ICTS

Fluid flows commonly exist in a laminar or turbulent state, and get driven from the former to the latter by a series of instabilities. The process is not well understood even for a single fluid of constant properties. Recognising that temperature and solute concentrations are a function of space and time in most real flows, we ask how such inhomogeneities affect the transition process. Also what happens in a rotating frame. We show some new instabilities and significant modifications of other single-fluid dynamics. In some cases, the dynamics can be set up as singular perturbation problems, so small changes can bring up big effects.