FLEET Velocimetry for Aerodynamics

Long-lasting emission from femtosecond excitation of nitrogen-based flows shows promise as a useful mechanism for a molecular tagging velocimetry instrument. The technique, known as femtosecond laser electronic excitation tagging (FLEET), was invented at Princeton a decade ago and has quickly been adopted and used in a variety of high-speed ground test flow facilities. The short temporal scales offered by femtosecond amplifiers permit nonresonant multiphoton excitation, dissociation, and weak ionization of a gaseous medium near the beam's focus without the generation of a laser spark observed with nanosecond systems. Gated, intensified imaging of the resulting emission enables the tracking of tagged molecules, thereby measuring one to three components of velocity. Effects of local heating and acoustic disturbances can be mitigated with the selection of a shorter-wavelength excitation source. This review surveys the development of FLEET over the decade since its inception, as it has been implemented in several test facilities to make accurate, precise, and seedless velocimetry measurements for studying complex high-speed flows.

The Influence of Boundaries on Gravity Currents and Thin Films: Drainage, Confinement, Convergence, and Deformation Effects

Thin film flows, whether driven by gravity, surface tension, or the relaxation of elastic boundaries, occur in many natural and industrial processes. Applications span problems of oil and gas transport in channels to hydraulic fracture, subsurface propagation of pollutants, storage of supercritical CO2 in porous formations, and flow in elastic Hele–Shaw configurations and their relatives. We review the influence of boundaries on the dynamics of thin film flows, with a focus on gravity currents, including the effects of drainage into the substrate, and the role of the boundaries to confine the flow, force its convergence to a focus, or deform, and thus feedback to alter the flow. In particular, we highlight reduced-order models. In many cases, self-similar solutions can be determined and describe the behaviors in canonical problems at different timescales and length scales, including self-similar solutions of both the first and second kind. Additionally, the time transitions between different solutions are summarized. Where possible, remarks about various applications are provided.

Continuum and Molecular Dynamics Studies of the Hydrodynamics of Colloids Straddling a Fluid Interface

Colloid-sized particles (10 nm–10 μm in characteristic size) adsorb onto fluid interfaces, where they minimize their interfacial energy by straddling the surface, immersing themselves partly in each phase bounding the interface. The energy minimum achieved by relocation to the surface can be orders of magnitude greater than the thermal energy, effectively trapping the particles into monolayers, allowing them freedom only to translate and rotate along the surface. Particles adsorbed at interfaces are models for the understanding of the dynamics and assembly of particles in two dimensions and have broad technological applications, importantly in foam and emulsion science and in the bottom-up fabrication of new materials based on their monolayer assemblies. In this review, the hydrodynamics of the colloid motion along the surface is examined from both continuum and molecular dynamics frameworks. The interfacial energies of adsorbed particles is discussed first, followed by the hydrodynamics, starting with isolated particles followed by pairwise and multiple particle interactions. The effect of particle shape is emphasized, and the role played by the immersion depth and the surface rheology is discussed; experiments illustrating the applicability of the hydrodynamic studies are also examined. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 54 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Moisture in Textiles

The interactions of textiles with moisture have been thoroughly studied in textile research, while fluid mechanists and soft matter physicists have partially investigated the underlying physics phenomena. A description of liquid morphologies in fibrous assemblies allows one to characterize the associated capillary forces and their impact on textiles, and to organize their complex moisture transport dynamics. This review gathers some of the common features and fundamental mechanisms at play in textile–liquid interactions, with selected examples ranging from knitted fabrics to nonwoven paper sheets, associated with experiments on model systems. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 54 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Designing Complex Fluids

Taking a small step away from Newtonian fluid behavior creates an explosion in the range of possibilities. Non-Newtonian fluid properties can achieve diverse flow objectives, but the complexity introduces challenges. We survey useful rheological complexity along with organizing principles and design methods as we consider the following questions: How can non-Newtonian properties be useful? What properties are needed? How can we get those properties? Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 54 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Flood Inundation Prediction

