This book contains original peer-reviewed articles written by some of the most prominent international physicists active in the field of hydrodynamics. The topic is entirely devoted to the study of the transitional regimes of incompressible viscous flow found at the onset of turbulent flows. Nine articles written for this 2020 Special Issue of the journal Entropy (MDPI) have been gathered at the crossroads of fluid mechanics, statistical physics, complexity theory, and applied mathematics. They include experimental, analytic, and computational material of an academic level that has not been published anywhere else.

This book contains original peer-reviewed articles written by some of the most prominent international physicists active in the field of hydrodynamics. The topic is entirely devoted to the study of the transitional regimes of incompressible viscous flow found at the onset of turbulent flows. Nine articles written for this 2020 Special Issue of the journal Entropy (MDPI) have been gathered at the crossroads of fluid mechanics, statistical physics, complexity theory, and applied mathematics. They include experimental, analytic, and computational material of an academic level that has not been published anywhere else.

A research program was carried out to investigate turbulent mixing in stably stratified shear flows with the hope of gaining an improved understanding of stably stratified nocturnal boundary layers. The program was mainly laboratory experimental, supplemented by theoretical and numerical developments. The flow configuration consisted of a three-layer system, with upper turbulent layer driven over the lower stratified, quiescent, layer while an intermediate (inversion) layer sandwiched between these two layers. The studies included the nature of instabilities, intermittent generation of turbulence, sustenance and decay of turbulence under varying background conditions (essentially determined by the Richardson number) and ensuing turbulent mixing in the inversion layer. An unprecedented volume of laboratory data were gathered during the program, which enabled to delve into the mechanics and energetics of mixing in stable boundary layers. The laboratory results were compared with, and was used to gain insights on, field observations. Also, the parameterizations developed were compared with those currently used in numerical models. A meso-scale numerical model also was used to check the efficacy of some of the laboratory-based parameterizations.

The theme of this thesis is transition to turbulence in linearly stable shear flows. Laminar-turbulent intermittency and hysteresis are typical feature of these flows at transitional Reynolds numbers, characterizing a subcritical scenario. Subcritical transition is a dynamically rich phenomenon in nature and has been scrutinized for over a century. The critical Reynolds number for the transition and its physical mechanisms are fundamental problems in fluid dynamics and are still not fully understood. These questions are addressed in this thesis by performing direct numerical simulations of ...

The Fourth International Symposium on Turbulent Shear Flows took place at Karlsruhe University in Germany. The papers presented at this Symposium encompassed a similar range to that of the previous meetings, with greater emphasis placed on experimental work, and continued a trend towards the examination of complex flows. Once again, three dimensional, recirculating and reacting flows featured strongly in the programme and were complemented by consideration of two-phase flows and discussions of both numerical and experimental techniques. The Symposium brought together some 300 participants from all over the world, and it was evident that there is a need for Turbulent Shear Flows Symposia, in order to obtain and communicate new information useful to researchers in the field of turbulent flows and of interest to engineers who design flow equipment. This volume contains 27 papers selected from more than 100 presentations at the Symposium which have been reviewed and edited before publication. Together they provide an indication of the status of current knowledge on the subjects represented at the Sympo sium. They are grouped into four sections, namely: • Fundamentals • Free Flows • Boundary Layers • Reacting Flows As in previous volumes in this series, each section begins with an introductory article con sidering the papers which follow in the broader context of available literature and current research.