About Linear Stability for Multiple Gas Balls

The results presented in this paper are generalizations of earlier work on the linear stability of non-rotating round gas balls in equilibrium, with respect to perturbations with zero angular momentum. Here we allow a more general barotropic equation of state for the gas, a non-zero angular momentum of the equilibrium state, and we are considering arbitrary numbers of gas balls, intending to use the result later to prove non-linear stability. The result requires an energy stability condition, which we verify for a single, slowly rotating gas ball, and the restricted class of equations of state used in earlier papers.     

Instability of the quiescent state of an ideal conducting medium in a magnetic field

The linear stability of the quiescent states of an ideal compressible medium with infinite conductivity in a magnetic field is studied. It is shown by Lyapunov’s direct method that these quiescent states are unstable relative to small spatial perturbations, which decrease the potential energy (the sum of the internal energy of the medium and the energy of the magnetic field in this case). Two-sided exponential estimates of perturbation growth are obtained; the exponents in these estimates are calculated using the parameters of the quiescent states and the initial data for perturbations. A class of the most rapidly growing perturbations is separated and an exact formula to determine the rate of their increase is derived. An example is constructed of the quiescent states and the initial perturbations whose linear stage of evolution in time occurs in correspondence with the estimates. From the mathematical viewpoint, our results are preliminary, because the existence theorems for the solutions of the problems considered are not proved. Deceased. Lavrent’ev Institute of Hydrodynamics, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090. Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk 630090. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 148–155, March–April, 1999.     

Instability of helical magnetohydrodynamic flows

The problem of the linear stability of a single particular class of helical steady-state flows of an ideal incompressible infinitely-conducting fluid in a magnetic field is studied. A necessary and sufficient condition of stability of this class of flows with respect to perturbations of the same symmetry type is obtained by the direct Lyapunov method [1, 2]. A priori two-sided exponential estimates of the perturbation growth are derived, the corresponding exponents being calculated using the steady flow parameters and the initial data for the perturbations. A class of the most rapidly growing perturbations is identified and an exact formula for determining their growth rate is obtained. An example of steady-state flows and initial perturbations whose linear stage of development with time can be described by means of the estimates obtained is constructed. Novosibirsk. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 150–156, January–February, 1999. The work was carried out with financial support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project No. 96-01-01771).     

About the Stability of Gas Balls

We prove the nonlinear stability of the motionless, spherically symmetric equilibrium states of barotropic, self-gravitating viscous fluids with respect to perturbations of zero total angular momentum. These equilibrium states as well as the non-stationary solutions occupy part of space, and a constant pressure is assumed on the free surface, but no surface tension.     

Linear Longwave Instability of a Single Class of Steady-State Jet Flows of an Ideal Fluid in the Field of a Self-Electric Current

A necessary and sufficient condition of linear stability of a certain two-parameter class of cylindrical steady-state shear jet MHD flows of an inviscid incompressible ideally-conducting fluid with a free boundary is obtained by the direct Lyapunov method. The magnetic field is induced by a direct current flowing along the jet so that the field linearly depends on the radius. The stability with respect to small axisymmetric longwave perturbations is considered. The perturbations conserve leave the ratio of the distance between a fluid particle and the jet axis to the azimuthal vorticity component unchanged in each fluid particle. Two-sided exponential estimates of the perturbation growth are derived in the case of violation of the stability condition obtained.     

Bifurcations of relative equilibria of an oblate gyrostat with a discrete damper

We investigate relative equilibria of an oblate gyrostat with a discrete damper. Linear and nonlinear methods yield stability conditions for simple spins about the nominal principal axes. We use analytical and numerical methods to explore other equilibria, including bifurcations that occur for varying rotor momentum and damper parameters. These bifurcations are complex structures that are perturbations of the zero rotor momentum case. We use Lyapunov–Schmidt reduction to determine an analytic relationship between parameters to determine conditions for which a jump phenomenon occurs. This paper is declared a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States     

An Eigenvalue Criterion for Stability of a Steady Navier–Stokes Flow in {\mathbb{R}}^3

We study the resolvent equation associated with a linear operator L{\mathcal{L}} arising from the linearized equation for perturbations of a steady Navier–Stokes flow U^*{\mathbf{U^*}}. We derive estimates which, together with a stability criterion from [33], show that the stability of U^*{\mathbf{U^*}} (in the L²-norm) depends only on the position of the eigenvalues of L{\mathcal{L}}, regardless the presence of the essential spectrum.     

