This book highlights recent research advances in the area of turbulent flows from both industry and academia for applications in the area of Aerospace and Mechanical engineering. Contributions include modeling, simulations and experiments meant for researchers, professionals and students in the area.

Fluid Vortices is a comprehensive, up-to-date, research-level overview covering all salient flows in which fluid vortices play a significant role. The various chapters have been written by specialists from North America, Europe and Asia, making for unsurpassed depth and breadth of coverage. Topics addressed include fundamental vortex flows (mixing layer vortices, vortex rings, wake vortices, vortex stability, etc.), industrial and environmental vortex flows (aero-propulsion system vortices, vortex-structure interaction, atmospheric vortices, computational methods with vortices, etc.), and multiphase vortex flows (free-surface effects, vortex cavitation, and bubble and particle interactions with vortices). The book can also be recommended as an advanced graduate-level supplementary textbook. The first nine chapters of the book are suitable for a one-term course; chapters 10--19 form the basis for a second one-term course.

Since the inaugural symposium at the Pennsylvania State University in 1977, the venues for the series of biennial symposia on turbulent shear flows have alternated between the USA and Europe. For the Sixth Symposium, the first to be held in France, the city of Toulouse proved a natura] choice, being a centre for the aerospace industry, meteorological research and higher education. The meeting was hosted by the Paul Sabatier University on the southern perimeter of the city, and there nearly 300 workers in the field of turbulence converged to pronounce upon, debate and absorb the current issues in turbulent shear flows and to enjoy the unfailing September sunshine. The meeting had attracted more than 200 offers of papers from which just over 100 full papers and about 20 shorter communications in open forums could be accommodated. The present volume contains 28 of the original symposium presentations selected by the editors. Each contribution has been revised by its authors - sometimes quite extensively -in the light of the oral presentation. It is our hope that the selection provides a substantial statement of permanent interest on current research in the five areas covered by this book, i.e. fundamentals and closures, scalar transport and geophysical flows, aerodynamic flows, complex flows, and numerical simulations.

The existence and crucial role played by large-scale, organized motions in turbulent flows are now recognized by industrial, applied and fundamental researchers alike. It has become increasingly evident that coherent structures influence mixing, noise, vibration, heat transfer, drag, etc... The accelera tion of the development of both experimental and computational programs devoted to this topic has been evident at several recent international meet ings. One of the first questions which experimentalists or numerical analysts are faced with is: how can these structures be separated from the background turbulence? This is a nontrivial task because the coherent structures are gen erally embedded in a random field and the technique used to determine when and where certain structures are passing, or their averaged characteristics (in the more probable or dominant role sense) is directly related to the definition of the coherent structure. Several methods or approaches are available and the choice of a particular one is generally dependent on the desired informa tion. This choice depends not only on the definition of the structure, but also on the experimental and numerical capabilities available to the researcher.

A work on turbulent premixed combustion is important because of increased concern about the environmental impact of combustion and the search for new combustion concepts and technologies. An improved understanding of lean fuel turbulent premixed flames must play a central role in the fundamental science of these new concepts. Lean premixed flames have the potential to offer ultra-low emission levels, but they are notoriously susceptible to combustion oscillations. Thus, sophisticated control measures are inevitably required. The editors' intent is to set out the modeling aspects in the field of turbulent premixed combustion. Good progress has been made on this topic, and this cohesive volume contains contributions from international experts on various subtopics of the lean premixed flame problem.