Long Eddies in Sheared Flows

The characteristic feature of the wide variety of hydraulic shear flows analyzed in this study is that they all contain a critical level where some of the fluid is turned relative to the ambient flow. One example is the flow produced in a thin layer of fluid, contained between lateral boundaries, during the passage of a long eddy. The boundaries of the layer may be rigid, or flexible, or free; the fluid may be either compressible or incompressible. A further example is the flow produced when a shear layer separates from a rigid boundary producing a region of recirculating flow. The equations used in this study are those governing inviscid hydraulic shear flows. They are similar in form to the classical boundary layer equations with the viscous term omitted. The main result of the study is to show that when the hydraulic flow is steady and contained between lateral boundaries, the variation of vorticity ω(ψ) cannot be prescribed at any streamline which crosses the critical level. This variation is, in fact, determined by (1) the vorticity distribution at all streamlines which do not cross the critical level, by (2) the auxiliary conditions which must be satisfied at the boundaries of the fluid layer, and by (3) the dimensions of the region containing the turned flow. If at some instant the vorticity distribution is specified arbitrarily at all streamlines, generally the subsequent flow will be unsteady. In order to emphasize this point, a class of exact solutions describing unsteady hydraulic flows are derived. These are used to describe the flow produced by the passage of a long eddy which distorts as it is convected with the ambient flow. They are also used to describe the unsteady flow that is produced when a shear layer separates from a boundary. Examples are given both of flows in which the shear layer reattaches after separation and of flows in which the shear layer does not reattach. When the shear layer vorticity distribution has the form ωαyⁿ, where y is a distance measure across the layer, the steady flows are of Falkner-Skan type inside, and adjacent to, the separation region. The unsteady flows described in this paper are natural generalizations of these Falkner-Skan flows. One important result of the analysis is to show that if the unsteady flow inside the separation region is strongly sheared, then the boundary of the separation region moves upstream towards the point of separation, forming large transverse currents. Generally, the assumption of hydraulic flow becomes invalid in a finite time. On the other hand, if the flow inside the separation region is weakly sheared, this region is swept downstream and the flow becomes self-similar.     

The Nonlinear Critical-Wall Layer in a Parallel Shear Flow

The nonlinear critical layer theory is developed for the case where the critical point is close enough to a solid boundary so that the critical layer and viscous wall layers merge. It is found that the flow structure differs considerably from the symmetric “eat's eye” pattern obtained by Benney and Bergeron [1] and Haberman [2]. One of the new features is that higher harmonics generated by the critical layer are in some cases induced in the outer flow at the same order as the basic disturbance. As a consequence, the lowest-order critical layer problem must be solved numerically. In the inviscid limit, on the other hand, a closed-form solution is obtained. It has continuous vorticity and is compared with the solutions found by Bergeron [3], which contain discontinuities in vorticity across closed streamlines.     

The Small Vorticity Nonlinear Critical Layer for Kelvin Modes on a Vortex

We consider in this paper the propagation of neutral modes along a vortex with velocity profile being the radial coordinate. In the linear stability theory governing such flows, the boundary in parameter space separating stable and unstable regions is usually comprised of modes that are singular at some value of r denoted r_c , the critical point. The singularity can be dealt with by adding viscous and/or nonlinear effects within a thin critical layer centered on the critical point. At high Reynolds numbers, the case of most interest in applications, nonlinearity is essential, but it develops that viscosity, treated here as a small perturbation, still plays a subtle role. After first presenting the scaling for the general case, we formulate a nonlinear critical layer theory valid when the critical point occurs far enough from the center of the vortex so that the vorticity there is small. Solutions are found having no phase change across the critical layer thus permitting the existence of modes not possible in a linear theory. It is found that both the axial and azimuthal mean vorticity are different on either side of the critical layer as a result of the wave–mean flow interaction. A long wave analysis with O (1) vorticity leads to similar conclusions.     

Dispersion relations for rotational gravity water flows having two jumps in the vorticity distribution

We derive the dispersion relation for periodic traveling waves propagating at the surface of water with a layer of constant non-zero vorticity situated between two layers of irrotational flow. Due to the complicated nature of the dispersion relation – a fourth order algebraic equation with intricate coefficients – we also give an estimate of a very simple form involving only the levels at which the vorticity has jumps. Our formula generalizes a corresponding one from [5].     