Stability of Steady‐State Shear Jet Flows of an Ideal Fluid with a Free Boundary in an Azimuthal Magnetic Field Against Small Long‐Wave Perturbations

The problem of the linear stability of steadystate axisymmetric shear jet flows of a perfectly conducting inviscid incompressible fluid with a free surface in an azimuthal magnetic field is studied. The necessary and sufficient condition for the stability of these flows against small axisymmetric longwave perturbations of special form is obtained by the direct Lyapunov method. It is shown that if this stability condition is not satisfied, the steadystate flows considered are unstable to arbitrary small axisymmetric longwave perturbations. A priori exponential estimates are obtained for the growth of small perturbations. Examples are given of the steadystate flows and small perturbations imposed on them which evolve in time according to the estimates obtained.     

Self-similar gravity currents in porous media: Linear stability of the Barenblatt–Pattle solution revisited

We study the linear stability properties of the Barenblatt–Pattle (B–P) self-similar solutions of the porous medium equation which models flow including viscous and porous media gravity currents. Grundy and McLaughlin [R.E. Grundy, R. McLaughlin, Eigenvalues of the Barenblatt–Pattle similarity solution in nonlinear diffusion, Proc. Roy. Soc. London Ser. A 383 (1982) 89–100] have shown that, in both planar and axisymmetric geometries, the B–P solutions are linearly stable to symmetric perturbations. Using a new technique that eliminates singularities in the linear stability analysis, we extend their result and establish that the axisymmetric B–P solution is linearly stable to asymmetric perturbations. This suggests that the axisymmetric B–P solution provides the intermediate asymptotics of gravity currents that evolve from a wide range of initial distributions including those that are not axisymmetric. We use the connection between the perturbation eigenfunctions and the symmetry transformations of the B–P solution to demonstrate that the leading order rate of decay of the perturbations can be maximised by redefining the volume, time and space variables. We show that, in general, radially symmetric perturbations decay faster than asymmetric perturbations of equal amplitude. These theoretical predictions are confirmed by numerical results.     

Generation of the tollmien–schlichting wave in a supersonic boundary layer by two sinusoidal acoustic waves

The problem is solved using parabolized equations of stability for threedimensional perturbations of a compressible boundary layer on a flat plate. Nonlinearity is taken into account by quadratic terms that are most significant in estimates of the viscous critical layer of the stability theory. These terms are determined by the total field of two acoustic perturbations, and the equations become linear and inhomogeneous. The calculations are performed for one acoustic wave being stationary in the reference system fitted to the plate for Mach numbers M=2 and 5. Solutions are presented, which are identified very accurately with Tollmien–Schlichting waves at a rather large distance from the plate edge.     

Stability Analysis of Diffusive Displacement in Three-Layer Hele-Shaw Cell or Porous Medium

We study the linear stability of three-layer Hele-Shaw flow, which models the secondary oil recovery by polymer flooding, in the presence of a diffusion process and a variable viscosity in the middle layer (denoted by M.L.). Then the hydrodynamic stability of the flow is related with the advection–diffusion equation of the species. The diffusion coefficient and the viscosity in M.L. are used as parameters for minimizing the Saffman–Taylor instability. This model was studied also by Daripa and Pa?a (Transp Porous Med 70(1):11–23, 2007). A particular basic solution was considered. The stabilizing effect of diffusion was proved, by using a variational formulation of the stability system. However, this analytical method was not giving sufficient conditions for improving the stability; the obtained upper bound of the growth constant (in time) of the perturbations was depending on the eigenfunctions of the stability system. In this paper, we improve the above result. We use a discretization method and obtain a classical algebraic eigenvalue problem, equivalent with the Sturm-Liouville system which governs the flow stability. A generalization of the Gerschgorin’s localization theorem is given and two estimates of the growth constant are obtained, not depending on the eigenfunctions. The new estimates are used to obtain sufficient conditions for improving the stability. These conditions are given in terms of the viscosity profile, the diffusion coefficient, the injection velocity, and the M.L. length. We conclude that a strong diffusion process improves the stability in the range of large wavenumbers. In the range of small wavenumbers, a stability improvement is obtained if the viscosity jump on the M.L.–oil interface is small enough and the length of M.L. is large enough.     

