Weakly nonlinear stability analysis of a falling film with countercurrent gas flow

Weakly nonlinear stability analysis of a falling film with countercurrent gas–liquid flow has been investigated. A normal mode approach and the method of multiple scales are employed to carry out the linear and nonlinear stability solutions for the film flow system. The results show that both supercritical stability and subcritical instability are possible for a film flow system when the gas flows in the countercurrent direction. The stability characteristics of the film flow system are strongly influenced by the effects of interfacial shear stress when the gas flows in the countercurrent direction. The effect of countercurrent gas flow in a falling film is to stabilize the film flow system.     

Viscous falling film instability around a vertical moving cylinder

The present work discusses both the linear and nonlinear stability conditions of a viscous falling film down the outer surface of a solid vertical cylinder which moves in the direction of its axis with a constant velocity.After studying the linear conditions,a generalized nonlinear kinematic model is then derived to present the physical system.Applying the boundary conditions,analytical solutions are obtained using the long-wave perturbation method.In the first step,the normal mode method is used to characterize the linear behaviors.In the second step,the nonlinear film flow model is solved by using the method of multiple scales,to obtain Ginzburg-Landau equation.The influence of some physical parameters is discussed in both linear and nonlinear steps of the problem,and the results are displayed in many plots showing the stability criteria in various parameter planes.     

Predicting the Collapse of Turbulence in Stably Stratified Boundary Layers

The collapse of turbulence in a plane channel flow is studied, as a simple analogy of stably stratified atmospheric flow. Turbulence is parameterized by first-order closure and the surface heat flux is prescribed, together with the wind speed and temperature at the model top. To study the collapse phenomenon both numerical simulations and linear stability analysis are used. The stability analysis is nonclassical in a sense that the stability of a parameterized set of equations of a turbulent flow is analyzed instead of a particular laminar flow solution. The analytical theory predicts a collapse of turbulence when a certain critical value of the stability parameter δ/L (typically O(0.5–1)) is exceeded, with δ the depth of the channel and L the Obukhov length. The exact critical value depends on channel roughness to depth ratio z ₀/δ. The analytical predictions are validated by the numerical simulations, and good agreement is found. As such, for the flow configuration considered, the present framework provides both a tool and a physical explanation for the collapse phenomenon.     

Transient two‐layer thin‐film flow

The transient two‐layer thin‐film planar flow is investigated theoretically in this study. The interplay among inertia, viscous and surface/interfacial tension is emphasized. It is found that the film and interface profiles, as well as the flow field, are strongly influenced by the viscosity ratio, velocity and film thickness ratios at inception, and the surface‐to‐interfacial tension ratio. The nonlinear stability of the steady state reveals the formation of a solitary wave after flow inception, which propagates in the form of a convective instability, with the steady state recovered only in the tail (upstream) region of the wave. In the presence of surface/interfacial tension, surface modulation appears, which grows in wavelength and amplitude with position. The flow is found to be particularly stable for higher viscosity of the lower film layer. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Swelling effect on the dynamic behaviour of composite cylindrical shells conveying fluid

This paper presents a semi‐analytical investigation of a fluid–structure system. Both isotropic and composite cylindrical shells filled with or subjected to a flowing fluid have been considered in this study. The structure may be uniform or non‐uniform in the circumferential direction. The hybrid finite element approach, shearable shell theory and velocity potential flow theory have been combined to establish the dynamic equations of the coupled system. The set of matrices describing their relative contributions to equilibrium is determined by exact analytical integration of the equilibrium equations. The linear potential flow theory is applied to describe the fluid effects that lead to the inertial, centrifugal and Coriolis forces. The axisymmetric, beam‐like and shell modes of vibrations in both cases of uniform and non‐uniform cylindrical shells are investigated. Fluid elastic stability of a structure subjected to a flowing fluid is also studied. This theory yields the high and the low eigenvalues and eigenmodes with comparably high accuracy. Reasonable agreement is found with other theories and experiments. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of non‐hydrostatic,density‐stratified flow in irregular domains

