Nonlinear stability of two-dimensional steady flows of an ideal fluid with constant vorticity and their axisymmetric analogs

Flows with constant vorticity are widely used as local models of more complicated flows [1]. In many cases, such flows are stable against finite two-dimensional perturbations. In particular, the inviscid plane-parallel Couette flow has the property of nonlinear stability. Similar treatment of a class of axisymmetric flows yields nonlinear stability of a spherical Hill vortex and inviscid Poiseuille flow in a circular tube with respect to axisymmetric perturbations.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 16–21, October–December, 1981.     

Structure and evolution of the airflow generated by a slender body entry near a tube

When a slender body moving forward in open air enters into a confined region, two important unsteady aerodynamic phenomena are generated. An exiting flow is created with a direction opposite to the body movement and inside the confined region, a compression wave is formed. Generation mechanism of compression wave have been extensively studied but so far, no detailed investigation of the exiting flow has ever been reported. The experimental study presented in this paper was undertaken to gain insight into the structure and the evolution of the exit-flow. Experiments were conducted with an axisymmetric apparatus and the explored range of the moving body speed was 5–50 m/s. The study focused on the influence of the body speed and the body nose geometry on the flow. It was shown that the air ejected from the tube entrance generates an annulus jet accompanied by a vortex ring. The vortex development was clarified using laser sheet visualizations associated with unsteady pressure and velocity measurements at the tube entrance. It is constituted by four phases, the pre-vortex phase, the vortex development phase, the vortex convection phase and the vortex breakdown phase. The duration of each of these steps was found to be independent of both the studied parameters in a non-dimensional time scale. Furthermore, neither the body speed nor the nose geometry induced significant changes on the vortex ring evolution, except for extreme conditions (low body speed, V_M.B.<15 m/s, and/or very long nose geometry, L_nose/D_M.B.>6). The evolution of the vortex ring was compared to that of ‘classical’ vortex ring generated at a tube exit by a piston motion with large non-dimensional stroke length. Main similarities and differences were discussed in the paper. In particular, the formation number of vortex ring observed in our experiments was found to be significantly smaller.     

Development and stability of swirling flows

The purpose of this research is to investigate steady axisymmetric swirling flows in channels and free vortices and also to establish the role of hydrodynamic instability in the formation of the sharp changes in flow structure associated with an increased rate of rotation. On the basis of numerical solutions of the complete Navier-Stokes equations obtained by a finite-difference method swirling flows in pipes with impermeable and permeable walls and in a free vortex are investigated. The stability of the swirling axisymmetric flows is considered on the assumption of local parallelism: the problem of the normal modes developing against the background of the axisymmetric flow determined by the velocity profiles in local cross sections of the flow is solved. Attention is mainly concentrated on free vortex flows with reverse current zones, their structure and stability.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 3–11, July–August, 1988.     

Specified discharge velocity models for numerical simulations of laminar vortex rings

We numerically and theoretically investigate the flow generated at the exit section of a piston/cylinder arrangement that is generally used in experiments to produce vortex rings. Accurate models for the velocity profile in this section (also called specified discharge velocity, SDV models) are necessary in (i) numerical simulations of laminar vortex rings that do not compute the flow inside the cylinder and (ii) in slug-models that provide a formula for the total circulation of the flow. Based on the theoretical and numerical analysis of the flow evolution in the entrance region of a pipe, we derive two new and easy to implement SDV models. A first model takes into account the unsteady evolution of the centerline velocity, while the second model also includes the time variation of the characteristics of the boundary layer at the exit plane of the vortex generator. The models are tested in axisymmetric direct numerical simulations of vortex rings. As distinguished from classical SDV model, the new models allow to accurately reproduce the characteristics of the flow. In particular, the time evolution of the total circulation is in good agreement with experimental results and previous numerical simulations including the vortex generator. The second model also provides a more realistic time evolution of the vortex ring circulation. Using the classical slug-model and the new correction for the centerline velocity, we finally derive a new and accurate analytical expression for the total circulation of the flow.     

