The applicability of continuum models in the transitional regime of hypersonic flow over blunt bodies

Hypersonic rarefied gas flow over blunt bodies in the transitional flow regime (from continuum to free-molecule) is investigated. Asymptotically correct boundary conditions on the body surface are derived for the full and thin viscous shock layer models. The effect of taking into account the slip velocity and the temperature jump in the boundary condition along the surface on the extension of the limits of applicability of continuum models to high free-stream Knudsen numbers is investigated. Analytic relations are obtained, by an asymptotic method, for the heat transfer coefficient, the skin friction coefficient and the pressure as functions of the free-stream parameters and the geometry of the body in the flow field at low Reynolds number; the values of these coefficients approach their values in free-molecule flow (for unit accommodation coefficient) as the Reynolds number approaches zero. Numerical solutions of the thin viscous shock layer and full viscous shock layer equations, both with the no-slip boundary conditions and with boundary conditions taking into account the effects slip on the surface are obtained by the implicit finite-difference marching method of high accuracy of approximation. The asymptotic and numerical solutions are compared with the results of calculations by the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method for flow over bodies of different shape and for the free-stream conditions corresponding to altitudes of 75–150 km of the trajectory of the Space Shuttle, and also with the known solutions for the free-molecule flow regine. The areas of applicability of the thin and full viscous shock layer models for calculating the pressure, skin friction and heat transfer on blunt bodies, in the hypersonic gas flow are estimated for various free-stream Knudsen numbers.     

Stability of viscous shock wave under periodic perturbation for compressible Navier–Stokes–Korteweg system

In this paper, we study the stability of a viscous shock wave for the isentropic Navier–Stokes–Korteweg (N-S-K) equations under space-periodic perturbation. It is shown that if the initial perturbation around the shock and the amplitude of the shock are small, then the solution of the N-S-K equations tends to the viscous shock.     

Direct numerical simulation of laminar–turbulent flow over a flat plate at hypersonic flow speeds

A method for direct numerical simulation of a laminar–turbulent flow around bodies at hypersonic flow speeds is proposed. The simulation is performed by solving the full three-dimensional unsteady Navier–Stokes equations. The method of calculation is oriented to application of supercomputers and is based on implicit monotonic approximation schemes and a modified Newton–Raphson method for solving nonlinear difference equations. By this method, the development of three-dimensional perturbations in the boundary layer over a flat plate and in a near-wall flow in a compression corner is studied at the Mach numbers of the free-stream of M = 5.37. In addition to pulsation characteristic, distributions of the mean coefficients of the viscous flow in the transient section of the streamlined surface are obtained, which enables one to determine the beginning of the laminar–turbulent transition and estimate the characteristics of the turbulent flow in the boundary layer.     

The inviscid limit of the incompressible anisotropic Navier–Stokes equations with the non-slip boundary condition

In this paper, we study the asymptotic behavior for the incompressible anisotropic Navier–Stokes equations with the non-slip boundary condition in a half space of ${\mathbb{R}^3}$ when the vertical viscosity goes to zero. Firstly, by multi-scale analysis, we formally deduce an asymptotic expansion of the solution to the problem with respect to the vertical viscosity, which shows that the boundary layer appears in the tangential velocity field and satisfies a nonlinear parabolic–elliptic coupled system. Also from the expansion, it is observed that away from the boundary the solution of the anisotropic Navier–Stokes equations formally converges to a solution of a degenerate incompressible Navier–Stokes equation. Secondly, we study the well-posedness of the problems for the boundary layer equations and then rigorously justify the asymptotic expansion by using the energy method. We obtain the convergence results of the vanishing vertical viscosity limit, that is, the solution to the incompressible anisotropic Navier–Stokes equations tends to the solution to degenerate incompressible Navier–Stokes equations away from the boundary, while near the boundary, it tends to the boundary layer profile, in both the energy space and the L ^∞ space.     