Instability in the higher modes of a nonlinear equation

The linear approximation is used to study the stability of two- and three-dimensional higher-order modes of a nonlinear wave equation against exponentially increasing perturbations. For all the nonlinear models considered the higher modes are unstable; the number of exponentially increasing perturbations and their growth rate are determined by the mode number and the form of the nonlinear relationship. Numerical tests are described in the parabolic approximation on the stability of the first axially symmetric mode against small amplitude perturbations and the conditions are determined under which higher-order modes can be observed.     

Global stability for convection when the viscosity has a maximum

Until now, an unconditional nonlinear energy stability analysis for thermal convection according to Navier-Stokes theory had not been developed for the case in which the viscosity depends on the temperature in a quadratic manner such that the viscosity has a maximum. We analyse here a model of non-Newtonian fluid behaviour that allows us to develop an unconditional analysis directly when the quadratic viscosity relation is allowed. By unconditional, we mean that the nonlinear stability so obtained holds for arbitrarily large perturbations of the initial data. The nonlinear stability boundaries derived herein are sharp when compared with the linear instability thresholds.Received: 9 April 2003, Accepted: 28 April 2003, Published online: 12 December 2003PACS: 03.50.De, 04.20.-q, 42.65.-kCorrespondence to B. Straughan     

Linear Instability Criteria for Ideal Fluid Flows Subject to Two Subclasses of Perturbations

We examine the linear stability of both 2D and 3D steady state solutions to Euler’s equation subject to two classes of high frequency perturbations: those that preserve the topology of vortex lines and those that do not. Lower bounds for the essential spectral radius of the linear evolution operator are given for both types of perturbations.     

Application of a perfectly matched layer to the nonlinear wave equation

We derive a perfectly matched layer-like damping layer for the nonlinear wave equation. In the layer, only two auxiliary variables are needed. In the linear case the layer is perfectly matched, but in the nonlinear case it is not. Well posedness is established for the linear case. We also prove various energy estimates which can be used as a starting point for establishing stability of more general cases. In particular, we are able to show estimates for a special type of nonlinearity.Numerical experiments that show the effectiveness of the layer are presented both for nonlinear and linear problems. In the computations, we use an eighth order summation-by-parts discretization in space and implement the boundary conditions using a penalty procedure. We present new stability results for this discretization applied to the second order wave equation in the case with Dirichlet boundary conditions.     

Stability Balls in the Rotating Bénard System

Nonlinear stability in the standard rotating Bénard system with free boundaries is investigated. The perturbations are assumed to be three-dimensional and to be periodic in the horizontal directions. Below the critical value of the Rayleigh numberRa there is conditional stability, i.e. there are nonvanishing stability balls such that perturbations with initial values (measured in a suitable norm) in these balls decay exponentially in time. We give here explicit bounds to these stability balls from below in terms of the parameters of the system, i.e.Ra, the Taylor numberT and the Prandtl numberPr as well as the size of the periodicity cell of the perturbation. The bounds are valid in the entire parameter space; in particular, forPr<1 and for arbitrarily large values ofT. They provide a qualitative explanation for the experimental observation of subcritical instabilities in the rangePr<1. The method is based on a mode expansion of the perturbation equations and explicit estimates of the semigroup operator as well as of the nonlinearity.     

