Spatial motion of a chemically active medium near a caustic

A study is made of the three-dimensional problem of determining the parameters of motion of a gaseous chemically active medium near a caustic, the envelope curve of the rays of the wave fronts in the geometrical acoustics approximation. Two limiting processes whereby perturbations propagate [1] can be distinguished, depending on the ratio of the reaction time of the chemical reaction to a macroscopic time: a quasifrozen process and a quasiequilibrium process. The problem is considered in a linear formulation in [2-6] in the absence of viscosity, thermal conductivity, and chemical reactions. Nonlinear equations are derived in [7–10] for an arbitrary nondissipative medium near a caustic. In the present paper Ryzhov's method [1] is used to derive the nonlinear equations of motion of the medium for both types of process. The pressure distributions near and on the caustic itself are found for an incident step wave. The effect of the chemical reaction on how the flow parameters are distributed in the vicinity of the caustic is ascertained. Equations are derived for an inhomogeneous initially moving fluid near a caustic. A nonlinear equation containing a highest derivative of third order is obtained in the vicinity of the caustic for the case of special media in which the limiting velocities of sound in the mixture at rest are close in value. It is shown that the solution of the corresponding linear equation is expressed in the form of a quadrature from the solution for a chemically inert medium and contains oscillations near the wave fronts.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 81–91, March–April, 1977.     

Stability of a plane-parallel convective flow of a liquid in a horizontal layer

We consider the stationary plane-parallel convective flow, studied in [1], which appears in a two-dimensional horizontal layer of a liquid in the presence of a longitudinal temperature gradient. In the present paper we examine the stability of this flow relative to small perturbations. To solve the spectral amplitude problem and to determine the stability boundaries we apply a version of the Galerkin method, which was used earlier for studying the stability of convective flows in vertical and inclined layers in the presence of a transverse temperature difference or of internal heat sources (see [2]). A horizontal plane-parallel flow is found to be unstable relative to two critical modes of perturbations. For small Prandtl numbers the instability has a hydrodynamic character and is associated with the development of vortices on the boundary of counterflows. For moderate and for large Prandtl numbers the instability has a Rayleigh character and is due to a thermal stratification arising in the stationary flow.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 1, pp. 95–100, January–February, 1974.     

Stability of plane-parallel convective fluid flow in a horizontal layer relative to spatial perturbations

The stability of stationary plane-parallel convective flow between horizontal planes along which a constant temperature gradient is given, is investigated relative to spatial perturbations. It is shown that the flow crisis is caused by spiral perturbations in a broad range of Prandtl number values (P > 0.24). Spiral perturbations are developed in unstably stratified fluid layers adjoining the upper and lower layer boundaries, and are of Rayleigh nature.     

Stability of convective motion in a two-dimensional vertical fluid layer with permeable boundaries

The stability of the convective motion of a viscous incompressible fluid in a channel between permeable vertical planes heated to different temperatures is considered under the assumption of homogeneous transverse air blasting. Stability boundaries for different values of the Prandtl number Pr and Peclet number Pe that characterize the intensity of transverse motion are numerically determined. The results demonstrate that transverse blasting substantially influences both the hydrodynamic instability mechanism and instability due to the growth of thermal waves in the flow.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 1, pp. 94–101, January–February, 1976.In conclusion, I wish to express my appreciation to E. M. Zhukhovitskii for supervising the study. and G. Z. Gershuni for useful discussion of the results.     

A plane-parallel nonstationary motion of gas

A solution is found to the system of equations that describe plane-parallel nonstationary irrotational flows of an ideal gas under the condition that the velocity components of the gas depend on the polar angle and the time t.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Shidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 156–157, November–December, 1979.     

Stability of convective motion in a vertical layer in the presence of longitudinal vibrations

The influence of vibrations of a cavity containing a fluid on the convective stability of the equilibrium has been investigated on a number of occasions [1]. The stability of convective flows in a modulated gravity field has not hitherto been studied systematically. There is only the paper of Baxi, Arpaci, and Vest [2], which contains fragmentary data corresponding to various values of the determining parameters of the problem. The present paper investigates the linear stability of convective flow in a vertical plane layer with walls at different temperatures in the presence of longitudinal harmonic vibrations of the cavity containing the fluid. It is assumed that the frequency of the vibrations is fairly high; the motion is described by the equations of the averaged convective motion. The stability boundaries of the flow with respect to monotonic perturbations in the region of Prandtl numbers 0 ? P ? 10 are determined. It is found that high-frequency vibrations have a destabilizing influence on the convective motion. At sufficiently large values of the vibration parameter, the flow becomes unstable at arbitrarily small values of the Grashof number, this being due to the mechanism of vibrational convection, which leads to instability even under conditions of weightlessness, when the main flow is absent [3, 4].     