A numerical model has been developed for simulating density‐stratified flow in domains with irregular but simple topography. The model was designed for simulating strong interactions between internal gravity waves and topography, e.g. exchange flows in contracting channels, tidally or convectively driven flow over two‐dimensional sills or waves propagating onto a shoaling bed. The model is based on the non‐hydrostatic, Boussinesq equations of motion for a continuously stratified fluid in a rotating frame, subject to user‐configurable boundary conditions. An orthogonal boundary fitting co‐ordinate system is used for the numerical computations, which rely on a fourth‐order compact differentiation scheme, a third‐order explicit time stepping and a multi‐grid based pressure projection algorithm. The numerical techniques are described and a suite of validation studies are presented. The validation studies include a pointwise comparison of numerical simulations with both analytical solutions and laboratory measurements of non‐linear solitary wave propagation. Simulation results for flows lacking analytical or laboratory data are analysed a posteriori to demonstrate satisfaction of the potential energy balance. Computational results are compared with two‐layer hydraulic predictions in the case of exchange flow through a contracting channel. Finally, a simulation of circulation driven by spatially non‐uniform surface buoyancy flux in an irregular basin is discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

Two-fluid modeling in analyzing the interfacial stability of liquid film flows

The area-averaged two-fluid model formulation of a separated two-phase flow system is used to investigate interfacial stability of liquid film flows. The analysis takes into account the effects of phase change at the interface as well as the dynamic effects of the adjacent vapor flow on the interfacial stability. Wave formation and instability criteria are established in terms of the generalized fluid and flow parameters. The criteria are applied to investigate the stability of laminar liquid film flow with interfacial shear and phase change. The influence of various dimensionless parameters characterizing film thickness, gravity, phase change and interfacial shear are studied with respect to the neutral stability, temporal growth factor and the wave propagation velocity. The results of the present study indicate that the interfacial stability analysis developed within the frame of the two-fluid model formulation proves to be quite accurate as judged by comparing its results with the available experimental data and with the results of much longer and more complex analytical investigations which are valid only for the liquid film free of interfacial shear.     

A conservative semi‐implicit method for coupled surface–subsurface flows in regional scale

A semi‐implicit method for coupled surface–subsurface flows in regional scale is proposed and analyzed. The flow domain is assumed to have a small vertical scale as compared with the horizontal extents. Thus, after hydrostatic approximation, the simplified governing equations are derived from the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations for the surface flow and from the Darcy's law for the subsurface flow. A conservative free‐surface equation is derived from a vertical integral of the incompressibility condition and extends to the whole water column including both, the surface and the subsurface, wet domains. Numerically, the horizontal domain is covered by an unstructured orthogonal grid that may include subgrid specifications. Along the vertical direction a simple z‐layer discretization is adopted. Semi‐implicit finite difference equations for velocities and a finite volume approximation for the free‐surface equation are derived in such a fashion that, after simple manipulation, the resulting discrete free‐surface equation yields a single, well‐posed, mildly nonlinear system. This system is efficiently solved by a nested Newton‐type iterative method that yields simultaneously the pressure and a non‐negative fluid volume throughout the computational grid. The time‐step size is not restricted by stability conditions dictated by friction or surface wave speed. The resulting algorithm is simple, extremely efficient, and very accurate. Exact mass conservation is assured also in presence of wetting and drying dynamics, in pressurized flow conditions, and during free‐surface transition through the interface. A few examples illustrate the model applicability and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An experimental investigation of roll waves in high pressure two-phase inclined pipe flows