Every year flood events lead to thousands of casualties and significant economic damage. Mapping the areas at risk of flooding is critical to reducing these losses, yet until the last few years such information was available for only a handful of well-studied locations. This review surveys recent progress to address this fundamental issue through a novel combination of appropriate physics, efficient numerical algorithms, high-performance computing, new sources of big data, and model automation frameworks. The review describes the fluid mechanics of inundation and the models used to predict it, before going on to consider the developments that have led in the last five years to the creation of the first true fluid mechanics models of flooding over the entire terrestrial land surface. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 54 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Fluid Dynamics of Axial Turbomachinery: Blade- and Stage-Level Simulations and Models

The current generation of axial turbomachines are the culmination of decades of experience, and detailed understanding of the underlying flow physics has been a key factor for achieving high efficiency and reliability. Driven by advances in numerical methods and relentless growth in computing power, computational fluid dynamics has increasingly provided insights into the rich fluid dynamics involved and how it relates to loss generation. This article presents some of the complex flow phenomena occurring in bladed components of gas turbines and illustrates how simulations have contributed to their understanding and the challenges they pose for modeling. The interaction of key aerodynamic features with deterministic unsteadiness, caused by multiple blade rows, and stochastic unsteadiness, i.e., turbulence, is discussed. High-fidelity simulations of increasingly realistic configurations and models improved with help of machine learning promise to further grow turbomachinery performance and reliability and, thus, help fluid mechanics research have a greater industrial impact. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 54 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Dynamic Mode Decomposition and Its Variants

Dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) is a factorization and dimensionality reduction technique for data sequences. In its most common form, it processes high-dimensional sequential measurements, extracts coherent structures, isolates dynamic behavior, and reduces complex evolution processes to their dominant features and essential components. The decomposition is intimately related to Koopman analysis and, since its introduction, has spawned various extensions, generalizations, and improvements. It has been applied to numerical and experimental data sequences taken from simple to complex fluid systems and has also had an impact beyond fluid dynamics in, for example, video surveillance, epidemiology, neurobiology, and financial engineering. This review focuses on the practical aspects of DMD and its variants, as well as on its usage and characteristics as a quantitative tool for the analysis of complex fluid processes. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 54 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Mass Transfer at the Ocean–Atmosphere Interface: The Role of Wave Breaking, Droplets, and Bubbles

Breaking waves modulate the transfer of energy, momentum, and mass between the ocean and atmosphere, controlling processes critical to the climate system, from gas exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen to the generation of sea spray aerosols that can be transported in the atmosphere and serve as cloud condensation nuclei. The smallest components, i.e., drops and bubbles generated by breaking waves, play an outsize role. This fascinating problem is characterized by a wide range of length scales, from wind forcing the wave field at scales of 𝒪(1 km–0.1 m) to the dynamics of wave breaking at 𝒪(10–0.1 m); air bubble entrainment, dynamics, and dissolution in the water column at 𝒪(1 m–10 μm); and bubbles bursting at 𝒪(10 mm–1 μm), generating sea spray droplets at 𝒪(0.5 mm–0.5 μm) that are ejected into atmospheric turbulent boundary layers. I discuss recent progress to bridge these length scales, identifying the controlling processes and proposing a path toward mechanistic parameterizations of air–sea mass exchange that naturally accounts for sea state effects. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 54 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Particle-Laden Turbulence: Progress and Perspectives

This review is motivated by the fast progress in our understanding of the physics of particle-laden turbulence in the last decade, partly due to the tremendous advances of measurement and simulation capabilities. The focus is on spherical particles in homogeneous and canonical wall-bounded flows. The analysis of recent data indicates that conclusions drawn in zero gravity should not be extrapolated outside of this condition, and that the particle response time alone cannot completely define the dynamics of finite-size particles. Several breakthroughs have been reported, mostly separately, on the dynamics and turbulence modifications of small inertial particles in dilute conditions and of large weakly buoyant spheres. Measurements at higher concentrations, simulations fully resolving smaller particles, and theoretical tools accounting for both phases are needed to bridge this gap and allow for the exploration of the fluid dynamics of suspensions, from laminar rheology and granular media to particulate turbulence. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 54 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.