Continuum models of rarefied gas flows in problems of hypersonic aerothermodynamics

The limits of applicability of continuum flow models in the problem of the hypersonic rarefied gas flow over blunt bodies are determined by an asymptotic analysis of the Navier–Stokes equations, the numerical solution of the viscous shock layer equations and the numerical and asymptotic solution of the thin viscous shock layer equations for low Reynolds numbers. It is shown that the thin viscous shock layer model gives correct values of the skin friction coefficient and the heat transfer coefficient in the transitional to free-molecule flow regime. The asymptotic solutions, the numerical solutions obtained within the framework of different continuum models, and the results of a calculation by Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method are compared.     

L q theory for a generalized Stokes System

Regularity properties of solutions to the stationary generalized Stokes system are studied. The extra stress tensor is assumed to have a growth given by some N-function, which includes the situation of p-growth. We show results about differentiability of weak solutions. As a consequence we obtain the gradient L ^q estimates for the problem. These estimates are applied to the stationary generalized Navier Stokes equations.     

Direct simulation of the turbulent boundary layer on a plate

A numerical method for the integration of three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations for compressible fluid as applied to direct numerical simulation is proposed. By way of example, the boundary layer on a plate is simulated. The computations were carried out for Re_θ = 1500. The computational grid consisted of a half billion nodes. The flow region includes the laminar, transitional, and turbulent zones. The numerically obtained distributions of average velocity, friction, and pulsations are compared with experimental data and available numerical solutions.     

A boundary layer problem in nonflat domains with measurable viscous coefficients

We study the convergence of weak solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations with vanishing measurable viscous coefficients in domains with nonflat boundaries. Sufficient anisotropic conditions on the vanishing rates of the viscous coefficients are found to prove the convergence of Leray–Hopf weak solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations to solutions of the corresponding Euler equations. As the domains are not flat, we apply a change of variables to flatten the domains. We then construct explicit boundary layers for the system of Navier–Stokes equations in the upper-half space with measurable viscous coefficients. The result is new even when the viscous coefficients are constant, and it recovers the classical results when domains are flat and with constant viscous coefficients.     

Nonlinear stability of viscous shock waves for one-dimensional nonisentropic compressible Navier–Stokes equations with a class of large initial perturbation

We study the nonlinear stability of viscous shock waves for the Cauchy problem of one-dimensional nonisentropic compressible Navier–Stokes equations for a viscous and heat conducting ideal polytropic gas. The viscous shock waves are shown to be time asymptotically stable under large initial perturbation with no restriction on the range of the adiabatic exponent provided that the strengths of the viscous shock waves are assumed to be sufficiently small. The proofs are based on the nonlinear energy estimates and the crucial step is to obtain the positive lower and upper bounds of the density and the temperature which are uniformly in time and space.     

A comparative analysis of approaches for investigating hypersonic flow over blunt bodies in a transitional regime

Hypersonic flows of a viscous perfect rarefied gas over blunt bodies in a transitional flow regime from continuum to free molecular, characteristic when spacecraft re-enter Earth's atmosphere at altitudes above 90-100 km, are considered. The two-dimensional problem of hypersonic flow is investigated over a wide range of free stream Knudsen numbers using both continuum and kinetic approaches: by numerical and analytical solutions of the continuum equations, by numerical solution of the Boltzmann kinetic equation with a model collision integral in the form of the S-model, and also by the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. The continuum approach is based on the use of asymptotically correct models of a thin viscous shock layer and a viscous shock layer. A refinement of the condition for a temperature jump on the body surface is proposed for the viscous shock layer model. The continuum and kinetic solutions, and also the solutions obtained by the Monte Carlo method are compared. The effectiveness, range of application, advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches are estimated.     