This paper examines the effects of small upward inclinations on the formation of roll waves and the properties of fully developed roll waves at high pressure conditions. A total of 984 experiments were conducted at six positive pipe inclinations θ = 0.00°, 0.10°, 0.25°, 1.00°, 2.50° and 5.00° using a 25 m long 10 cm i.d. pipe. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) was used at 8 bara giving a gas density of 50 kg/m³. Two independent mechanisms for the formation of roll waves were identified; (1) interaction between 2D shallow water waves and (2) a visible long wavelength instability of the stratified layer. Viscous long wavelength linear stability analysis predicted the critical liquid flow rate and liquid height for the initiation of roll waves when roll waves were formed due to the second mechanism. A simple equation from shallow water wave theory agreed with measurements for critical liquid flow rate when roll waves were formed due to the first mechanism. Shallow water wave speed agreed with critical wave speeds at transition and nonlinear wave speeds for fully developed roll waves in certain cases. The increase in interfacial friction due to the presence of large waves was compared with models from the literature.     

The characteristic‐based split (CBS) meshfree method for free surface flow problems in ALE formulation

A semi‐implicit characteristic‐based split (CBS) meshfree algorithm in the arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) framework is proposed for the numerical solution of incompressible free surface flow problem in the paper. The algorithm is the extension of general CBS method which was initially introduced in finite element framework, this is due to the fact that CBS method not only can enhance the stability, but also avoid LBB condition when equal order basis function is used to approximate velocity and pressure variables. Meanwhile, a simple way for node update and node speed calculation is developed which is used to capture the free surface exactly. The numerical solutions are compared with available analytical and numerical solutions, which shows that the proposed method has better ability to simulate the free surface incompressible flow problem. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implicit schemes with large time step for non‐linear equations: application to river flow hydraulics

In this work, first‐order upwind implicit schemes are considered. The traditional tridiagonal scheme is rewritten as a sum of two bidiagonal schemes in order to produce a simpler method better suited for unsteady transcritical flows. On the other hand, the origin of the instabilities associated to the use of upwind implicit methods for shock propagations is identified and a new stability condition for non‐linear problems is proposed. This modification produces a robust, simple and accurate upwind semi‐explicit scheme suitable for discontinuous flows with high Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) numbers. The discretization at the boundaries is based on the condition of global mass conservation thus enabling a fully conservative solution for all kind of boundary conditions. The performance of the proposed technique will be shown in the solution of the inviscid Burgers' equation, in an ideal dambreak test case, in some steady open channel flow test cases with analytical solution and in a realistic flood routing problem, where stable and accurate solutions will be presented using CFL values up to 100. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The stability of finite-amplitude interfacial solitary waves

The linear stability of finite-amplitude interfacial gravity solitary waves propagating in a two-layer fluid is investigated analytically focusing on the occurrence of an exchange of stability. We make an asymptotic analysis for small growth rates of infinitesimal disturbances, and explicitly obtain their growth rates near an exchange of stability. The result indicates that an exchange of stability occurs at every stationary value of the total energy of the solitary waves. It also gives us information whether the number of growing modes increases or decreases after experiencing the exchange of stability. We apply these analytical results to specific interfacial solitary waves, and find various features on their stability that are not seen in the case of surface solitary waves.     

Influence of sound waves on steady duct flow

The article discusses the problem of determining the secondary steady flow in a plane duct when a sound field is superimposed on an undisturbed compressible laminar flow. It is shown that under certain simplifying conditions the velocity distribution of the secondary flow in the wall region is given by a simple analytical expression. In the rest of the duct the problem is reduced to the solution of a linear fourth-order ordinary differential equation (in complex variables); this problem is solved numerically. The indicated equation is transformed to an Airy equation for large Reynolds numbers Re of the undisturbed flow. The results are presented graphically.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 2, pp. 57–64, March–April, 1976.The author is indebted to V. E. Nakoryakov for valuable comments and interest.     

