The Stability of Flows in a Differentially Heated Rotating Fluid System with Rigid Bottom and Free Top

The stability of certain steady flows in a rotating system with rigid bottom and free top surfaces is investigated. The simplest flow states having the essential spatial variations of steady responses of a rotating fluid system to differential heating in the horizontal are studied, that is, those with a constant gradient temperature distribution with both horizontal and vertical components, and the accompanying Coriolis-balanced constant velocity shear (thermal wind). Ekman boundary layers and intermediate boundary layers are encountered in a systematic asymptotic analysis in two small parameters, the Ekman number and an inverse Richardson number. The resulting neutral stability curves indicate the possibility of instabilities above the inviscid stability criterion due to Eady, for some mean flow configurations. The estimate of the critical Taylor number is numerically close to the values obtained in the most nearly applicable experiments.     

Influence of Thermal Stratification on the Stability of Ekman-Couette-Flow

The Ekman-Couette-System consists of two infinitely extended plates which are sheared in opposite directions over a fluid and are additionally rotated about their normal axis. In the case of angular velocities which tend to zero, the system becomes the classical Couette-System, whereas for high angular velocities the boundary layers of the upper and lower plate are separated and represent Ekman boundary layers. For both limit cases the influence of thermal stratification on the stability of the base flow has been a subject of research for some time, but not so for moderate angular velocities. This was the motivation for doing a linear stability analysis for that case, including both stable and unstable stratification for a Prandtl number equal to unity. The results show, that as expected, stable stratification is suppressing the emergence of stationary as well as Type I- and Type II-shear-instabilities, while unstable stratification is supporting them. For unstable stratification, the system can also become unstable to a convection instability with all its properties known from other systems, except for that their orientation angle is not coincidental but determined due to the influence of the shear and Coriolis forces. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Linear and non‐linear stability thresholds for thermal convection in a box

We analyse the problem of finding instability thresholds and global non‐linear stability bounds for thermal convection in a linearly viscous fluid in a finite box. The vertical walls are maintained at different temperatures which gives rise to a non‐uniform temperature field in steady state. This problem was previously analysed by Georgescu and Mansutti (Int. J. Non‐Linear Mech. 1999; 34 :603–613). In our work we determine the linear instability threshold to be well above the global stability boundary found by an energy method. Since the perturbed system is not symmetric we expect this to be the case, and our analysis yields a parameter region where possible sub‐critical instabilities may be found. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

变速度轴向运动粘弹性梁的动态稳定性

研究速度变化的轴向运动粘弹性梁在亚谐波共振及组合共振范围内的参数振动．通过平均法,在运动参数激励频率为2倍固有频率或为两阶固有频率之和附近时得到了自治的常微分方程组．在参数激励频率和激励振幅平面上,可以找到由于共振而产生的失稳区域,并应用数值方法验证了理论推导结果的正确性．分析了粘弹性阻尼,速度和预紧张力对失稳区域的影响．粘弹性阻尼使得共振失稳区域减小,而速度和预紧张力使共振失稳区域在频率-振幅平面上发生漂移．     

A novel hydrodynamic approach to superconductivity. Appearance of the Meissner effect

From the point of view of spin interactions, considering the electron a charged quantised vortex-type object (QVTO) with vortex strength Γ=±h/2m, we study a two-dimensional system of electrons with antiferromagnetic arrangement of spins. In the conditions of an applied magnetic field some of the electrons will flip the spin and the equivalent QVTO system will start to move due to corroborated action of the vortex population. The developed currents will create a magnetic field opposed to the applied magnetic field, leading to the appearance of Meissner effect. As a function of the intrinsic pinning, the velocity field yields two behaviours, identified with Type I and Type II superconductors. The critical values of the magnetic field arise naturally from the balance between the Lorentz and Coulombian forces acting upon a moving QVTO. A temperature dependence of the distance between the QVTO and critical field is derived.     

Rotating hydromagnetic free shear layer flow for very large magnetic interaction parameter

The hydromagnetics of a linear, steady, axisymmetric flow of an electrically conducting homogeneous fluid confined between two identical rotating electrically insulated parallel plates are analysed for a free shear layer situation whenα ²?E ^?1/3 whereα ² is the rotational magnetic interaction parameter andE is the Ekman number. A few cases involving subtle changes of the imposed azimuthal velocity boundary condition are solved to elucidate the meridional electric current flow.     

Regularising discretizations of the Birkhoff-Rott equation

A thin shear layer moving from the trailing edge of a two-dimensional aerofoil section downstream can be interpreted as a curve of discontinuity for the tangential velocity and may be approximated by a vortex sheet in inviscid, incompressible fluid flow. It is well known that vortex sheets are subject to instabilities of Kelvin-Helmholtz type which lead to roll-up phenomena in the wake. The motion of such sheets is governed by the Birkhoff-Rott equation. In the case of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability it seems clear that a curvature singularity occurs at a certain critical time and that consistent discretizations of the Birkhoff-Rott equation may fail to yield reliable results even before the time of occurrence of a singularity. We discuss the modification of the Biot-Savart kernel in the sense of Krasny who regularized the kernel by means of a global parameter. Using discrete Fourier transform we show the damping influence of this regularization technique. We modify the kernel carefully by introducing a regularization found in ordinary vortex methods and show that reliable results may be obtained up to and slightly after the singularity formation without increasing the accuracy of the computation.     