Analysis of a General Family of Regularized Navier–Stokes and MHD Models

We consider a general family of regularized Navier–Stokes and Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) models on n-dimensional smooth compact Riemannian manifolds with or without boundary, with n≥2. This family captures most of the specific regularized models that have been proposed and analyzed in the literature, including the Navier–Stokes equations, the Navier–Stokes-α model, the Leray-α model, the modified Leray-α model, the simplified Bardina model, the Navier–Stokes–Voight model, the Navier–Stokes-α-like models, and certain MHD models, in addition to representing a larger 3-parameter family of models not previously analyzed. This family of models has become particularly important in the development of mathematical and computational models of turbulence. We give a unified analysis of the entire three-parameter family of models using only abstract mapping properties of the principal dissipation and smoothing operators, and then use assumptions about the specific form of the parameterizations, leading to specific models, only when necessary to obtain the sharpest results. We first establish existence and regularity results, and under appropriate assumptions show uniqueness and stability. We then establish some results for singular perturbations, which as special cases include the inviscid limit of viscous models and the α→0 limit in α models. Next, we show existence of a global attractor for the general model, and then give estimates for the dimension of the global attractor and the number of degrees of freedom in terms of a generalized Grashof number. We then establish some results on determining operators for the two distinct subfamilies of dissipative and non-dissipative models. We finish by deriving some new length-scale estimates in terms of the Reynolds number, which allows for recasting the Grashof number-based results into analogous statements involving the Reynolds number. In addition to recovering most of the existing results on existence, regularity, uniqueness, stability, attractor existence, and dimension, and determining operators for the well-known specific members of this family of regularized Navier–Stokes and MHD models, the framework we develop also makes possible a number of new results for all models in the general family, including some new results for several of the well-studied models. Analyzing the more abstract generalized model allows for a simpler analysis that helps bring out the core common structure of the various regularized Navier–Stokes and magnetohydrodynamics models, and also helps clarify the common features of many of the existing and new results. To make the paper reasonably self-contained, we include supporting material on spaces involving time, Sobolev spaces, and Grönwall-type inequalities.     

The coupling system of Navier–Stokes equations and elastic Navier–Lame equations in a blood vessel

In this paper, the blood flow problem is considered in a blood vessel, and a coupling system of Navier–Stokes equations and linear elastic equations, Navier–Lame equations, in a cylinder with cylindrical elastic shell is given as the governing equations of the problem. We provide two finite element models to simulating the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations in the cylinder while the asymptotic expansion method is used to solving the linearly elastic shell equations. Specifically, in order to discrete the Navier–Stokes equations, the dimensional splitting strategy is constructed under the cylinder coordinate system. The spectral method is adopted along the rotation direction while the finite element method is used along the other directions. By using the above strategy, we get a series of two-dimensional-three-components (2D-3C) fluid problems. By introduce the S-coordinate system in E³ and employ the thickness of blood vessel wall as the expanding parameter, the asymptotic expansion method can be established to approximate the solution of the 3D elastic problem. The interface contact conditions can be treated exactly based on the knowledge of tensor analysis. Finally, numerical test shows that our method is reasonable.     

Supersonic flow past a flat lattice of cylindrical rods

Two-dimensional supersonic laminar ideal gas flows past a regular flat lattice of identical circular cylinders lying in a plane perpendicular to the free-stream velocity are numerically simulated. The flows are computed by applying a multiblock numerical technique with local boundary-fitted curvilinear grids that have finite regions overlapping the global rectangular grid covering the entire computational domain. Viscous boundary layers are resolved on the local grids by applying the Navier–Stokes equations, while the aerodynamic interference of shock wave structures occurring between the lattice elements is described by the Euler equations. In the overlapping grid regions, the functions are interpolated to the grid interfaces. The regimes of supersonic lattice flow are classified. The parameter ranges in which the steady flow around the lattice is not unique are detected, and the mechanisms of hysteresis phenomena are examined.     

Unconditional stability of a partitioned IMEX method for magnetohydrodynamic flows

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows are governed by Navier–Stokes equations coupled with Maxwell equations through coupling terms. We prove the unconditional stability of a partitioned method for the evolutionary full MHD equations, at high magnetic Reynolds number, written in the Elsässer variables. The method we analyze is a first-order one-step scheme, which consists of implicit discretization of the subproblem terms and explicit discretization of the coupling terms.     

