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The physical mechanism governing the onset of transonic shock buffet on swept wings remains elusive, with no unequivocal description forthcoming despite over half a century of research. This paper elucidates the fundamental flow physics on a civil aircraft wing using an extensive experimental database from a transonic wind tunnel facility. The analysis covers a wide range of flow conditions at a Reynolds number of around$3.6\\times 10^{6}$. Data at pre-buffet conditions and beyond onset are assessed for Mach numbers between 0.70 and 0.84. Critically, unsteady surface pressure data of high spatial and temporal resolution acquired by dynamic pressure-sensitive paint is analysed, in addition to conventional data from pressure transducers and a root strain gauge. We identify two distinct phenomena in shock buffet conditions. First, we highlight a low-frequency shock unsteadiness for Strouhal numbers between 0.05 and 0.15, based on mean aerodynamic chord and reference free stream velocity. This has a characteristic wavelength of approximately 0.8 semi-span lengths (equivalent to three mean aerodynamic chords). Such shock unsteadiness is already observed at low-incidence conditions, below the buffet onset defined by traditional indicators. This has the effect of propagating disturbances predominantly in the inboard direction, depending on localised separation, with a dimensionless convection speed of approximately 0.26 for a Strouhal number of 0.09. Second, we describe a broadband higher-frequency behaviour for Strouhal numbers between 0.2 and 0.5 with a wavelength of 0.2 to 0.3 semi-span lengths (0.6 to 1.2 mean aerodynamic chords). This outboard propagation is confined to the tip region, similar to previously reported buffet cells believed to constitute the shock buffet instability on conventional swept wings. Interestingly, a dimensionless outboard convection speed of approximately 0.26, coinciding with the low-frequency shock unsteadiness, is found to be nearly independent of frequency. We characterise these coexisting phenomena by use of signal processing tools and modal analysis of the dynamic pressure-sensitive paint data, specifically proper orthogonal and dynamic mode decomposition. The results are scrutinised within the context of a broader research effort, including numerical simulation, and viewed alongside other experiments. We anticipate our findings will help to clarify experimental and numerical observations in edge-of-the-envelope conditions and to ultimately inform buffet-control strategies.

Monsoon onset marks an abrupt seasonal transition from a dry to a moist atmosphere, but physical processes associated with the monsoon onset over India and the Arabian Sea (AS) are not fully understood. In this study, a northward propagating convective phase of intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs), associated with low-level cyclonic circulation, is identified as a crucial factor in initiating the monsoon onset. The northward propagation is sustained by a positive moist static energy (MSE) tendency to the north and a simultaneous negative tendency to the south of the convective center. Results from the MSE budget diagnosis indicate that the MSE tendency dipole is attributed to horizontal moisture advection. Under a wetter (dryer) background environment over southeastern (northwestern) AS, the intraseasonal cyclonic circulation enhances (reduces) the MSE to its north (south). In addition, the northward propagation is controlled by a meridional asymmetry of background convective instability (BCI). During the pre-onset stage, the accumulation of background low-level moisture over the northern AS due to meridional moisture transport by cross-equatorial flow enhances local BCI. A more unstable background environment over the AS, compared to the equatorial western Indian Ocean (EWIO), facilitates the northward propagation of ISOs. ENSO exerts a marked impact on the monsoon onset through the modulation of the meridional asymmetry of BCI. During post-La Nina Springs, both the enhanced meridional SST gradient over EWIO and the stronger cross-equatorial low-level flow over the AS help trigger the northward-propagating ISOs and thus lead to an earlier monsoon onset.

A planar jet issuing from a fully developed two-dimensional turbulent channel flow is studied, with a focus on the transverse flapping of the jet core. The streamwise and transverse velocities were measured with hot-wire anemometry using an X-type probe. The mean velocity field and the velocity covariances were first characterised to assess the undisturbed flow field. Periodic excitations were introduced from a slot mounted at the channel exit and the coherent fluctuating part of the signal was obtained by using a phase-locked averaging technique, where the periodic initial forcing was used as trigger. This enabled the eduction of the coherent structure associated with the introduced perturbation. Its amplitude was found to be directly proportional to the intensity of the initial forcing and, within a certain range of the initial forcing amplitude, the growth curves were identical as well as the spatial distribution of the extracted fluctuations. Parallel and non-parallel linear stability theory captures qualitatively and quantitatively the features of the educed coherent structure. The existence of the linear mode in the turbulent jet implies that the large-scale perturbations observed in natural (unforced) jets can be regarded as an incoherent set of linear modes.

