AFM 2018 is the 12th International Conference on Advances in Fluid Mechanics. The meeting is reconvened following the success of all previous conferences in the series, the first of which took place in New Orleans (1996), followed by Udine (1998); Montreal (2000); Ghent (2002); Lisboa (2004); Skiathos (2006); the New Forest, home of the Wessex Institute (2008); The Algarve (2010); Split (2012); A Coruña (2014) and Ancona (2016).

The success of the Conference continues to attract high quality contributions presenting original results. The evolution of the meeting is reflected in the variety of topics and applications published in the conference book series since its beginnings in 1996.

The field of fluid mechanics is vast and has numerous and diverse applications. The conference covers a wide range of topics, including basic formulations and their computer modelling as well as the relationship between experimental and analytical results. The emphasis is on new applications and research currently in progress.

The papers – like others presented at Wessex Institute conferences – are part of the WIT Transactions in Engineering Sciences series and are archived online in the WIT eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary), where they are freely available to the international scientific community.

The object of the meeting is to provide a forum for discussing new work in fluid mechanics and, in particular, for promoting the interchange of new ideas and the presentation on the latest applications in the field.