A theoretical mode for the instability of turbulent boundary layer over compliant surface

A theoretical model for the instability of turbulent boundary layer over compliant surfaces is described. The investigation of instability is carried out from a time-asymptotic space-time perspective that classifies instabilities as either convective or absolute. Results are compared against experimental observations of surface waves on elastic and viscoelastic compliant layers.     

Suppression or enhancement of interfacial instability in two-layer plane Couette flow of FENE-P fluids past a deformable solid layer

The linear stability of two-layer plane Couette flow of FENE-P fluids past a deformable solid layer is analyzed in order to examine the effect of solid deformability on the interfacial instability due to elasticity and viscosity stratification at the two-fluid interface. The solid layer is modeled using both linear viscoelastic and neo-Hookean constitutive equations. The limiting case of two-layer flow of upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluids is used as a starting point, and results for the FENE-P case are obtained by numerically continuing the UCM results for the interfacial mode to finite values of the chain extensibility parameter. For the case of two-layer plane Couette flow past a rigid solid surface, our results show that the finite extensibility of the polymer chain significantly alters the neutral stability boundaries of the interfacial instability. In particular, the two-layer Couette flow of FENE-P fluids is found to be unstable in a larger range of nondimensional parameters when compared to two-layer flow of UCM fluids. The presence of the deformable solid layer is shown to completely suppress the interfacial instability in most of the parameter regimes where the interfacial mode is unstable, while it could have a completely destabilizing effect in other parameter regimes even when the interfacial mode is stable in rigid channels. When compared with two-layer UCM flow, the two-layer FENE-P case is found in general to require solid layers with relatively lower shear modulii in order to suppress the interfacial instability. The results from the linear elastic solid model are compared with those obtained using the (more rigorous) neo-Hookean model for the solid, and good agreement is found between the two models for neutral stability curves pertaining to the two-fluid interfacial mode. The present study thus provides an important extension of the earlier analysis of two-layer UCM flow [V. Shankar, Stability of two-layer viscoelastic plane Couette flow past a deformable solid layer: implications of fluid viscosity stratification, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 125 (2005) 143–158] to more accurate constitutive models for the fluid and solid layers, and reaffirms the central conclusion of instability suppression in two-layer flows of viscoelastic fluids by soft elastomeric coatings in more realistic settings.     

三维扰动波的非平行边界层稳定性研究

导出了三维扰动波的原始变量形式的抛物化稳定性方程（PSE）,研究了三维空间模态TS波的非平行边界层稳定性问题.采用了法向四阶紧致格式,以提高计算精度.通过给出不会导致奇性的坐标变换、修改外边界条件以及克服平行流初始值的瞬态影响和推进步长的限制,保证了计算的数值稳定.用补全元素带状矩阵法求解块三对角矩阵,大大提高了速度.计算结果清楚地显示了三维扰动波的演化过程和非平行性对边界层稳定性的影响,特别是,观察到非平行性对三维扰动波的影响,有时会使其稳定性出现逆转的现象.还研究了逆压梯度的作用.算例的结果与其他结果符合良好.     

On the absolute instability in a boundary-layer flow with compliant coatings

The question of absolute instabilities occuring in a boundary-layer flow with compliant coatings is reassessed. Compliant coatings of the Kramer's type are considered. Performing a local, linear absolute/convective stability analysis, a family of spring-backed elastic plates with damping is shown to be absolutely unstable for sufficiently thin plates. The absolute instability arises from the coalescence between an upstream propagating evanescent mode and the Tollmien–Schlichting wave. To reinforce the local, linear stability results the global stability behaviour of the system is investigated, integrating numerically the full nonparallel and nonlinear two-dimensional Navier–Stokes system coupled to the dynamical model. Injecting Gaussian-type, spatially localized flow disturbances as initial conditions, the spatio-temporal evolution of wave packets is computed. The absolute stability behaviour is retrieved in the global system, for a compliant panel of finite length. It is demonstrated numerically that the global stability behaviour of the wall, triggered by finite-end-effects, may be independent of the disturbance propagation in the flow.     

