No abstract

No abstract

The convective instability boundary of a circular Couette flow in the annular region bounded by two co- or counter-rotating coaxial cylinders with angular velocities ω1 and ω2, respectively, is studied in the presence of an axial flow due to a constant axial pressure gradient and a radial flow through the permeable walls of the cylinders. A linear stability analysis is carried out for positive and negative radial Reynolds numbers corresponding to outward and inward radial flows, respectively. Axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric disturbances are considered. In the particular case of no axial flow, the Couette flow is stabilized by an inward, or a strong outward, radial flow, but destabilized by a weak outward radial flow. Non-axisymmetric disturbances lead to instability for some negative values of μ=ω2/ω1. Bifurcation diagrams for combined radial and axial flows are more complicated. For particular values of the parameters of the problem, the Couette flow has regions of stabilization and destabilization in the parameter space. Computational results are compared with experimental data.

Experimentally observed periodic structures in shallow (i.e. bounded) wake flows are believed to appear as a result of hydrodynamic instability. Previously published studies used linear stability analysis under the rigid-lid assumption to investigate the onset of instability of wakes in shallow water flows. The objectives of this paper are: (i) to provide a preliminary assessment of the accuracy of the rigid-lid assumption; (ii) to investigate the influence of the shape of the base flow profile on the stability characteristics; (iii) to formulate the weakly nonlinear stability problem for shallow wake flows and show that the evolution of the instability is governed by the Ginzburg-Landau equation; and (iv) to establish the connection between weakly nonlinear analysis and the observed flow patterns in shallow wake flows which are reported in the literature. It is found that the relative error in determining the critical value of the shallow wake stability parameter induced by the rigid-lid assumption is below 10% for the practical range of Froude number. In addition, it is shown that the shape of the velocity profile has a large influence on the stability characteristics of shallow wakes. Starting from the rigid-lid shallow-water equations and using the method of multiple scales, an amplitude evolution equation for the most unstable mode is derived. The resulting equation has complex coefficients and is of Ginzburg-Landau type. An example calculation of the complex coefficients of the Ginzburg-Landau equation confirms the existence of a finite equilibrium amplitude, where the unstable mode evolves with time into a limit-cycle oscillation. This is consistent with flow patterns observed by Ingram & Chu (1987), Chen & Jirka (1995), Balachandar et al. (1999), and Balachandar & Tachie (2001). Reasonable agreement is found between the saturation amplitude obtained from the Ginzburg-Landau equation under some simplifying assumptions and the numerical data of Grubisić et al. (1995). Such consistency provides further evidence that experimentally observed structures in shallow wake flows may be described by the nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau equation. Previous works have found similar consistency between the Ginzburg-Landau model and experimental data for the case of deep (i.e. unbounded) wake flows. However, it must be emphasized that much more information is required to confirm the appropriateness of the Ginzburg-Landau equation in describing shallow wake flows.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Asymptotic solutions for unsteady one-dimensional axisymmetric laminar flow in a pipe subject to rapid deceleration and/or acceleration are derived and their stability investigated using linear and weakly nonlinear analysis. In particular, base flow solutions for unsteady one-dimensional axisymmetric laminar flow in a pipe are derived by the method of matched asymptotic expansions. The solutions are valid for short times and can be successfully applied to the case of an arbitrary (but unidirectional) axisymmetric initial velocity distribution. Excellent agreement between asymptotic and analytical solutions for the case of an instantaneous pipe blockage is found for small time intervals. Linear stability of the base flow solutions obtained from the asymptotic expansions to a three-dimensional perturbation is investigated and the results are used to re-interpret the experimental results of Das & Arakeri (1998). Comparison of the neutral stability curves computed with and without the planar channel assumption shows that this assumption is accurate when the ratio of the unsteady boundary layer thickness to radius (i.e. δ1/R) is small but becomes unacceptable when this ratio exceeds 0.3. Both the current analysis and the experiments show that the flow instability is non-axisymmetric for δ1/R = 0.55 and 0.85. In addition, when δ1/R = 0.18 and 0.39, the neutral stability curves for n = 0 and n = 1 are found to be close to one another at all times but the most unstable mode in these two cases is the axisymmetric mode. The accuracy of the quasi-steady assumption, employed both in this research and in that of Das & Arakeri (1998), is supported by the fact that the results obtained under this assumption show satisfactory agreement with the experimental features such as type of instability and spacing between vortices. In addition, the computations show that the ratio of the rate of growth of perturbations to the rate of change of the base flow is much larger than 1 for all cases considered, providing further support for the quasi-steady assumption. The neutral stability curves obtained from linear stability analysis suggest that a weakly nonlinear approach can be used in order to study further development of instability. Weakly nonlinear analysis shows that the amplitude of the most unstable mode is governed by the complex Ginzburg–Landau equation which reduces to the Landau equation if the amplitude is a function of time only. The coefficients of the Landau equation are calculated for two cases of the experimental data given by Das & Arakeri (1998). It is shown that the real part of the Landau constant is positive in both cases. Therefore, finite-amplitude equilibrium is possible. These results are in qualitative agreement with experimental data of Das & Arakeri (1998).