Stability of the Ekman Layer in a Mixture

The mixture Ekman layer is shown to be unstable to infinitesimal perturbations when the ambient volume-fraction distribution is not constant. An approximate theory indicates that the minimum critical Reynolds number is zero.     

Computational Multi-Scale Stability Analysis of Periodic Electroactive Polymer Composites at Finite Strains

This work is dedicated to multi-scale stability analysis, especially macroscopic and microscopic stability analysis of periodic electroactive polymer (EAP) composites with embedded fibers. Computational homogenization is considered to determine the response of materials at macro-scale depending on the selected representative volume element (RVE) at micro-scale [4, 5]. The quasi-incompressibility condition is considered by implementing a four-field variational formulation on the RVE, see [7]. Based on the works [1–3, 6, 8] the macroscopic instabilities are determined by the loss of strong ellipticity of homogenized moduli. On the other hand, the bifurcation type microscopic instabilities are treated exploiting the Bloch-Floquet wave analysis in context of finite element discretization, which allows to detect the changed critical size of periodicity of the microstructure and critical macroscopic loading points. Finally, representative numerical examples are given which demonstrate the onset of instability surfaces, the stable macroscopic loading ranges, and further a periodic buckling mode at a microscopic instability point is presented. (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The Generation of Clear Air Turbulence by Nonlinear Waves

The structure of the critical layer in a stratified shear flow is investigated for finite-amplitude waves at high Reynolds numbers. Under such conditions, which are characteristic of the Clear Air Turbulence environment, nonlinear effects will dominate over diffusive effects. Nevertheless, it is shown that viscosity and heat-conduction still play a significant role in the evolution of such waves. The reason is that buoyancy leads to the formation of thin diffusive shear layers within the critical layer. The local Richardson number is greatly reduced in these layers and they are, therefore, likely to break down into turbulence. A nonlinear mechanism is thus revealed for producing localized instabilities in flows that are stable on a linear basis. The analysis is developed for arbitrary values of the mean flow Richardson number and results are obtained numerically.     

Multiple Instabilities in a Triply Diffusive System

The model equations describing two-dimensional convection in a fluid system driven by three diffusing components are studied. For such a model Griffiths found the state of pure conduction could become unstable to simultaneous steady and oscillatory convection. When the diffusing agents are temperature, salt, and angular velocity, Arneodo et al. found five instabilities of the rest state, including three multiple instabilities. In this paper we return to the model introduced by Griffiths, and, identifying his multiple instability as one of those found by Arneodo et al., we use dynamical systems theory to derive and study the evolution equations for the amplitudes of convection close to bifurcation.     

Onset of thermal convection and influence of rotation in wide spherical gap flow

The onset of thermal convection and the effect of rotation in a high Prandtl number fluid in a wide gap between two concentric spheres with an axial force field are investigated experimentally. Both spheres rotate along the vertical axis with the same angular velocity Ω while the inner one (r₁) is cooled and the outer one (r₂) is heated. The velocity field is investigated by different visualization techniques and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The axisymmetric basic flow is disturbed by local instabilities. At a Rayleigh number of Ra = 6.97 · 10⁶, a pulsing vortex develops in the south polar region. A different, coexisting instability in the outer boundary layer appears at Ra = 1.79 · 10⁷. Rotating with Taylor numbers Ta > 1.4 · 10⁵, this instability vanishes. The instabilities occur mainly in the southern hemisphere where the thermal stratification is unstable.     

Mini-Maximizers for Reaction-Diffusion Systems with Skew-Gradient Structure

A reaction-diffusion system with skew-gradient structure is a sort of activator-inhibitor system that consists of two gradient systems coupled in a skew-symmetric way. Any steady state of such a system corresponds to a critical point of some functional. The aim of this paper is to study the relation between a stability property as a steady state of the reaction-diffusion system and a mini-maximizing property as a critical point of the functional. It is shown that a steady state of the skew-gradient system is stable regardless of time constants if and only if it is a mini-maximizer of the functional. It is also shown that the mini-maximizing property is closely related with the diffusion-induced instability. Moreover, by using the property that any mini-maximizer on a convex domain is spatially homogeneous, quite a general instability criterion is obtained for some activator-inhibitor systems. These results are applied to the diffusive FitzHugh-Nagumo system and the Gierer-Meinhardt system.     