Dynamic analysis for axially moving viscoelastic panels

In this study, stability and dynamic behaviour of axially moving viscoelastic panels are investigated with the help of the classical modal analysis. We use the flat panel theory combined with the Kelvin–Voigt viscoelastic constitutive model, and we include the material derivative in the viscoelastic relations. Complex eigenvalues for the moving viscoelastic panel are studied with respect to the panel velocity, and the corresponding eigenfunctions are found using central finite differences. The governing equation for the transverse displacement of the panel is of fifth order in space, and thus five boundary conditions are set for the problem. The fifth condition is derived and set at the in-flow end for clamped–clamped and clamped-simply supported panels. The numerical results suggest that the moving viscoelastic panel undergoes divergence instability for low values of viscosity. They also show that the critical panel velocity increases when viscosity is increased and that the viscoelastic panel does not experience instability with a sufficiently high viscosity coefficient. For the cases with low viscosity, the modes and velocities corresponding to divergence instability are found numerically. We also report that the value of bending rigidity (bending stiffness) affects the distance between the divergence velocity and the flutter velocity: the higher the bending rigidity, the larger the distance.     

THE DYNAMIC BEHAVIORS OF VISCOELASTIC PIPE CONVEYING FLUID WITH THE KELVIN MODEL

Based on the differential constitutive relationship of linear viscoelastic, material, a solid-liquid coupling vibration equation for viscoelastic pipe conveying fluid is derived by the D'Alembert's principle. The critical flow velocities and natural frequencies of the cantilever pipe conveying fluid with the Kelvin model (flutter instability) are calculated with the modified finite difference method in the form of the recurrence formula. The curves between the complex frequencies of the first, second and third mode and flow velocity of the pipe are plotted. On the basis of the numerical, calculation results, the dynamic behaviors and stability of the pipe are discussed. It should be pointed out that the delay time of viscoelastic material with the Kelvin model has a remarkable effect on the dynamic characteristics and stability behaviors of the cantilevered pipe conveying fluid, which is a gyroscopic non-conservative system.     

Influence of swirl on the stability of a rod in annular leakage flow

The influence of swirl (flow rotation) on the stability of a rod in annular leakage flow is investigated. Under the assumption of laminar flow and plane vibrations (no whirling), it is shown that the swirl acts, in effect, as an elastic foundation with negative foundation stiffness, the magnitude being proportional to the mean circumferential flow rate squared. Consequently, swirl always lowers the critical axial flow speed in case of divergence instability of a rod of finite length. Numerical analysis is needed to predict the effect of swirl in case of flutter instability of a finite rod; this is not performed here. However, for the flutter-like instability of travelling waves in an infinite rod-channel system, it is shown analytically that swirl again always lowers the critical axial flow speed. Finally, it is found that by circumferential flow alone, the travelling waves are extinguished at a certain flow rate, followed by a divergence-like instability.     

The hydrodynamic stability of channel flow with compliant boundaries

An asymptotic theory is developed for the hydrodynamic stability of an incompressible fluid flowing in a channel in which one wall is rigid and the other is compliant. We exploit the multideck structure of the flow to investigate theoretically the development of disturbances to the flow in the limit of large Reynolds numbers. A simple spring-plate model is used to describe the motion of the compliant wall, and this study considers the effect of the various wall parameters, such as tension, inertia, and damping, on the stability properties. An amplitude equation for a modulated wavetrain is derived and the properties of this equation are studied for a number of cases including linear and nonlinear theory. It is shown that in general the effect of viscoelastic damping is destabilizing. In particular, for large damping, the analysis points to a fast travelling wave, short-scale instability, which may be related to a flutter instability observed in some experiments. This work also demonstrates that the conclusions obtained by previous investigators in which the effect of tension, inertia, and other parameters is neglected, may be misleading. Finally it is shown that a set of compliant-wall parameters exists for which the Haberman type of critical layer analysis leads to stable equilibrium amplitudes, in contrast to many other stability problems where such equilibrium amplitudes are unstable.P.S. is grateful to the University of Zimbabwe for financial support. J.S.B.G. is grateful to the E.P.S.R.C. for the computing resources acquired under Grants GR/H58568-C88 and GR/H 83683 used in this research.     

