Generation of Nonlinear Waves on a Viscoelastic Coating in a Turbulent Boundary Layer

Self–induced excitation of periodic nonlinear waves on a viscoelastic coating interacting with a turbulent boundary layer of an incompressible flow is studied. The response of the flow to multiwave excitation of the coating surface is determined in the approximation of small slopes. A system of equations is obtained for complex amplitudes of multiple harmonics of a slow (divergent) wave resulting from the development of hydroelastic instability on a coating with large losses. It is shown that three–wave resonant relations between the harmonics lead to the development of explosive instability, which is stabilized due to the deformation of the mean (Sover the wave period) shear flow in the boundary layer. Conditions of soft and hard excitation of divergent waves are determined. Based on the calculations performed, qualitative features of excitation of divergent waves in known experiments are explained.     

PML absorbing boundary conditions for the linearized and nonlinear Euler equations in the case of oblique mean flow

For the case of uniform mean flow in an arbitrary direction, perfectly matched layer (PML) absorbing boundary conditions are presented for both the linearized and nonlinear Euler equations. Although linear perfectly matched side layers with an oblique mean flow have been studied in previous works, we propose in the present paper a construction of corner layer equations that are dynamically stable. Stability issues are investigated by examining the dispersion relations of linear waves supported by the corner layer equations. For increased efficiency, a pseudo mean flow is included in the derivation of the PML equations for the nonlinear case. Numerical examples are given to support the validity of the proposed equations. Specifically, the linear PML formulation is tested for the case of acoustic, vorticity, and entropy waves traveling with an oblique mean flow. The nonlinear formulation is tested with an isentropic vortex moving diagonally with a constant velocity. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tollmien-Schlichting Waves in a Hypersonic Boundary Layer Flow in the Neighborhood of a Cooled Surface

A nonlinear time-dependent model of the development of longwave perturbations in a hypersonic boundary layer flow in the neighborhood of a cooled surface is constructed. The pressure in the flow is assumed to be induced the combined variation of the thicknesses of the near-wall and main parts of the boundary layer. Numerical and analytic solutions are obtained in the linear approximation. It is shown that if the main part of the boundary layer is subsonic as a whole, its action reduces the perturbation damping upstream and the perturbation growth downstream, while a supersonic, as a whole, main part of the boundary layer creates the opposite effects. An analysis of the solutions obtained makes it possible to conclude that the asymptotic model proposed can describe the three-dimensional instability of the Tollmien-Schlichting waves.     

Linear stability of three-dimensional boundary layers

Stability of compressible three-dimensional boundary layers on a swept wing model is studied within the framework of the linear theory. The analysis based on the approximation of local self-similarity of the mean flow was performed within the Falkner-Skan-Cooke solution extended to compressible flows. The calculated characteristics of stability for a subsonic boundary layer are found to agree well with the measured results. In the case of a supersonic boundary layer, the results calculated for a Mach number M = 2 are also in good agreement with the measured spanwise scales of nonstationary vortices of the secondary flow. The calculated growth rates of disturbances, however, are substantially different from the measured values. This difference can be attributed to a high initial amplitude of disturbances generated in the experiment, which does not allow the linear stability theory to be applied. The evolution of natural disturbances with moderate amplitudes is fairly well predicted by the theory. The effect of compressibility on crossflow instability modes is demonstrated to be insignificant. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 3–14, March–April, 2008.     

On two-dimensional linear waves in Blasius boundary layer over viscoelastic layers

This work concerns the direct numerical simulation of small-amplitude two-dimensional ribbon-excited waves in Blasius boundary layer over viscoelastic compliant layers of finite length. A vorticity-streamfunction formulation is used, which assures divergence-free solutions for the evolving flow fields. Waves in the compliant panels are governed by the viscoelastic Navier's equations. The study shows that Tollmien–Schlichting (TS) waves and compliance-induced flow instability (CIFI) waves that are predicted by linear stability theory frequently coexist on viscoelastic layers of finite length. In general, the behaviour of the waves is consistent with the predictions of linear stability theory. The edges of the compliant panels, where abrupt changes in wall property occur, are an important source of waves when they are subjected to periodic excitation by the flow. The numerical results indicate that the non-parallel effect of boundary-layer growth is destabilizing on the TS instability. It is further demonstrated that viscoelastic layers with suitable properties are able to reduce the amplification of the TS waves, and that high levels of material damping are effective in controlling the propagating CIFI.     