Due to model errors caused by local variations in cloud precipitation processes, there are still significant uncertainties in current predictions and simulations of short-duration heavy rainfall. To tackle this problem, the effects of warming on cloud-precipitation efficiency was analyzed utilizing a weather research and forecasting (WRF) model. The analysis focused on a rainstorm corridor event that took place in July 2020. Rainstorm events from 4–6 July formed a narrow rain belt with precipitation exceeded 300 mm in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Temperature sensitivity tests revealed that warming intensified the potential temperature gradient between north and south, leading to stronger upward motion on the front. It also strengthened the southwest wind, which resulted in more pronounced precipitation peaks. Warming led to a stronger accumulation and release of convective instability energy. Convective available potential energy (CAPE) and convective inhibition (CIN) both increased correspondingly with the temperature. The precipitation efficiency increased sequentially with 2 °C warming to 27.4%, 31.2%, and 33.1%. Warming can affect the cloud precipitation efficiency by both promoting and suppressing convective activity, which may be one of the reasons for the enhancement of extreme precipitation under global warming. The diagnostic relationship between upward moisture flux and lower atmospheric stability during precipitation evolution was also revealed.

In an annular spherical domain with separation$d$, the onset of convective motion occurs at a critical Rayleigh number$Ra=Ra_{c}$. Solving the axisymmetric linear stability problem shows that degenerate points$(d=d_{c},Ra_{c})$exist where two modes simultaneously become unstable. Considering the weakly nonlinear evolution of these two modes, it is found that spatial resonances play a crucial role in determining the preferred convection pattern for neighbouring modes$(\\ell ,\\ell \\pm 1)$and non-neighbouring even modes$(\\ell ,\\ell \\pm 2)$. Deriving coupled amplitude equations relevant to all degeneracies, we outline the possible solutions and the influence of changes in$d,Ra$and Prandtl number$Pr$. Using direct numerical simulation (DNS) to verify all results, time periodic solutions are also outlined for small$Pr$. The$2:1$periodic signature observed to be general for oscillations in a spherical annulus is explained using the structure of the equations. The relevance of all solutions presented is determined by computing their stability with respect to non-axisymmetric perturbations at large$Pr$.

The dynamics of a self-rewetting film falling along a vertical fiber under the influence of gravity are considered. The evolution equation of the interface of the self-rewetting film is established in the framework of a long-wave approximation theory. The effect of thermocapillarity (Marangoni effect) on the absolute/convective instability (AI/CI) is investigated for self-rewetting fluids of which the surface tension is a quadratic function of the temperature at the surface. The effect of thermocapillarity on the Rayleigh-Plateau instability is investigated by examining the dispersion relation. The characteristics of self-rewetting fluids are considered for different Marangoni numbers (Ma) in different regions of absolute/convective instability using a spatio-temporal stability analysis. Numerical simulations of the nonlinear evolution in various regions of absolute/convective instability are also performed. The results of numerical simulations are in excellent agreement with the spatio-temporal stability analysis. The effect of thermocapillarity on absolute and convective instability depends on the difference between the temperature at the interface Θ̄i, and the temperature corresponding the minimum surface tension Θ0. The results indicate that the thermocapillarity suppresses the absolute instability and enhances the convective instability as Ma increases when Θ̄i−Θ0>0, and enhances the absolute instability as Ma increases when Θ̄i−Θ0<0.