Existence and Non-linear Stability of Rotating Star Solutions of the Compressible Euler–Poisson Equations

We prove the existence of rotating star solutions which are steady-state solutions of the compressible isentropic Euler–Poisson (Euler–Poisson) equations in three spatial dimensions with prescribed angular momentum and total mass. This problem can be formulated as a variational problem of finding a minimizer of an energy functional in a broader class of functions having less symmetry than those functions considered in the classical Auchmuty–Beals paper. We prove the non-linear dynamical stability of these solutions with perturbations having the same total mass and symmetry as the rotating star solution. We also prove finite time stability of solutions where the perturbations are entropy-weak solutions of the Euler–Poisson equations. Finally, we give a uniform (in time) a priori estimate for entropy-weak solutions of the Euler–Poisson equations.     

Stability of a fluid in a horizontal saturated porous layer: effect of non-linear concentration profile, initial, and boundary conditions

Carbon dioxide injected into saline aquifers dissolves in the resident brines increasing their density, which might lead to convective mixing. Understanding the factors that drive convection in aquifers is important for assessing geological CO₂ storage sites. A hydrodynamic stability analysis is performed for non-linear, transient concentration fields in a saturated, homogenous, porous medium under various boundary conditions. The onset of convection is predicted using linear stability analysis based on the amplification of the initial perturbations. The difficulty with such stability analysis is the choice of the initial conditions used to define the imposed perturbations. We use different noises to find the fastest growing noise as initial conditions for the stability analysis. The stability equations are solved using a Galerkin technique. The resulting coupled ordinary differential equations are integrated numerically using a fourth-order Runge–Kutta method. The upper and lower bounds of convection instabilities are obtained. We find that at high Rayleigh numbers, based on the fastest growing noise for all boundary conditions, both the instability time and the initial wavelength of the convective instabilities are independent of the porous layer thickness. The current analysis provides approximations that help in screening suitable candidates for homogenous geological CO₂ sequestration sites.     

Vortex perturbations of the nonstationary motion of a liquid with a free boundary

The first studies on the stability of nonstationary motions of a liquid with a free boundary were published relatively recently [1–4]. Investigations were conducted concerning the stability of flow in a spherical cavity [1, 2], a spherical shell [3], a strip, and an annulus of an ideal liquid. In these studies both the fundamental motion and the perturbed motion were assumed to be potential flow. Changing to Lagrangian coordinates considerably simplified the solution of the problem. Ovsyannikov [5], using Lagrangian coordinates, obtained equations for small potential perturbations of an arbitrary potential flow. The resulting equations were used for solving typical examples which showed the degree of difficulty involved in the investigation of the stability of nonstationary motions [5–8]. In all of these studies the stability was characterized by the deviation of the free boundary from its unperturbed state, i.e., by the normal component of the perturbation vector. In the present study we obtain general equations for small perturbations of the nonstationary flow of a liquid with a free boundary in Lagrangian coordinates. We find a simple expression for the normal component of the perturbation vector. In the case of potential mass forces the resulting system reduces to a single equation for some scalar function with an evolutionary condition on the free boundary. We prove an existence and uniqueness theorem for the solution, and, in particular, we answer the question of whether the linear problem concerning small potential perturbations which was formulated in [5] is correct. We investigate two examples for stability: a) the stretching of a strip and b) the compression of a circular cylinder with the condition that the initial perturbation is not of potential type.     

Numerical simulation of the displacement of oil by water

If the mobility of a displacing fluid is greater than the mobility of the displaced fluid, the displacement is unstable (see, for example, [1–3]), and the originally plane displacement front is broken up into irregular tongues. It follows from the linear analysis of stability that initially the amplitude of the perturbation increases exponentially, and according to [1] the extended tongues that are formed move with constant velocity relative to the displaced fluid. The intermediate stages in the development of the instability, like questions relating to a more precise formulation of the problem (which involves giving up the piston displacement approximation) remain unstudied. A natural approach to their study is through numerical simulation, which was realized for the first time in [4, 5]. Some of the results of such an investigation are presented in the present paper. In contrast to [4], the main attention is devoted to the development of regular perturbations. It is shown that for the investigated mobility ratios the development of the perturbations follows the linear theory unexpectedly long, and then arrives at a stationary asymptotic regime. We also investigate the influence of the loss of displacement stability on waterless oil extraction in the case of displacement in homogeneous and inhomogeneous strata.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 58–63, September–October, 1979.We thank L. A. Chudov for advice and discussions.