Sinusoidal motion of elements in a random-dot pattern can elicit a striking percept of a rotating volume, a phenomenon known as structure-from-motion (SFM). We demonstrate that if the dots defining the volume are 2D mirror-symmetric, novel 3D interpretations arise. In addition to the classical rotating cylinder, one can perceive mirror-symmetric, flexible surfaces bending along the path of move...

An incompressible liquid flow in the gap between two coaxial cylinders, such that the inner rotating (wavy) cylinder has a periodically varying radius along the axial direction while the outer stationary cylinder has a constant radius, is studied experimentally and theoretically. The basic attention is focused on the symmetry-breaking phenomenon of the vortex flow arising from the rotation of t...

Inertial motion superradiance, the emission of radiation by an initially unexcited system moving inertially but superluminally through a medium, has long been known. Rotational superradiance, the amplification of radiation by a rotating rigid object, was recognized much later, principally in connection with black hole radiances. Here we review the principles of inertial motion superradiance and...

Starting from the gravitational potential of a Newtonian spheroidal shell we discuss electrically charged rotating prolate spheroidal shells in the Maxwell theory. In particular we consider two confocal charged shells which rotate oppositely in such a way that there is no magnetic field outside the outer shell. In the Einstein theory we solve the Ernst equations in the region where the long pro...

Perceptual alternation in viewing bistable stimuli can be slowed or halted if the stimuli are presented intermittently. Memory of the recent perceptual experience has been proposed to explain this stabilization effect. But the nature of this "perceptual memory" remains unclear. By using a bistable rotating cylinder and two dichoptically presented orthogonal gratings, we explored the features th...

A heat transfer model has been developed that uses quasi-steady heat flux relations to calculate the heat transfer from combustion gases through the cylinder wall to the coolant in an internal combustion engine. The treatment of convective heat transfer accounts for the physical problems of rotating and impinging axial flow inside the engine cylinder. The radiative heat transfer includes gas ra...

We report the results of an experimental and numerical study of the creation of stagnation points in a rotating cylinder of fluid where one endwall is rotated. Good agreement is found with previous results where the stagnation points are formed on the free core of the primary columnar vortex. The effect of adding a small cylinder along the center of the flow is then investigated and the phenome...

The steady two-dimensional laminar flow past a stationary cylinder is well known to lose stability to a periodic flow at a supercritical Hopf bifurcation point as the flow rate is increased. It is less well known that the critical flow rate at which the instability occurs can be increased by rotating the cylinder about is own axis, and that at a fixed flow rate the vortex street can be eliminat...

A librating cylinder consists of a rotating cylinder whose rate of rotation is modulated. When the mean rotation rate is large compared with the viscous damping rate, the flow may support inertial waves, depending on the frequency of the modulation. The modulation also produces time-dependent boundary layers on the cylinder endwalls and sidewall, and the sidewall boundary layer flow in particul...