Nonlinear development of two-dimensional hydroelastic instability in a turbulent boundary layer on an elastic coating

Nonlinear evolution of hydroelastic instability arising in the flow past a coating of a rubber-type material by a turbulent boundary layer of an incompressible fluid is studied. A nonlinear dispersion equation for two-dimensional, quasi-monochromatic, low-amplitude waves is derived. The Prandtl equations for the mean (over the waviness period) boundary-layer flow are solved in the approximation of local similarity and by direct numerical integration. Evolution of unstable waves in time is studied on the basis of the Landau equation, which is derived separately for the instability of fast waves (flutter) and the quasi-static instability (divergence). The calculation results are compared with available experimental data. Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhnii Novgorod 603600. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 69–80, July–August, 2000.     

Development of three-dimensional disturbances in a boundary layer

In the region of transition from a two-dimensional laminar boundary layer to a turbulent one, three-dimensional flow occurs [1–3]. It has been proposed that this flow is formed as the result of nonlinear interaction of two-dimensional and three-dimensional disturbances predicted by linear hydrodynamic stability theory. Using many simplifications, [4, 5] performed a calculation of this interaction for a free boundary layer and a boundary layer on a wall with a very coarse approximation of the velocity profile. The results showed some argreement with experiment. On the other hand, it is known that disturbances of the Tollmin—Schlichting wave type can be observed at sufficiently high amplitude. This present study will use the method of successive linearization to calculate the primary two- and three-dimensional disturbances, and also the average secondary flow occurring because of nonlinear interaction of the primary disturbances. The method of calculation used is close to that of [4, 5], the disturbance parameters being calculated on the basis of a Blazius velocity profile. A detailed comparison of results with experimental data [1] is made. It developed that at large disturbance amplitude the amplitude growth rate differs from that of linear theory, while the spatial distribution of disturbances agree s well with the distribution given by the natural functions and their nonlinear interaction. In calculating the secondary flow an experimental correction was made to the amplitude growth rate.     

Large eddy simulation of boundary layer flow under cnoidal waves

Water waves in coastal areas are generally nonlinear, exhibiting asymmetric velocity profiles with different amplitudes of crest and trough. The behaviors of the boundary layer under asymmetric waves are of great significance for sediment transport in natural circumstances. While previous studies have mainly focused on linear or symmetric waves, asymmetric wave-induced flows remain unclear, particularly in the flow regime with high Reynolds numbers.Taking cnoidal wave as a typical example of asymmetric waves, we propose to use an infinite immersed plate oscillating cnoidally in its own plane in quiescent water to simulate asymmetric wave boundary layer. A large eddy simulation approach with Smagorinsky subgrid model is adopted to investigate the flow characteristics of the boundary layer. It is verified that the model well reproduces experimental and theoretical results. Then a series of numerical experiments are carried out to study the boundary layer beneath cnoidal waves from laminar to fully developed turbulent regimes at high Reynolds numbers, larger than ever studied before.Results of velocity profile, wall shear stress, friction coefficient, phase lead between velocity and wall shear stress, and the boundary layer thickness are obtained. The dependencies of these boundary layer properties on the asymmetric degree and Reynolds number are discussed in detail.     

Three-Wave Interactions of Disturbances in a Supersonic Boundary Layer

Within the framework of the weakly nonlinear stability theory, group interaction of disturbances in a supersonic boundary layer is considered. The disturbances are represented by two spatial packets of traveling instability waves (wave trains) with multiple frequencies. The possibility of energy redistribution in such wave systems in the case of three-wave resonant interactions of packet constituents is considered. The model is used to test the dynamics of unstable waves arising due to introduction of controlled high-intensity disturbances into a supersonic boundary layer. It is found that this mechanism is not the main one for the features of streamwise dynamics of such nonlinear waves being observed.     

Effect of surface steps on boundary layer transition

An experimental study has been carried out to examine the effect of a sharp-edged step on boundary layer transition. The transition position and disturbance spectra in the boundary layer for different step heights and free-stream velocities were measured by hot-wire anemometry. A correlation between the transition Reynolds number and the relative step height has been established for both backward-facing and forward-facing steps. The transition position is associated with the “N-factor” that defines the integrated growth of instability waves at transition. The boundary layer over a step has an earlier transition position than that on a smooth plate, since the instability waves amplify more rapidly than those on a smooth surface. The transition N-factor for the flow containing a step, calculated using the amplification rates on a smooth plate, will, therefore, be smaller than that on surfaces without a step. The observed reduction of the N-factor occurring with a step has been shown to correlate with the height of the step, thus, providing an empirical tool that can be used to estimate the transition position when steps occur. An appropriate value of N can be determined from knowledge of the step height.     

Investigation of boundary layer stability in a gradient flow with a high degree of free-stream turbulence

The results of an experimental investigation of boundary layer stability in a gradient flow with a high degree of free-stream turbulence are presented. The question of the possible artificial generation, the further development and the effect on laminar-turbulent transition of instability waves (Tollmien-Schlichting waves) in the boundary layer on a wing profile is considered for a level of free-stream turbulence =1.75% of the free-stream velocity; the sensitivity of the flow to the disturbances and their control by means of boundary layer suction are investigated.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 52–58, March–April, 1990.     