Selection of steady regimes of a one-parameter family in the problem of plane convective flow through a porous medium

Convective flow through a porous medium in a rectangular vessel with a linear temperature profile steadily maintained on the boundary is investigated. On the basis of numerical experiments the realization of steady regimes that belong to a globally stable, one-parameter family is studied at different vessel dimensions and initial temperature distributions. The regime selection is shown to strongly depend on the initial fluid temperature: a vicinity of two regimes is realized from initial data similar with the state of rest; at high initial fluid heating the regimes are selected from a vicinity of two other regimes; and in intermediate situations any of infinite number of steady regimes can be attained.     

Stability of convective motion caused by inhomogeneously distributed internal heat sources

The stability of steady convective plane-parallel flow in a vertical layer of viscous incompressible liquid of thickness h is investigated. The motion is caused by heat sources distributed in the liquid with volume density Q = Q₀exp (^–x) (the x axis is taken perpendicular to the boundary layer). The region of instability is determined for various values of the Prandtl number and the parameter N = h characterizing the inhomogeneity of the internal sources. It is shown that with increase in N there is qualitative rearrangement of the stability limit for perturbations of hydrodynamic type and incremental thermal waves.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 140–144, May–June, 1977.     

Stability of plane-parallel vibrational flow in a two-layer system

The stability of the interface separating two immiscible incompressible fluids of different densities and viscosities is considered in the case of fluids filling a cavity which performs horizontal harmonic oscillations. There exists a simple basic state which corresponds to the unperturbed interface and plane-parallel unsteady counter flows; the properties of this state are examined. A linear stability problem for the interface is formulated and solved for both (a) inviscid and (b) viscous fluids. A transformation is found which reduces the linear stability problem under the inviscid approximation to the Mathieu equation. The parametric resonant regions of instability associated with the intensification of capillary-gravity waves at the interface are examined and the results are compared to those found in the viscous case in a fully numerical investigation.     

Stability of spatial motion of a body of revolution in an elastoplastic medium

A previously constructed model that describes the spatial motion of a body of revolution in an elastoplastic medium (without flow separation and with nonsymmetric separation of the medium flow taken into account) is used to study the Lyapunov stability of rectilinear motion of a body in the case of frozen axial velocity on a half-infinite time interval. Some stability criteria are obtained and the influence of tangential stresses is analyzed.     

On the action of internal heat sources on convective motion in a porous medium heated from below

The effect of internal heat sources on the flow pattern in the filtration convection problem with cosymmetry is studied numerically. Low-intensity heat sources, whose presence leads to violation of cosymmetry and breakdown of the one-parameter family of steady regimes are considered. Theoretically predicted scenarios for the breakdown of the family into a finite number of steady regimes and the occurrence of slow periodic motions are confirmed. The existence of relaxation oscillations is established for large Rayleigh numbers.     

Stability of unsteady rectilinear plane-parallel ideal fluid flow

The stability of unsteady rectilinear plane-parallel ideal fluid flow is solved by the modified Rayleigh method [1, 2]. The numerical results apply to the so-called shear layers that form in the boundary layer prior to breakdown. The corresponding amplification factors and the most hazardous wavenumbers are found. It is shown that an analog of the Squire theorem is valid for the shear layers. In justifying the crude approximation of the initial profile, the Rayleigh method yields the exact solution for the limiting problem. A strong contraction of the class of possible initial values is not essential for finding the critical characteristics.The author thanks G. I. Petrov for his continued interest and guidance in this study.     

