Albert Alan Townsend
Albert Alan Townsend FRS was an Australian scientist specialized in fluid dynamics. He was the author of the textbook The Structure of Turbulent Shear Flow. The terms Townsend's eddies, Batchelor–Howells–Townsend spectrum and Townsend–Perry constants in turbulence research are named after him. His PhD advisor was G. I. Taylor and he was a close collaborator of George Batchelor.
He was a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Graduated from Canberra University and Melbourne University, he started his physicist career with in the field of nuclear physics. In 1938, he went to the University of Cambridge and joined the Cavendish Laboratory for a PhD degree.
During the Second World War, he joined military research and worked on aerodynamics in Australia. In this period, he met George Batchelor and started to research in fluid dynamics. After getting back to Cambridge, he and Batchelor studied under Geoffrey Ingram Taylor. He obtained PhD in 1947 and the thesis title was Beta Ray Spectra of Light Elements and Turbulent Flow.
Townsend remained in the Cavendish Laboratory for the rest of his career.
Outside work, he married Valeria Dees in 1950 and they had three children. He was an enthusiastic tennis player.
Publications
Selective Absorption of Neutrons in Silver The production of gamma-rays by neutrons Intensity of γ radiation produced by slow neutrons The β-ray spectrum of Ra E β-ray spectra of light elements 'Singing'-Corner Vanes The measurement of double and triple correlation derivatives in isotropic turbulence Measurements in the turbulent wake of a cylinder Decay of vorticity in isotropic turbulence Experimental evidence for the theory of local isotropy Decay of isotropic turbulence in the initial period Decay of turbulence in the final period Momentum and energy diffusion in the turbulent wake of a cylinder The fully developed wake of a circular cylinder The nature of turbulent motion at large wave-numbers The diffusion of heat spots in isotropic turbulence The passage of turbulence through wire gauzes Similarity and self-preservation in isotropic turbulence The structure of the turbulent boundary layer On the fine-scale structure of turbulence The diffusion behind a line source in homogeneous turbulence The uniform distortion of homogeneous turbulence The properties of equilibrium boundary layers Turbulent convection over a heated horizontal surface Turbulent flow in a stably stratified atmosphere The effects of radiative transfer on turbulent flow of a stratified fluid The turbulent boundary layer Small-scale variation of convected quantities like temperature in turbulent fluid Part 2. The case of large conductivity Temperature fluctuations over a heated horizontal surface The development of turbulent boundary layers with negligible wall stress A continuum theory of the isothermal flow of liquid helium II On the fine-scale structure of turbulence Natural convection in the earth's boundary layer The behaviour of a turbulent boundary layer near separation On the hydrodynamic equations for flow of liquid helium II with mutual friction Natural convection in water over an ice surface Change of terrain roughness and the wind profile The interpretation of stellar shadow-bands as a consequence of turbulent mixing Self-preserving flow inside a turbulent boundary layer Self-preserving development within turbulent boundary layers in strong adverse pressure gradients The response of a turbulent boundary layer to abrupt changes in surface conditions Excitation of internal waves by a turbulent boundary layer The flow in a turbulent boundary layer after a change in surface roughness Internal waves produced by a convective layer The mechanism of entrainment in free turbulent flows Wind and the formation of inversions Excitation of internal waves in a stably-stratified atmosphere with considerable wind-shear Entrainment and the structure of turbulent flow Mixed convection over a heated horizontal plane Flow in a deep turbulent boundary layer over a surface distorted by water waves Flow patterns of large eddies in a wake and in a boundary layer The response of sheared turbulence to additional distortion Identification of flow patterns in turbulent flows The development of a turbulent wake in a distorting duct Turbulent Couette flow between concentric cylinders at large Taylor numbers Turbulent Flow and the Effects of Curvature Axisymmetric Couette flow at large Taylor numbers Organized eddy structures in turbulent flows Entrainment in Free Turbulent Flows- ''Organised Eddies in Turbulent Shear Flows''