Effect of permeability on the instability of a non-Newtonian film down a porous inclined plane

A thin film of a power–law fluid flowing down a porous inclined plane is considered. It is assumed that the flow through the porous medium is governed by the modified Darcy’s law together with Beavers–Joseph boundary condition for a general power–law fluid. Under the assumption of small permeability relative to the thickness of the overlying fluid layer, the flow is decoupled from the filtration flow through the porous medium and a slip condition at the bottom is used to incorporate the effects of the permeability of the porous substrate. Applying the long-wave theory, a nonlinear evolution equation for the thickness of the film is obtained. A linear stability analysis of the base flow is performed and the critical condition for the onset of instability is obtained. The results show that the substrate porosity in general destabilizes the film flow system and the shear-thinning rheology enhances this destabilizing effect. A weakly nonlinear stability analysis reveals the existence of supercritical stable and subcritical unstable regions in the wave number versus Reynolds number parameter space. The numerical solution of the nonlinear evolution equation in a periodic domain shows that the fully developed nonlinear solutions are either time-dependent modes that oscillate slightly in the amplitude or time independent stable two-dimensional nonlinear waves with large amplitude referred to as ‘permanent waves’. The results show that the shape and the amplitude of the nonlinear waves are strongly influenced by the permeability of the porous medium and the shear-thinning rheology.     

Nonlinear Instability in the Region of Laminar-Turbulent Transition in Supersonic Three-Dimensional Flow over a Flat Plate

Direct numerical simulation is applied to obtain laminar-turbulent transition in supersonic flow over a flat plate. It is shown that, due to the nonlinear instability, Tollmien–Schlichting waves generated in the boundary layer lead to the formation of oblique disturbances in the flow. These represent a combination of compression and expansion waves, whose intensities can be two orders higher than that of external harmonic disturbances. The patterns of the three-dimensional flow over the plate are presented and the structures of the turbulent flat-plate boundary layers are described for the freestream Mach numbers M = 2 and 4.     

On the inviscid acoustic-mode instability of supersonic shear flows

The same methods used previously to study acoustic-mode instability in supersonic boundary layers are applied to free shear layers, and new calculations are made for boundary layers with cooling and suction. The objective is to obtain additional information about acoustic-mode instability, and to find what features of the instability are common to boundary layers and free shear flows. Acoustic modes exist whenever there is an embedded region of locally supersonic flow relative to the phase speed of the instability wave. Consequently, they can be found in boundary layers, wakes, and jets, but not in mixing layers unless the flow is confined. In this first part of a two-part paper, attention is directed principally to two-dimensional waves. The linear, inviscid stability theory is used to calculate spatial amplification rates at Mach number 3 for the sinuous and varicose modes of a single wake flow and a single jet flow, each made up of the same mixing-layer profile plus a central region of uniform flow. Along with sequences of sinuous and varicose unstable modes clearly identifiable as acoustic modes, both of these flows, unlike the boundary layer, have a lowest sinuous mode that is the most unstable. The unstable modes include both subsonic and radiating disturbances with large amplification rates. The latter phenomenon is also found for highly cooled boundary layers with suction. In these boundary layers, suction is generally stabilizing for nonradiating acoustic disturbances, but destabilizing for radiating disturbances.The work described in this paper was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Support from the Aerodynamics Division of the Office of Aeronautics and Exploration Technology is gratefully acknowledged. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the Fourth Symposium on Numerical and Physical Aspects of Aerodynamic Flows, California State University, Long Beach, CA, 16–19 January 1989.     

Stability of double-diffusive convection induced by selective absorption of radiation in a fluid layer

Linear and nonlinear stability analyses were performed on a fluid layer with a concentration-based internal heat source. Clear bimodal behaviour in the neutral curve (with stationary and oscillatory modes) is observed in the region of the onset of oscillatory convection, which is a previously unobserved phenomenon in radiation-induced convection. The numerical results for the linear instability analysis suggest a critical value γ _c of γ, a measure for the strength of the internal heat source, for which oscillatory convection is inhibited when γ > γ _c . Linear instability analyses on the effect of varying the ratio of the salt concentrations at the upper and lower boundaries conclude that the ratio has a significant effect on the stability boundary. A nonlinear analysis using an energy approach confirms that the linear theory describes the stability boundary most accurately when γ is such that the linear theory predicts the onset of mostly stationary convection. Nevertheless, the agreement between the linear and nonlinear stability thresholds deteriorates for larger values of the solute Rayleigh number for any value of γ.     