The boundary-layer stability on a section of a rotating wind turbine blade with an FFA-W3 series aerofoil at a chord Reynolds number of 3 × 105, with varying rotation and radii, is studied with direct numerical simulations and linear stability analyses. Low rotation does not significantly affect transition in the outboard blade region. The relative insensitivity to rotation is due to a laminar separation bubble near the leading edge, spanwise-deformed by a primary self-excited instability, promoting the secondary absolute instability of the Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) vortices and rapid transition. Moderate increases in rotation, or moving inboard, stabilise the flow by accelerating the attached boundary layer and possibly inducing competition between cross-flow and KH modes. This delays separation and transition. Initially, for high rotation rates or radial locations close to the hub, transition is delayed. Nevertheless, strong stationary and travelling cross-flow modes are eventually triggered, spanwise modulating the KH rolls and shifting the transition line close to the leading edge. Cross-flow velocities as high as 56 % of the free stream velocity directed towards the blade tip are reached at the transition location. For radial locations farther from the hub, the effective angle of attack is decreased, and cross-flow transition occurs at lower rotation rates. The advance or delay of the transition line compared with a non-rotating configuration depends on the competing rotation effects of stabilising the attached boundary layer and triggering cross-flow modes in the separation flow region.

Informed by large-eddy simulation (LES) data and resolvent analysis of the mean flow, we examine the structure of turbulence in jets in the subsonic, transonic and supersonic regimes. Spectral (frequency-space) proper orthogonal decomposition is used to extract energy spectra and decompose the flow into energy-ranked coherent structures. The educed structures are generally well predicted by the resolvent analysis. Over a range of low frequencies and the first few azimuthal mode numbers, these jets exhibit a low-rank response characterized by Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) type wavepackets associated with the annular shear layer up to the end of the potential core and that are excited by forcing in the very-near-nozzle shear layer. These modes too have been experimentally observed before and predicted by quasi-parallel stability theory and other approximations – they comprise a considerable portion of the total turbulent energy. At still lower frequencies, particularly for the axisymmetric mode, and again at high frequencies for all azimuthal wavenumbers, the response is not low-rank, but consists of a family of similarly amplified modes. These modes, which are primarily active downstream of the potential core, are associated with the Orr mechanism. They occur also as subdominant modes in the range of frequencies dominated by the KH response. Our global analysis helps tie together previous observations based on local spatial stability theory, and explains why quasi-parallel predictions were successful at some frequencies and azimuthal wavenumbers, but failed at others.

Considered are the formation conditions of the severe tornado in the South Urals (in the Republic of Bashkortostan) on August 29, 2014. It is noted that the tornado was associated with the supercell, and the synoptic conditions of its formation corresponded to the type 1 according to the classification proposed by A.I. Snitkovskii in 1987. Estimated are the tornado basic characteristics: the vortex funnel width is 150-200 m, and the maximum wind speed is 65 m/s. It is revealed that the tornado was of EF3 category following the enhanced Fujita scale. Proposed is the simple index of convective instability based on the data of ground-based observations for diagnosing the tornado genesis environments.

The purpose of this paper is to characterize and model waves that are observed within the potential core of subsonic jets and relate them to previously observed tones in the near-nozzle region. The waves are detected in data from a large-eddy simulation of a Mach 0.9 isothermal jet and modelled using parallel and weakly non-parallel linear modal analysis of the Euler equations linearized about the turbulent mean flow, as well as simplified models based on a cylindrical vortex sheet and the acoustic modes of a cylindrical soft duct. In addition to the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability waves, three types of waves with negative phase velocities are identified in the potential core: upstream- and downstream-propagating duct-like acoustic modes that experience the shear layer as a pressure-release surface and are therefore radially confined to the potential core, and upstream-propagating acoustic modes that represent a weak coupling between the jet core and the free stream. The slow streamwise contraction of the potential core imposes a frequency-dependent end condition on the waves that is modelled as the turning points of a weakly non-parallel approximation of the waves. These turning points provide a mechanism by which the upstream- and downstream-travelling waves can interact and exchange energy through reflection and transmission processes. Paired with a second end condition provided by the nozzle, this leads to the possibility of resonance in limited frequency bands that are bound by two saddle points in the complex wavenumber plane. The predicted frequencies closely match the observed tones detected outside of the jet. The vortex-sheet model is then used to systematically explore the Mach number and temperature ratio dependence of the phenomenon. For isothermal jets, the model suggests that resonance is likely to occur in a narrow range of Mach number, $0.82

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