Three-dimensional instability analysis of boundary layers perturbed by streamwise vortices

A parametric study is presented for the incompressible, zero-pressure-gradient flat-plate boundary layer perturbed by streamwise vortices. The vortices are placed near the leading edge and model the vortices induced by miniature vortex generators (MVGs), which consist in a spanwise-periodic array of small winglet pairs. The introduction of MVGs has been experimentally proved to be a successful passive flow control strategy for delaying laminar-turbulent transition caused by Tollmien–Schlichting (TS) waves. The counter-rotating vortex pairs induce non-modal, transient growth that leads to a streaky boundary layer flow. The initial intensity of the vortices and their wall-normal distances to the plate wall are varied with the aim of finding the most effective location for streak generation and the effect on the instability characteristics of the perturbed flow. The study includes the solution of the three-dimensional, stationary, streaky boundary layer flows by using the boundary region equations, and the three-dimensional instability analysis of the resulting basic flows by using the plane-marching parabolized stability equations. Depending on the initial circulation and positioning of the vortices, planar TS waves are stabilized by the presence of the streaks, resulting in a reduction in the region of instability and shrink of the neutral stability curve. For a fixed maximum streak amplitude below the threshold for secondary instability (SI), the most effective wall-normal distance for the formation of the streaks is found to also offer the most stabilization of TS waves. By setting a maximum streak amplitude above the threshold for SI, sinuous shear layer modes become unstable, as well as another instability mode that is amplified in a narrow region near the vortex inlet position.     

基于不同板理论的嵌于柔性层中薄膜的皱曲分析

论文对于柔性层-薄膜-柔性层三层结构系统,基于经典板理论、一阶剪切变形理论和高阶剪切变形理论,分别推导给出薄膜皱曲的控制方程。对于两个柔性层,则把它们处理成具有有限厚度的平面应变弹性体。针对上下柔性层固支边界或自由边界条件,利用线性扰动动方法得到柔性层对薄膜的横向压力差,最终获得确定薄膜具有周期性正弦型皱曲的临界载荷方程。同时,对结构系统建立了有限元数值模型,通过模拟结果与三种板理论的结果进行了比较,验证了理论解的精确性和适用性。最后,进行了参数和极限情况分析,阐述了上下层边界条件、薄膜和柔性层的材料和几何参数对临界值的影响。     

Large-scale instability of a fine-grained turbulent jet

The initial growth of a large scale perturbation on a fine-grained turbulent jet is studied via linear stability analysis. The turbulent jet is assumed to be homogeneous and isotropic with zero mean shear, and the inviscid stream outside the jet has a uniform velocity profile. The incremental Reynolds stress caused by the large scale perturbation is modeled by a viscoelastic constitutive equation, following the analysis of Crow (1968). It is found that the jet is always unstable to both sinuous and varicose types of perturbation, with the sinuous mode having a larger growth rate. In particular, short waves are always amplified, in contrast to the short wave stabilization at low speed found by Townsend (1966) for a purely elastic jet. The growth rates of these short waves are finite, and are smaller than those for the classical Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of an inviscid jet, but larger than those for the Hooper-Boyd (1983) instability of a viscous jet with continuous velocity profile.     

LOCAL AND GLOBAL INSTABILITY OF FLUID-CONVEYING PIPES ON ELASTIC FOUNDATIONS

We investigate the relationship between the local and global bending motions of fluid-conveying pipes on an elastic foundation. The local approach refers to an infinite pipe without taking into account its finite ends, while in the global approach we consider a pipe of finite length with a given set of boundary conditions. Several kinds of propagating disturbances are identified from the dispersion relation, namely evanescent, neutral and unstable waves. As the length of the pipe is increased, the global criterion for instability is found to coincide with local neutrality, whereby a local harmonic forcing only generates neutral waves. For sets of boundary conditions that give rise only to static instabilities, the criterion for global instability of the long pipe is that static neutral waves exist. Conversely, for sets of boundary conditions that allow dynamic instabilities, the criterion for global instability of the long pipe corresponds to that for the existence of neutral waves of finite nonzero frequency. These results are discussed in relation with the work of Kulikovskii and other similar approaches in hydrodynamic stability theory.     