Numerical investigation of convective motion in a closed cavity

The investigation of thermal convection in a closed cavity is of considerable interest in connection with the problem of heat transfer. The problem may be solved comparatively simply in the case of small characteristic temperature difference with heating from the side, when equilibrium is not possible and when slow movement is initiated for an arbitrarily small horizontal temperature gradient. In this case the motion may be studied using the small parameter method, based on expanding the velocity, temperature, and pressure in series in powers of the Grashof number—the dimensionless parameter which characterizes the intensity of the convection [1–4]. In the problems considered it has been possible to find only two or three terms of these series. The solutions obtained in this approximation describe only weak nonlinear effects and the region of their applicability is limited, naturally, to small values of the Grashof number (no larger than 10³).With increase of the temperature difference the nature of the motion gradually changes—at the boundaries of the cavity a convective boundary layer is formed, in which the primary temperature and velocity gradients are concentrated; the remaining portion of the liquid forms the flow core. On the basis of an analysis of the equations of motion for the plane case, Batchelor [4] suggested that the core is isothermal and rotates with constant and uniform vorticity. The value of the vorticity in the core must be determined as the eigenvalue of the problem of a closed boundary layer. A closed convective boundary layer in a horizontal cylinder and in a plane vertical stratum was considered in [5, 6] using the Batchelor scheme. The boundary layer parameters and the vorticity in the core were determined with the aid of an integral method. An attempt to solve the boundary layer equations analytically for a horizontal cylinder using the Oseen linearization method was made in [7].However, the results of experiments in which a study was made of the structure of the convective motion of various liquids and gases in closed cavities of different shapes [8–13] definitely contradict the Batchelor hypothesis. The measurements show that the core is not isothermal; on the contrary, there is a constant vertical temperature gradient directed upward in the core. Further, the core is practically motionless. In the core there are found retrograde motions with velocities much smaller than the velocities in the boundary layer.The use of numerical methods may be of assistance in clarifying the laws governing the convective motion in a closed cavity with large temperature differences. In [14] the two-dimensional problem of steady air convection in a square cavity was solved by expansion in orthogonal polynomials. The author was able to progress in the calculation only to a value of the Grashof numberG=10⁴. At these values of the Grashof numberG the formation of the boundary layer and the core has really only started, therefore the author's conclusion on the agreement of the numerical results with the Batchelor hypothesis is not justified. In addition, the bifurcation of the central isotherm (Fig. 3 of [14]), on the basis of which the conclusion was drawn concerning the formation of the isothermal core, is apparently the result of a misunderstanding, since an isotherm of this form obviously contradicts the symmetry of the solution.In [5] the method of finite differences is used to obtain the solution of the problem of strong convection of a gas in a horizontal cylinder whose lateral sides have different temperatures. According to the results of the calculation and in accordance with the experimental data [9], in the cavity there is a practically stationary core. However, since the authors started from the convection equations in the boundary layer approximation they did not obtain any detailed information on the core structure, in particular on the distribution of the temperature in the core.In the following we present the results of a finite difference solution of the complete nonlinear problem of plane convective motion in a square cavity. The vertical boundaries of the cavity are held at constant temperatures; the temperature varies linearly on the horizontal boundaries. The velocity and temperature distributions are obtained for values of the Grashof number in the range 0<G4·10⁵ and for a value of the Prandtl number P=1. The results of the calculation permit following the formation of the closed boundary layer and the very slowly moving core with a constant vertical temperature gradient. The heat flux through the cavity is found as a function of the Grashof number.     

Two-dimensional steady currents in a nonlinear conducting medium

We consider the simplest two-dimensional problem of the current distribution in a nonlinear conducting medium over a plane wall consisting of a semiinfinite electrode and an insulator.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 6, pp. 49–53, November–December, 1970.     

Stability of plane-parallel MHD flows in transverse magnetic field

We study within the framework of linear theory the stability of plane-parallel flows of a viscous, electrically conducting fluid in a transverse magnetic field. The magnetic Reynolds numbers are assumed small. The critical Reynolds number as a function of the Hartmann number is obtained over the entire range of variation of the latter. The small perturbation spectrum is studied in detail on the example of Hartmann flow. Neutral curves are constructed for symmetric and antisymmetric disturbances. The destablizing effect of a magnetic field is studied in the case of modified Couette flow. The results obtained agree with the calculations of Lock and Kakutani (where they meet) and are at variance with the results of Pavlov.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 127–131, May–June, 1970.The authors wish to thank M. A. Gol'dshtik for his interest in this study.