Minisymposium Interfacial Processes in Industrial and Environmental Turbulent Flows

Abstract

The theme of this symposium was the study of the evolution and dynamics of interfaces that develop in flows between regions with contrasting levels of turbulence, concentration of passive scalar, of indeed fluid properties. The focus here was on high Reynolds number interfaces in inertially dominated flows. In many industrial problems, such as mixing caused by jets or wake separation from aircraft wings, these interfaces determine important properties of the flows such as entrainment mechanisms and lift/drag forces. In the natural environment, the air/sea interface generates surface waves and solitary waves with dangerous levels of energy when they interact with submerged bodies and break on beaches. Within the atmosphere and ocean, the breaking of internal waves supported on thermoclines causes vertical mixing. In these situations, the usual Reynolds averaged approach [5] to modelling or analysing structure is no longer appropriate.