超音速气流中受热壁板的稳定性分析

采用Galerkin方法建立二维壁板的非线性气动弹性运动方程，用一阶活塞理论模拟壁板 受到的气动力. 基于李雅普诺夫间接法分析了平壁板的稳定性，得到了壁板失稳的边界 曲线；采用牛顿迭代法分析了壁板的屈曲变形，进而分析了后屈曲状态下壁板的稳定性； 在时域中分析了后屈曲状态下壁板的颤振边界. 分析结果表明，为了保证计算精度， 在二维壁板的静态失稳及过屈曲变形分析中，至少要取二阶谐波模态；在平壁板的超音速颤 振(动态失稳)边界分析中至少应取四阶模态. 还对壁板的温升，壁板长厚比、壁板密 度和气流马赫数作了无量纲变参分析，研究了这些参数的变化对壁板稳定性的影响规律. 研 究中发现，当气流速压较低时壁板一般会稳定在低阶谐波模态的屈曲变形位置，但是如果系 统出现多个渐近稳定的不动点，即使作用在壁板上的气流速压很低，壁板也有可能在较低速 压下发生二次失稳型颤振.     

Instabilities in free-surface electroosmotic flows

Instability of a thin electrolyte film undergoing a direct current electroosmotic flow has been investigated. The film with a compliant electrolyte–air interface is flowing over a rigid charged substrate. Unlike previous studies, inclusion of the Maxwell stresses in the formulation shows the presence of a new finite wavenumber shear-flow mode of instability, alongside the more frequently observed long-wave interfacial mode. The shear mode is found to be the dominant mode of instability when the electrolyte–solid and electrolyte–air interfaces are of opposite charge or of same charge but have very large zeta-potential at the electrolyte–air interface. The conditions for mode-switch (interfacial to shear) and the direction of the travelling waves are discussed through stability diagrams. Interestingly, the analysis shows that when the interfaces are of nearly same zeta potential, the ‘free’ electrolyte–air interface behaves more like a ‘stationary’ wall because of the ion transport in the reverse direction of the flow.     

Small Reynolds number instabilities in two-layer Couette flow

Instabilities in two-layer Couette flow are investigated from a small Reynolds number expansion of the eigenvalue problem governing linear stability. The wave velocity and growth rate are given explicitly, and previous results for long waves and short waves are retrieved as special cases. In addition to the inertial instability due to viscous stratification, the flow may be subject to the Rayleigh–Taylor instability. As a result of the competition of these two instabilities, inertia may completely stabilise a gravity-unstable flow above some finite critical Froude number, or conversely, for a gravity-stable flow, inertia may give rise to finite wavenumber instability above some finite critical Weber number. General conditions for these phenomena are given, as well as exact or approximate values of the critical numbers. The validity domain of the many asymptotic expansions is then investigated from comparison with the numerical solution. It appears that the small-Re expansion gives good results beyond Re = 1, with an error less that 1%. For Reynolds numbers of a few hundred, we show from the eigenfunctions and the energy equation that the nature of the instability changes: instability still arises from the interfacial mode (there is no mode crossing), but this mode takes all the features of a shear mode. The other modes correspond to the stable eigenmodes of the single-layer Couette flow, which are recovered when one fluid is rigidified by increasing its viscosity or surface tension.     

Effect of purely elastic flow instability on molecular conformation and drag

Linear stability analysis has shown that viscoelastic creeping flow of an Oldroyd-B liquid through a sinusoidal channel is unstable to stationary, wall-localized and short wavelength perturbations [B. Sadanandan, R. Sureshkumar, Global linear stability analysis of non-separated viscoelastic flow through a periodically constricted channel, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 122 (2004) 55]. In this work, time-dependent simulations are performed to determine the nonlinear evolution of finite amplitude disturbances in the post-critical flow regime. It is shown that a nonlinear transition, which is facilitated by a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation, establishes a finite amplitude state (FAS) in which the average polymer stretch is highly modulated. The maximum normal stress, observed at the channel nip, can increase by up to approximately 100% when the Weissenberg number, defined as the ratio of the fluid relaxation time to an inverse characteristic shear rate, is increased by only 10% beyond its critical value. This is attributed to the amplification of configurational perturbations by the base flow shear rate, which attains its maximum at the channel nip. The effect of finite chain extensibility on the critical condition and nonlinear instability is investigated using the FENE-CR model. The stabilizing effect of finite extensibility can be expressed through a renormalization of the Weissenberg number by accounting for the screening effect of the nonlinear force law on the transmission of configurational perturbations to polymeric stress. The principal features of the FAS are qualitatively model-independent. The FAS exhibits a small, but numerically perceptible increase in the friction factor as compared to the base flow. The implication of the findings on the experimentally observed flow resistance enhancement phenomenon in viscoelastic creeping flows through converging/diverging geometries is discussed.     

