplitudes is shown to be governed by a dynamical system similar to that in nonlinear optics. The maximum available power flux is predicted as a function of the tube length and other structural parameters. It is hoped that the theory may assist further development of the novel device.

Kolmogorov flow in two dimensions – the two-dimensional (2D) Navier–Stokes equations with a sinusoidal body force – is considered over extended periodic domains to reveal localised spatiotemporal complexity. The flow response mimics the forcing at small forcing amplitudes but beyond a critical value develops a long wavelength instability. The ensuing state is described by a Cahn–Hilliard-type equation and as a result coarsening dynamics is observed for random initial data. After further bifurcations, this regime gives way to multiple attractors, some of which possess spatially localised time dependence. Co-existence of such attractors in a large domain gives rise to interesting collisional dynamics which is captured by a system of 5 (1-space and 1-time) partial differential equations (PDEs) based on a long wavelength limit. The coarsening regime reinstates itself at yet higher forcing amplitudes in the sense that only longest-wavelength solutions remain attractors. Eventually, there is one global longest-wavelength attractor which possesses two localised chaotic regions – a kink and antikink – which connect two steady one-dimensional (1D) flow regions of essentially half the domain width each. The wealth of spatiotemporal complexity uncovered presents a bountiful arena in which to study the existence of simple invariant localised solutions which presumably underpin all of the observed behaviour.

Taylor–Couette flow in a compressible perfect gas is studied. The onset of instability is examined as a function of the Reynolds numbers of the inner and outer cylinder, the Mach number of the flow and the Prandtl number of the gas. We focus on the case of a wide gap, with radius ratio 0.5. We find new modes of instability at high Prandtl number, which can allow oscillatory axisymmetric modes to onset first. We also find that onset can occur even when the angular momentum increases outwards, so that the classical Rayleigh criterion can be violated in the compressible case. We have also considered the case of counter-rotating cylinders, where the $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}m=0$ and $m=1$ modes can onset simultaneously to give a codimension 2 bifurcation, leading to the formation of complex flow patterns. In compressible flow we also find codimension 3 points. The Mach number and the critical inner and outer Reynolds numbers can be adjusted so that the two neutral curves for the $m=0$ and $m=1$ modes touch rather than cross. Complex codimension 3 points occur more readily in the compressible case than in the Boussinesq case, and they are expected to lead to a rich nonlinear behaviour.

Based on a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of a temporally evolving mixing layer, we present a detailed study of the turbulent/non-turbulent (T/NT) interface that is defined using the two most common procedures in the literature, namely either a vorticity or a scalar criterion. The different detection approaches are examined qualitatively and quantitatively in terms of the interface position, conditional statistics and orientation of streamlines and vortex lines at the interface. Computing the probability density function (p.d.f.) of the mean location of the T/NT interface from vorticity and scalar allows a detailed comparison of the two methods, where we observe a very good agreement. Furthermore, conditional mean profiles of various quantities are evaluated. In particular, the position p.d.f.s for both criteria coincide and are found to follow a Gaussian distribution. The terms of the governing equations for vorticity and passive scalar are conditioned on the distance to the interface and analysed. At the interface, vortex stretching is negligible and the displacement of the vorticity interface is found to be determined by diffusion, analogous to the scalar interface. In addition, the orientation of vortex lines at the vorticity and the scalar based T/NT interface are analyzed. For both interfaces, vorticity lines are perpendicular to the normal vector of the interface, i.e. parallel to the interface isosurface.

The instability of the hub vortex observed in wind turbine wakes has recently been studied by Iungo et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 737, 2013, pp. 499–526) via local stability analysis of the mean velocity field measured through wind tunnel experiments. This analysis was carried out by neglecting the effect of turbulent fluctuations on the development of the coherent perturbations. In the present paper, we perform a stability analysis taking into account the Reynolds stresses modelled by eddy-viscosity models, which are calibrated on the wind tunnel data. This new formulation for the stability analysis leads to the identification of one clear dominant mode associated with the hub vortex instability, which is the one with the largest overall downstream amplification. Moreover, this analysis also predicts accurately the frequency of the hub vortex instability observed experimentally. The proposed formulation is of general interest for the stability analysis of swirling turbulent flows.

We present results of direct numerical simulation of incompressible fluid flow over a thick bed of mobile spherically shaped particles. The algorithm is based upon the immersed-boundary technique for fluid–solid coupling and uses a soft-sphere model for the solid–solid contact. Two parameter points in the laminar flow regime are chosen, leading to the emergence of sediment patterns classified as ‘small dunes’, while one case under turbulent flow conditions leads to ‘vortex dunes’ with significant flow separation on the lee side. The wavelength, amplitude and propagation speed of the patterns extracted from the spanwise-averaged fluid–bed interface are found to be consistent with available experimental data. The particle transport rates are well represented by available empirical models for flow over a plane sediment bed in both the laminar and the turbulent regimes.

We present an equilibrium solution of plane Couette flow that is exponentially localized in both the spanwise and streamwise directions. The solution is similar in size and structure to previously computed turbulent spots and localized, chaotically wandering edge states of plane Couette flow. A linear analysis of dominant terms in the Navier–Stokes equations shows how the exponential decay rate and the wall-normal overhang profile of the streamwise tails are governed by the Reynolds number and the dominant spanwise wavenumber. Perturbations of the solution along its leading eigenfunctions cause rapid disruption of the interior roll-streak structure and formation of a turbulent spot, whose growth or decay depends on the Reynolds number and the choice of perturbation.