Flow measurement on an oscillating pipe flow near the entrance using the UVP method

 The authors have carried out a study to investigate and clarify the characteristics of purely oscillating pipe flows over the developing region. The main objective of this study is to establish the method of time-dependent velocity profiles obtained by the ultrasonic velocity profile (UVP) measurement method. First, the relationship between the test fluids and the microparticles, as reflectors of ultrasonic pulses, was investigated. In addition, the relationship between the sound speeds of the test fluids and the wall materials was studied. Second, the UVP was used to obtain the instantaneous velocity profiles in oscillating pipe flows, and the developing characteristics of the flows were analyzed. Finally, the “entrance length” (by analogy with a unidirectional pipe flow) required for oscillating pipe flows was analyzed by examining the amplitude of the harmonic spectral components of the oscillating frequency. A fast Fourier transform (FFT) is proposed as the applicable method to estimate the “entrance length”. From the Fourier transform of the velocity on the centerline, nonlinear oscillation of fluid occurs in the “entrance length” of the oscillating flows, and the viscous dissipation of the higher-order velocity harmoncis determines the entrance region. The “entrance length” can be obtained from the dissipation length of the third-order harmonic. These results prove that the UVP method is highly applicable to carry out the flow measurement in the “entrance length” of oscillating pipe flow. Received: 20 March 2000 / Accepted: 10 August 2001     

Wall shear stress and void fraction in Poiseuille bubbly flows: Part I: simple analytic predictions

Upward, co-current bubbly flows in a vertical rectangular duct are investigated at low liquid Reynolds numbers. The conditions considered are such that the pseudo-turbulent stresses remain negligible compared to the viscous stresses. The void fraction transverse distribution is idealised as step-functions and is then inserted in the conservation equations supplemented by appropriate closure laws. Analytical expressions are then obtained for the axial velocity profiles, for the lineic gas fraction and for the wall friction. The sensitivity of these quantities to the void distribution, characterised by the void fraction and the width of the three layers introduced, is discussed. It is shown that differential buoyancy effects govern the modification of the liquid velocity profiles. Notably, void peaking near walls is able to induce a wall shear stress many times higher than its single-phase flow counterpart at the same liquid flow rate. Also, the presence of a near wall region free of gas favours the onset of downward directed secondary flows. All these features correspond to experimental observations, and a few quantitative comparisons are also presented which support the validity of the model even in case of void coring. A companion paper (part II) will be devoted to systematic comparisons between predictions and experiments in the case of axisymmetric Poiseuille bubbly flows.     

A low cost laser-speckle photographic technique for velocity measurement in slow flows

A low cost, low power laser-speckle photographic technique has been developed and is duscussed for the measurement of point velocities in slow laminar flows. The technique is particularly suitable for axisymmetric flows where the two velocity components can be easily measured. The accuracy of the technique is established by measurement of the velocity distribution for Poiseuille flow and from data obtained for acceleration of an inelastic Newtonian fluid through a four-to-one circular contraction. Preliminary results are also presented in the contracting flow field for a non shear-thinning highly elastic fluid. These data are particularly significant for verification of finite element numerical solutions currently being developed for viscoelastic fluids in circular entry flows.     

Numerical simulation and PIV study of compressible vortex ring evolution

Formation and evolution of a compressible vortex ring generated at the open end of a short driver section shock tube has been simulated numerically for pressure ratios (PR) of 3 and 7 in the present study. Numerical study of compressible vortex rings is essential to understand the complicated flow structure and acoustic characteristics of many high Mach number impulsive jets where simultaneously velocity, density and pressure fields are needed. The flow development, incident shock formation, shock diffraction, vortex ring formation and its evolution are simulated using the AUSM+ scheme. The main focus of the present study is to evaluate the time resolved vorticity field of the vortex ring and the shock/expansion waves in the starting jet for short driver section shock tubes—a scenario where little data are available in existing literature. An embedded shock and a vortex induced shock are observed for PR =  7. However the vortex ring remains shock free, compact and unaffected by the trailing jet for PR =  3. Numerical shadowgraph shows the evolution of embedded shock and shock/expansion waves along with their interactions. The velocity and vorticity fields obtained from simulation are validated with the particle image velocimetry results and these data match closely. The translational velocity of the vortex ring, velocity across the vortex and the centre line velocity of the jet obtained from simulation also agree well with the experimental results.     