Stability and modal analysis of shock/boundary layer interactions

The dynamics of oblique shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interactions is analyzed by mining a large-eddy simulation (LES) database for various strengths of the incoming shock. The flow dynamics is first analyzed by means of dynamic mode decomposition (DMD), which highlights the simultaneous occurrence of two types of flow modes, namely a low-frequency type associated with breathing motion of the separation bubble, accompanied by flapping motion of the reflected shock, and a high-frequency type associated with the propagation of instability waves past the interaction zone. Global linear stability analysis performed on the mean LES flow fields yields a single unstable zero-frequency mode, plus a variety of marginally stable low-frequency modes whose stability margin decreases with the strength of the interaction. The least stable linear modes are grouped into two classes, one of which bears striking resemblance to the breathing mode recovered from DMD and another class associated with revolving motion within the separation bubble. The results of the modal and linear stability analysis support the notion that low-frequency dynamics is intrinsic to the interaction zone, but some continuous forcing from the upstream boundary layer may be required to keep the system near a limit cycle. This can be modeled as a weakly damped oscillator with forcing, as in the early empirical model by Plotkin (AIAA J 13:1036–1040, 1975).     

Numerical simulation of fully nonlinear irregular wave tank in three dimension

A fully nonlinear irregular wave tank has been developed using a three‐dimensional higher‐order boundary element method (HOBEM) in the time domain. The Laplace equation is solved at each time step by an integral equation method. Based on image theory, a new Green function is applied in the whole fluid domain so that only the incident surface and free surface are discretized for the integral equation. The fully nonlinear free surface boundary conditions are integrated with time to update the wave profile and boundary values on it by a semi‐mixed Eulerian–Lagrangian time marching scheme. The incident waves are generated by feeding analytic forms on the input boundary and a ramp function is introduced at the start of simulation to avoid the initial transient disturbance. The outgoing waves are sufficiently dissipated by using a spatially varying artificial damping on the free surface before they reach the downstream boundary. Numerous numerical simulations of linear and nonlinear waves are performed and the simulated results are compared with the theoretical input waves. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of variable specific heat on the stability of hypersonic boundary layer on a flat plate

The gas temperature within hypersonic boundary layer flow is so high that the specific heat of gas is no longer a constant but relates to temperature. How variable specific heat influences on boundary layer flow stability is worth researching. The effect of the variable specific heat on the stability of hypersonic boundary layer flows is studied and compared with the case of constant specific heat based on the linear stability theory. It is found that the variable specific heat indeed has some effects on the neutral curves of both the first-mode and the second-mode waves and on the maximum rate of growth also. Therefore, the relationship between specific heat and temperature should be considered in the study of the stability of the boundary layer.     

Viscous and Inviscid Instabilities of Flow Along a Streamwise Corner

Here we consider the stability of flow along a streamwise corner formed by the intersection of two large flat plates held perpendicular to each other. Self-similar solutions for the steady laminar mean flow in the corner region have been obtained by solving the boundary layer equations for zero and nonzero streamwise pressure gradients. The stability of the mean flow is investigated using linear stability analysis. An eigensolver has been developed to solve the resulting linear eigenvalue problem either in a global mode to obtain an approximation to all the dominant eigenmodes or in a local mode to refine a particular eigenmode. The stability results indicate that the entire spectrum of two-dimensional and oblique viscous modes of a two-dimensional Blasius boundary layer is active in the case of a corner layer as well, but away from the cornerline. In a corner region of finite spanwise extent, the continuous spectrum of oblique modes degenerates to a discrete spectrum of modes of increasing spanwise wave number. The effect of the corner on the two-dimensional viscous instability is small and decreases the growth rate. The growth rate of outgoing oblique disturbances is observed to decrease, while the growth rate of incoming oblique disturbances is enhanced by the corner. This asymmetry between the outgoing and incoming viscous modes increases with increasing obliqueness of the disturbance. The instability of a zero pressure gradient corner layer is dominated by the viscous modes; however, an inviscid corner mode is also observed. The critical Reynolds number of the inviscid mode rapidly decreases with even a small adverse streamwise pressure gradient and the inviscid mode becomes the dominant one. Received 17 March 1998 and accepted 28 April 1999     

Görtler vortices in Falkner–Skan flows with suction and blowing

In this paper, we use nonlinear calculations to study curved boundary‐layer flows with pressure gradients and self‐similar suction or blowing. For an accelerated outer flow, stabilization occurs in the linear region while the saturation amplitude of vortices is larger than for flows with a decelerating outer flow. The combined effects of boundary‐layer suction and a favourable pressure gradient can give a significant stabilization of the flow. Streamwise vortices can be amplified on both concave and convex walls for decelerated Falkner–Skan flow with an overshoot in the velocity profile. The disturbance amplitude is generally lower far downstream compared with profiles without overshoot. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.