1. Open Channel Flow:

    1. Solitary waves. (Some simple experiments can be done easily, and a guide to a project has been prepared as “Experiment 86”.)

    2. Hydraulics, such as critical flow over a bump. Flow through a constriction can also be investigated.

  2. Stratified Flow:

    1. Two-layer (DO NOT USE SALT IN THE 7m TANK). Possible projects include investigation of:
      • gravity currents, bottom, surface and interfacial,
      • interfacial waves,
      • selective withdrawal.
    2. Linear salt stratification can be achieved using a “two-bucket” filling technique. Possible projects (in a small to medium tank) include investigation of:
      • a turbulent plume of dense water entering from above but settling at mid-depth because of entrainment,
      • an ice block melting in a stratified fluid,
      • internal waves.

  3. Viscous Flow (using corn syrup):

    1. Viscous coiling; what determines the frequency?

    2. Magma convection; how does a buoyant source of light fluid force its way up through a denser but very viscous fluid?

    3. Fingering on an inclined plane; what happens when a viscous fluid is released from behind a barrier on a slope?

  4. Rotating Flow (a rotating table is available, but record players are also surprisingly effective):

    1. Spin-up and spin-down.

    2. Taylor columns.

    3. Rotating convection; how is it different?

    4. The “annulus experiment” (outside wall heated, inside wall cooled).

    5. A melting ice block in either fresh or salty water.

    6. Discharge through a ring of a (dyed) fluid less dense than the container of salty water. (This is a model of coastal currents.)

  5. Convection:

    1. Double diffusive convection (heater and beaker).

    2. Salt fingering.

  6. Miscellaneous:

    1. The salt oscillator (syringe and beaker), and various other systems which are unstable and show oscillatory behaviour. A guide has been prepared as “Experiment 87”.

    2. Vortex rings (use a rubber membrane over one end of a can with a hole in the opposite end).

    3. River meanders (best done outside!).

    4. Spinning bucket with holes (ditto).

    5. Suspensions (particles and beaker).