Particle Simulation of Swirling Flows

The vortex particle method has been applied to the axisymmetric swirling flow of a viscous fluid. The formulation used yields two transport equations which have been solved within the lagrangian framework of particle method. The diffusion operator for both equations has been approximated by means of a Particle Strength Exchange scheme. Applications to the cases of one isolated vortex ring and two co-rotating vortex rings illustrate the interest of this new method. Special attention has been devoted to the vorticity production resulting from the interaction between the azimuthal components of vorticity and velocity. The generation of small eddies at the boundary of the vortex ring cross-section has been particularly investigated. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

非对称槽道中涡旋波的特性研究

利用PIV流场显示技术，对振荡流体在非对称槽道中涡旋波的产生、发展和消失的规律进 行了实验研究和分析，测得了涡旋波流场的速度矢量图，阐明了涡旋波流场周期性变化的特 点. 结合涡动力学方程，深入分析并揭示了做周期性运动的流体能在槽道中产生波的特性这 一规律，从中发现：流体周期变化的非定常性和不对称的槽道结构是形成涡旋波流动的主要 因素. 本文对涡旋波流场中各个旋涡的速度分布和涡量进行了测量和计算，分析了涡旋波 强化传质的机理，并研究了Re数对涡旋波流动的影响     

Flow field characterization of a jet and vortex actuator

 An actuator, which produces several different flow fields that may be used for active flow control, is characterized in still air using flow visualization and velocity measurements. The primary actuator-induced flow fields are: free jets, wall jets, and vortex flows. The non-dimensional parameters governing these actuator-induced flows are developed. For the vortex-flow regime, the operational range of the actuator increases as it’s size decreases without a significant decrease in either the actuator induced velocity or vortex core size. The velocity scaling is developed for the vortex flow and suggests that the optimum actuator efficiency occurs at a Stokes number of approximately 7.9 for the range of parameters surveyed. In a turbulent, zero pressure gradient boundary layer, measurements made just downstream of the actuator (when operated in the vortex mode) indicate a vortical disturbance is generated in the boundary layer. Received: 2 September 1998/Accepted: 9 January 1999     

Stokes Plane-Parallel Vortex Systems in Channels

Plane-parallel vortex systems in a viscous incompressible fluid in channels with parallel walls and in a corner with no-slip conditions on the walls are investigated on the basis of exact solutions of the biharmonic equation. It is found that separation zones and paired (joined) vortices are formed when the fluid flows through these channels and the fluid flow path between these vortex formations is traced. The flow structures are considered in the region of intrusion of the Poiseuille or Hamel flow into the zone of predominance of the intense vortex formations and for outflow of the fluid from this zone.     

均匀、振荡及组合流绕平板流动的尾迹研究

本文利用离散涡模型及改进的新生涡产生机制对三种不同来流绕平板的近尾迹进行数值研究。计算讨论了定常流中平板绕流流动的总体特性和近尾迹流场;对于简谐振荡来流,相应于K_c=2.0、4.0 和10.0 分别得到两种不同的尾迹形态。给出了小 K_c 数平板尾迹涡配对、运动的新模式而相应的阻力、惯性力系数计算比以前涡模拟结果更接近于 U 型管实验结果。对于流向组合来流本文模拟了涡锁定及其动力特性并于实验相符,给出了流向扰动对平板绕流流动的影响。     