Extension of a combined analytical/numerical initial value problem solver for unsteady periodic flow

Here we describe analytical and numerical modifications that extend the Differential Reduced Ejector/ mixer Analysis (DREA), a combined analytical/numerical, multiple species ejector/mixing code developed for preliminary design applications, to apply to periodic unsteady flow. An unsteady periodic flow modelling capability opens a range of pertinent simulation problems including pulse detonation engines (PDE), internal combustion engine ICE applications, mixing enhancement and more fundamental fluid dynamic unsteadiness, e.g. fan instability/vortex shedding problems. Although mapping between steady and periodic forms for a scalar equation is a classical problem in applied mathematics, we will show that extension to systems of equations and, moreover, problems with complex initial conditions are more challenging. Additionally, the inherent large gradient initial condition singularities that are characteristic of mixing flows and that have greatly influenced the DREA code formulation, place considerable limitations on the use of numerical solution methods. Fortunately, using the combined analytical–numerical form of the DREA formulation, a successful formulation is developed and described. Comparison of this method with experimental measurements for jet flows with excitation shows reasonable agreement with the simulation. Other flow fields are presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the model. As such, we demonstrate that unsteady periodic effects can be included within the simple, efficient, coarse grid DREA implementation that has been the original intent of the DREA development effort, namely, to provide a viable tool where more complex and expensive models are inappropriate. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A driver’s memory lattice model of traffic flow and its numerical simulation

A new lattice model of traffic flow based on Nagatani’s model is proposed by taking the effect of driver’s memory into account. The linear stability condition of the extended model is obtained by using the linear stability theory. The analytical results show that the stabile area of the new model is larger than that of the original lattice hydrodynamic model by adjusting the driver’s memory intensity parameter p of the past information in the system. The modified KdV equation near the critical point is derived to describe the traffic jam by nonlinear analysis, and the phase space could be divided into three regions: the stability region, the metastable region, and the unstable region, respectively. Numerical simulation also shows that our model can stabilize the traffic flow by considering the information of driver’s memory.     

On the stability of a thermally stratified conducting fluid under the action of aligned magnetic field

The stability of a thermally stable stratified viscous electrically conducting shear flow is investigated in the presence of an impressed uniform aligned magnetic field. Only two-dimensional disturbances are studied in this paper because Squire's theorem does not apply in general, owing to the presence of the aligned magnetic field. The analysis is partly analytical and partly numerical. The asymptotic solutions for non-viscous fluid are first obtained analytically and they are then improved by introducing viscous and thermal diffusion terms (but only for =1) to get a uniformly valid solution. The neutral stability curves are numerically computed for a range of values of Richardson and Stuart numbers, which show that the flow is completely stabilized when a Stuart number exceeds a certain value for a given R _i>0. It is shown that the combined effects of magnetic field and stratification is to make the system stable to two-dimensional disturbances at lower Stuart number than the one given by Stuart (1954) in the absence of thermal stratification.     

The absolute instability of boundary-layer flow over viscoelastic walls

The linear stability of boundary-layer flow over a viscoelastic-layer wall is considered. A companion matrix technique is used to formulate the stability problem as a linear matrix eigenvalue problem for complex frequency and all the eigenvalues may be determined without any initial guess values. The eigenvalues are compared with those obtained with an accurate shooting method. The instability character of the boundary-layer flow is further investigated with the purpose of finding the conditions under which the instability of the flow could become absolute. The mapping technique of Kupferet al. (1987) is used to identify the occurrence of absolute instability eigenvalues. Absolute instabilities are discovered for cases of soft damped wall over certain ranges of Reynolds number. The effects of wall material stiffness, damping coefficient, thickness of layer, and Reynolds number on the occurrence of absolute instability are examined and presented.     

The stability and flow of a rivulet driven by interfacial shear and gravity

In this paper, the steady unidirectional flow of a rivulet, driven by interfacial shear and gravity, is considered. When the aspect ratio of the rivulet is small the pressure, velocity, flux and cross-sectional shape are determined in the form of asymptotic power series. The problem is also solved numerically without the small aspect ratio assumption. The analytical and numerical results are compared to test the range of validity of the asymptotics. Both sets of results are also compared with existing experimental data. Finally, the rivulet energy is considered to determine whether it is energetically favourable for a rivulet to split.