An Analytic Approach for Calculating Absolutely Unstable Inviscid Modes of the Boundary Layer on a Rotating Disk

An analytical treatment of inviscidly absolutely unstable modes is pursued using the long-wavelength asymptotic approach. It is shown using the inviscid Rayleigh scalings in conjunction with the linear critical layer theory that the rotating-disk boundary layer flow undergoes a region of absolute instability for some small azimuthal wave numbers. The analytically calculated branch points for the absolute instability are found to be in good agreement with those obtained via a numerical solution of the inviscid Rayleigh equation.     

On inverses and eigenpairs of periodic tridiagonal Toeplitz matrices with perturbed corners

In this paper, we derive explicit determinants, inverses and eigenpairs of periodic tridiagonal Toeplitz matrices with perturbed corners of Type I. The Mersenne numbers play an important role in these explicit formulas derived. Our main approaches include clever uses of the Schur complement and matrix decomposition with the Sherman-Morrison-Woodbury formula. Besides, the properties of Type II matrix can be also obtained, which benefits from the relation between Type I and II matrices. Lastly, we give three algorithms for these basic quantities and analyze them to illustrate our theoretical results.     

Experiments on the transition to three-dimensional flow structures in two-sided lid-driven cavities

Flow instabilities in two-sided lid-driven cavities are studied experimentally. The transition of the nearly two-dimensional flow to steady or time-dependent three-dimensional flow structures is investigated for one-sided, for parallel, and for antiparallel motion of the driving walls and for two aspect ratios, Γ = 0.76 and Γ = 1. Stability diagrams are obtained by flow visualization. Six different three-dimensional flow patterns have been characterized, each corresponding to a particular critical mode of a linear-stability analysis. The structures of the near-critical flows and the critical curves are in good agreement with the corresponding numerical predictions. In a few cases, however, the critical Reynolds numbers deviate form the numerical results. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Asymptotic optimality of multivariate linear hypothesis tests

The optimal exponential rate at which the Type II error probability of a multivariate linear hypothesis test can tend to zero while the Type I error probability is held fixed is given. The likelihood ratio test, the test of Hotelling and Lawley, the test of Bartlett, Nanda, and Pillai, and the test of Roy are shown to be asymptotically optimal in the sense that for each of these tests the exponential rate of convergence of the type II error probability attains the optimal value. Some other tests for the multivariate linear hypothesis are shown not to be asymptotically optimal.     

The measurement of returns to scale under a simultaneous occurrence of multiple solutions in a reference set and a supporting hyperplane

This research theoretically explores the measurement of RTS (Returns to Scale) under a possible occurrence of multiple solutions in DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis). In this study, the occurrence of multiple solutions is classified into Type I and Type II. Type I is an occurrence of multiple solutions in a reference set. Type II is an occurrence of multiple solutions on a supporting hyperplane passing on the reference set. Both Types I and II are very well known among DEA researchers, but previous research has not sufficiently explored a simultaneous occurrence of Type I and Type II in the RTS measurement. The two types of multiple solutions influence a degree of RTS in the DEA measurement. Such a quantitative issue on RTS is examined from the perspective of the Type I and Type II problems. To deal with such difficulties, a new linear programming approach is proposed to identify all efficient DMUs (Decision Making Units) that consist of a reference set, even if multiple solutions occur on the reference set. Based upon the research result, we can identify when multiple solutions of Type I and/or Type II occur on the RTS measurement and how to deal with such difficulties. Our research result makes it possible to measure a degree of scale economies (RTS) under the simultaneous occurrence of Type I and Type II.     

Laguerre collocation solutions to boundary layer type problems

In this paper a Laguerre collocation type method based on usual Laguerre functions is designed in order to solve high order nonlinear boundary value problems as well as eigenvalue problems, on semi-infinite domain. The method is first applied to Falkner–Skan boundary value problem. The solution along with its first two derivatives are computed inside the boundary layer on a fine grid which cluster towards the fixed boundary. Then the method is used to solve a generalized eigenvalue problem which arise in the study of the stability of the Ekman boundary layer. The method provides reliable numerical approximations, is robust and easy implementable. It introduces the boundary condition at infinity without any truncation of the domain. A particular attention is payed to the treatment of boundary conditions at origin. The dependence of the set of solutions to Falkner–Skan problem on the parameter embedded in the system is reproduced correctly. For Ekman eigenvalue problem, the critical Reynolds number which assure the linear stability is computed and compared with existing results. The leftmost part of the spectrum is validated using QZ as well as some Jacobi–Davidson type methods.     

A Mean Flow First Harmonic Theory for Hydrodynamic Instabilities

A general theory is presented for nonlinear instabilities arising in steady hydrodynamic motions. For quasiparallel flows at high values of the Reynolds number it is found that for relatively small disturbance levels the usual ideas concerning the generation of higher harmonics and the subsequent modification of the fundamental may be overwhelmed by three dimensional interactions between the evolving mean flow and the first harmonic wave. The differences from and similarities to existing asymptotic and numerical studies are discussed. The theory developed applies to a variety of flow configurations. Numerical results are given for Poiseuille flow and the Blasius boundary layer. In addition the theory developed here is applied to simulate the instabilities produced in a boundary layer due to the presence of free stream disturbances.