On the flow field generated by a gradually varying flow through an orifice

The motion of a vortex ring generated by gradually varied flows through a thin-edged orifice has been investigated experimentally using particle image velocimetry. This flow reproduces the primary characteristics of many biological flows, such as cardiac flows through valves or jellyfish and squid propulsion. Even though vortex ring formation has been extensively studied, there is still interest in gradually varying inflows, i.e. the ones that are mostly found in previous conditions. The main purpose of this paper is to extend the time scaling already proposed in the literature to the entire cycle of vortex ring formation, pinch-off and free motion. To this end, eight inflow time laws have been tested, with different acceleration and deceleration phases. They have been selected in relation to practical applications by their resemblance to the main characteristics of cardiovascular and pulsed locomotion flows. Analysis of measured velocity and vorticity fields suggested a general criterion to establish the instant of vortex pinch-off directly from the imposed velocity program. This allows the proper scaling of the entire time evolution of the vortex ring for all tested inflows. Since it is quite easy to identify this instant experimentally, these results give a simple, practical rule for the computation of scales in vortex ring formation and development in the case of gradual inflows. The “slug model” has been used to test the proposed scaling and to obtain predictions for the vortex position, circulation and vorticity which are in agreement with experimental data.     

Numerical study of an inviscid incompressible flow through a channel of finite length

A two‐dimensional inviscid incompressible flow in a rectilinear channel of finite length is studied numerically. Both the normal velocity and the vorticity are given at the inlet, and only the normal velocity is specified at the outlet. The flow is described in terms of the stream function and vorticity. To solve the unsteady problem numerically, we propose a version of the vortex particle method. The vorticity field is approximated using its values at a set of fluid particles. A pseudo‐symplectic integrator is employed to solve the system of ordinary differential equations governing the motion of fluid particles. The stream function is computed using the Galerkin method. Unsteady flows developing from an initial perturbation in the form of an elliptical patch of vorticity are calculated for various values of the volume flux of fluid through the channel. It is shown that if the flux of fluid is large, the initial vortex patch is washed out of the channel, and when the flux is reduced, the initial perturbation evolves to a steady flow with stagnation regions. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reconnections of vortex filaments

The process of break-down and reconnection of vortex filaments is considered by the method of three-dimensional vortex singularities (vortons) in various situations, including oblique interaction of a vortex ring with a boundary in shear flow, shedding of a vortex ring from a horseshoe vortex, instability of elliptic vortex ring, Crow instability of two perturbed antiparallel vortex filaments, merging and subsequent splitting of vortex rings. Special attention is paid to the global integrals (vorticity, momentum, angular momentum) and to the inviscid dissipation of energy. The visualization of the effective vortex core, created by the interference of the vorticity fields of vortons, is presented. The comparisons with other methods of simulation of three-dimensional vortex interactions and with the observations have been made.     

Vortex flows of a viscous heat-conducting gas in a slightly divergent tube with volume energy supply

The results of a numerical investigation of viscous vortex flow in a slightly divergent tube with thermal energy supplied to the flow are presented. The initial stage of vortex flow development is considered for two different longitudinal velocity distributions simulating the velocity profiles in jet-like and wake-like vortex flows in the vicinity of the vortex axis. The first type of flow can be considered as a model for the near-axis region of the vortex formed in the flow around a delta wing at incidence. The second type can serve as a model for the near-axis region of the trailing vortex downstream of a high-aspect-ratio wing. The development of the two flows is studied for a constant area tube, a slightly divergent tube, and in the case of thermal energy supply from a volume energy source at a constant wall temperature.Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 90–97, September–October, 1996.     

On the formation of vortex rings and pairs

The axisymmetric vortex sheet model developed by Nitsche & Krasny (1994) has been extended to study the formation of vortex rings (pairs) at the edge of circular (2D) tube and opening. Computations based on this model are in good agreement with the experiments (Didden (1979) for circular tube and Auerbach (1987) for 2D tube and opening). Using this new model, evidences are provided to show that the main failure of the similarity theory (the false prediction of axial trajectory of vortex ring) is due to its ignorance of the self-induced ring velocity (mutual induction for vortex pair). We further reason why the similarity theory succeeds in its prediction of radial movement of vortex ring. The effects of various parameters such as turning angle α and piston speedU _p (t) on the formation of vortex ring are investigated. Numerical result shows that turning angle α has no effect on circulation shed τ. We also discuss Glezer (1988)'s summary on the influence ofU _p upon the shedding circulation, and finally give the variation of core distribution of vortex ring with α andU _p (t). The project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China and Doctoral Program of Institution of Higher Education