The seminar will discuss vortex shedding from bodies in unsteady flows such as starting flows and oscillatory flows. The emphasis will be on vortex shedding in two-dimensional incompressible flows around bodies with sharp edges (such as the trailing edges of aerofoils and the right-angle corners of floating and submerged rectangular hull sections). The vortex induced forces and their influence on practical issues such as the damping of oscillatory motion will be discussed. Effects of rounding of these edges on the vortex shedding from them will also be considered.

The final part of the seminar will look at the effects of spatial non-uniformity in the ‘driving’ flows which leads to variable convection effects and the distortion of vortex elements in the flow. Important examples occur in turbulent flows which will be illustrated by considering the effects of distortion of turbulence in the atmospheric boundary-layer incident on a wind turbine rotor.