Stability properties of the vertical boundary layers in differentially heated cavities

In the present study, the two-dimensional (2-D) stability properties of the vertical boundary layers in a cavity that is differentially heated over two opposing vertical walls is considered. The study is performed by introducing artificial, controlled perturbations at the base of the vertical boundary layer along the hot cavity wall and by following the evolution of these disturbances. For small initial perturbations, the evolution is governed by linear effects. This method accurately predicts the frequency of the bifurcation, which occurs for (much) larger Rayleigh numbers. Convective instability sets in for Rayleigh numbers much smaller than those at which the absolute instability (i.e., the bifurcation) occurs, and these Rayleigh numbers are in reasonable agreement with those for the boundary layer along a plate. The absolute instability does not result from the first wave which becomes unstable. For small Prandtl numbers (≤ 2), the unstable waves which lead to the absolute instability are shear-driven, and a single frequency is introduced in the flow after the bifurcation. For larger Prandtl numbers, the unstable waves are buoyancy driven and no single-frequency unsteady flow is observed after the bifurcation.     

On the wave-cancelling nature of boundary layer flow control

This work deals with the feedforward active control of Tollmien–Schlichting instability waves over incompressible 2D and 3D boundary layers. Through an extensive numerical study, two strategies are evaluated; the optimal linear–quadratic–Gaussian (LQG) controller, designed using the Eigensystem realization algorithm, is compared to a wave-cancellation scheme, which is obtained using the direct inversion of frequency-domain transfer functions of the system. For the evaluated cases, it is shown that LQG leads to a similar control law and presents a comparable performance to the simpler, wave-cancellation scheme, indicating that the former acts via a destructive interference of the incoming wavepacket downstream of actuation. The results allow further insight into the physics behind flow control of convectively unstable flows permitting, for instance, the optimization of the transverse position for actuation. Using concepts of linear stability theory and the derived transfer function, a more efficient actuation for flow control is chosen, leading to similar attenuation of Tollmien–Schlichting waves with only about 10% of the actuation power in the baseline case.     

Experimental studies of interfacial instabilities in multilayer pressure-driven flow of polymeric melts

The interfacial deformation and stability of two-(A-B) as well as three-layer symmetric (A-B-A) and asymmetric (A-B-C) pressure-driven flow of viscoelastic fluids has been investigated. Flow visualization in conjunction with digital image processing has been used to observe and measure the rate of encapsulation and interfacial stability/instability of the flow. Specifically, the encapsulation behavior as well as stability/instability of the interface and the corresponding growth or decay rate of disturbances as a function of various important parameters, namely, number of layers and their arrangement, layer depth ratio, viscosity and elasticity ratio as well as disturbance frequency, have been investigated. Based on these experiments, we have shown that the encapsulation phenomena occurs irrespective of the stability/instability of the interface and in cases when both encapsulation and instability occur simultaneously their coupling leads to highly complex and three-dimensional interfacial wave patterns. Moreover, it has been shown that the simple notion that less viscous fluids encapsulate more viscous fluids is incorrect and depending on the wetting properties of the fluid as well as their first and second normal stresses the reverse could occur. Additionally, in two- and three-layer flows it has been shown that by placing a thin, less viscous layer adjacent to the wall longwave disturbances can be stabilized while short and intermediate wavelength disturbances are stabilized when the more elastic fluid is the majority component. Furthermore, in three-layer flows it has been demonstrated that in the linear instability regime no dynamic interaction between the two interfaces is possible for short and intermediate wavenumber disturbances. However, in the nonlinear stability regime dynamic interactions between interfaces have been observed in this range of disturbance wavenumbers leading to highly chaotic flows. Finally, in the parameter space of this study no subcritical bifurcations were observed while supercritical bifurcations resulting in waves with a pointed front and a gradual tail were observed.