Stability of small‐amplitude shock profiles of symmetric hyperbolic‐parabolic systems

Combining pointwise Green's function bounds obtained in a companion paper [36] with earlier, spectral stability results obtained in [16], we establish nonlinear orbital stability of small‐amplitude Lax‐type viscous shock profiles for the class of dissipative symmetric hyperbolic‐parabolic systems identified by Kawashima [20], notably including compressible Navier‐Stokes equations and the equations of magnetohydrodynamics, obtaining sharp rates of decay in L^p with respect to small L¹ ∩ H³ perturbations, 2 ≤ p ≤ ∞. Our analysis extends and somewhat refines the approach introduced in [35] to treat stability of relaxation profiles. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Continuum models in problems of the hypersonic flow of a rarefied gas around blunt bodiest

All possible continuum (hydrodynamic) models in the case of two-dimensional problems of supersonic and hypersonic flows around blunt bodies in the two-layer model (a viscous shock layer and shock-wave structure) over the whole range of Reynolds numbers, Re, from low values (free molecular and transitional flow conditions) up to high values (flow conditions with a thin leading shock wave, a boundary layer and an external inviscid flow in the shock layer) are obtained from the Navier-Stokes equations using an asymptotic analysis. In the case of low Reynolds numbers, the shock layer is considered but the structure of the shock wave is ignored. Together with the well-known models (a boundary layer, a viscous shock layer, a thin viscous shock layer, parabolized Navier-Stokes equations (the single-layer model) for high, moderate and low Re numbers, respectively), a new hydrodynamic model, which follows from the Navier-Stokes equations and reduces to the solution of the simplified (“local”) Stokes equations in a shock layer with vanishing inertial and pressure forces and boundary conditions on the unspecified free boundary (the shock wave) is found at Reynolds numbers, and a density ratio, k, up to and immediately after the leading shock wave, which tend to zero subject to the condition that (k/Re)^1/2 → 0. Unlike in all the models which have been mentioned above, the solution of the problem of the flow around a body in this model gives the free molecular limit for the coefficients of friction, heat transfer and pressure. In particular, the Newtonian limit for the drag is thereby rigorously obtained from the Navier-Stokes equations. At the same time, the Knudsen number, which is governed by the thickness of the shock layer, which vanishes in this model, tends to zero, that is, the conditions for a continuum treatment are satisfied. The structure of the shock wave can be determined both using continuum as well as kinetic models after obtaining the solution in the viscous shock layer for the weak physicochemical processes in the shock wave structure itself. Otherwise, the problem of the shock wave structure and the equations of the viscous shock layer must be jointly solved. The equations for all the continuum models are written in Dorodnitsyn--Lees boundary layer variables, which enables one, prior to solving the problem, to obtain an approximate estimate of second-order effects in boundary-layer theory as a function of Re and the parameter k and to represent all the aerodynamic and thermal characteristic; in the form of a single dependence on Re over the whole range of its variation from zero to infinity.

An efficient numerical method of global iterations, previously developed for solving viscous shock-layer equations, can be used to solve problems of supersonic and hypersonic flows around the windward side of blunt bodies using a single hydrodynamic model of a viscous shock layer for all Re numbers, subject to the condition that the limit (k/Re)^1/2 → 0 is satisfied in the case of small Re numbers. An aerodynamic and thermal calculation using different hydrodynamic models, corresponding to different ranges of variation Re (different types of flow) can thereby, in fact, be replaced by a single calculation using one model for the whole of the trajectory for the descent (entry) of space vehicles and natural cosmic bodies (meteoroids) into the atmosphere.     

Travelling waves in dilatant non-Newtonian thin films

We prove the existence of a travelling wave solution for a gravity-driven thin film of a viscous and incompressible dilatant fluid coated with an insoluble surfactant. The governing system of second order partial differential equations for the film's height h and the surfactant's concentration γ are derived by means of lubrication theory applied to the non-Newtonian Navier–Stokes equations.     

Stationary Solutions of Compressible Navier–Stokes Equations with Slip Boundary Conditions

We consider the Navier–Stokes equations for a compressible, viscous fluid with heat–conduction in a bounded domain of IR² or IR³. Under the assumption that the external force field and the external heat supply are small we prove the existence and local uniqueness of a stationary solution satisfying a slip boundary condition. For the temperature we assume a Dirichlet or an oblique boundary condition.