O(2)‐symmetry breaking bifurcation: with application to the flow past a sphere in a pipe

The steady, axisymmetric laminar flow of a Newtonian fluid past a centrally‐located sphere in a pipe first loses stability with increasing flow rate at a steady O(2)‐symmetry breaking bifurcation point. Using group theoretic results, a number of authors have suggested techniques for locating singularities in branches of solutions that are invariant with respect to the symmetries of an arbitrary group. These arguments are presented for the O(2)‐symmetry encountered here and their implementation for O(2)‐symmetric problems is discussed. In particular, how a bifurcation point may first be detected and then accurately located using an ‘extended system’ is described. Also shown is how to decide numerically if the bifurcating branch is subcritical or supercritical. The numerical solutions were obtained using the finite element code ENTWIFE. This has enabled the computation of the symmetry breaking bifurcation point for a range of sphere‐to‐pipe diameter ratios. A wire along the centerline of the pipe downstream of the sphere is also introduced, and its effect on the critical Reynolds number is shown to be small. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.