The Evolution of Linearized Perturbations of Parallel Flows

The equations of an incompressible fluid are linearized for small perturbations of a basic parallel flow. The initial-value problem is then posed by use of Fourier transforms in space. Previous results are systematized in a general framework and used to solve a series of problems for prototypical examples of basic shear flow and of initial disturbance. The prototypes of shear flow are (a) plane Couette flow bounded by rigid parallel walls, (b) plane Couette flow bounded by rigid walls at constant pressure, (c) unbounded two-layer flow with linear velocity profile in each layer, (d) a piecewise linear profile of a boundary layer on a rigid wall. The prototypes of initial perturbation are the fundamental ones: (i) a point source of the field of the transverse velocity (represented by delta functions), (ii) an unbounded sinusoidal field of the transverse velocity, (iii) a point source of the lateral component of vorticity, (iv) a sinusoidal field of the lateral vorticity. Detailed solutions for an inviscid fluid are presented, but the problem for a viscous fluid is only broached.     

Numerical study of the primitive equations in the small viscosity regime

In this paper we study the flow dynamics governed by the primitive equations in the small viscosity regime. We consider an initial setup consisting on two dipolar structures interacting with a no slip boundary at the bottom of the domain. The generated boundary layer is analyzed in terms of the complex singularities of the horizontal pressure gradient and of the vorticity generated at the boundary. The presence of complex singularities is correlated with the appearance of secondary recirculation regions. Two viscosity regimes, with different qualitative properties, can be distinguished in the flow dynamics.

     

The Effect of Profile Symmetry on the Nonlinear Stability of Mixing Layers

The nonlinear stability of arbitrary mixing-layer profiles in an incompressible, homogeneous fluid is studied in the high-Reynolds-number limit where the critical layer is linear and viscous. The type of bifurcation from the marginal state is found to depend crucially on the symmetry properties of the basic-state profile. When the vorticity profile of the mean flow is perfectly symmetric, the bifurcation is stationary. When the symmetry of the profile is broken, the bifurcation is Hopf. The nonsymmetry of the mixing layer also introduces some changes in the critical layer and the matching of flow quantities across it.     

Parametric instability of a many point-vortex system in a multi-layer flow under linear deformation

The paper deals with a dynamical system governing the motion of many point vortices located in different layers of a multi-layer flow under external deformation. The deformation consists of generally independent shear and rotational components. First, we examine the dynamics of the system’s vorticity center. We demonstrate that the vorticity center of such a multi-vortex multi-layer system behaves just like the one of two point vortices interacting in a homogeneous deformation flow. Given nonstationary shear and rotational components oscillating with different magnitudes, the vorticity center may experience parametric instability leading to its unbounded growth. However, we then show that one can shift to a moving reference frame with the origin coinciding with the position of the vorticity center. In this new reference frame, the new vorticity center always stays at the origin of coordinates, and the equations governing the vortex trajectories look exactly the same as if the vorticity center had never moved in the original reference frame. Second, we studied the relative motion of two point vortices located in different layers of a two-layer flow under linear deformation. We analyze their regular and chaotic dynamics identifying parameters resulting in effective and extensive destabilization of the vortex trajectories.     

二维气固两相混合层中固粒对流场影响的研究

采用双向耦合模型对含有固粒的二维气固两相混合层流场进行了研究。流场采用拟谱方法直接数值模拟,固粒采用颗粒-轨道模型,在考虑流场对固粒作用的同时,考虑固粒对流场的反作用。结果发现固粒的浓度和Stokes数对流场影响明显。固粒的作用使涡量扩散加快,并阻碍流场的变化,减弱了流场中拟序结构的强度,缩短涡的生存期;固粒在流场中的分布规律与单相耦合所得结果相似。     

Modeling of local particle accumulation in disperse flows with kinematic singularities

The aim of the study is to model the formation of local particle accumulation zones near several typical kinematic singularities. The flows considered are: (i) a steady two–dimensional flow with localized vorticity of the Kelvin cat's eye type (vortex in a mixing layer), (ii) a steady axisymmetric flow formed by a vortex filament normal to a plane in viscous fluid (simple model of tornado), (iii) a neighbourhood of a zero acceleration point in two–dimensional unsteady (harmonic) flow. From parametric numerical calculations, we investigated the inertial mechanisms of forming local particle accumulation zones and found the threshold values of governing parameters separating qualitatively different particle velocity and density patterns. In particular, it is shown that the zero–acceleration point can either “attract” or “scatter” the particles. Zones of concentrated vorticity are typically devoid of particles. In the tornado–like flow, an axisymmetric “cup-shaped” particle accumulation region is formed. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Constant vorticity Riabouchinsky flows from a variational principle

Summary Flows with constant vorticity regions bounded by vortex sheets are obtained by minimizing a functional which is the difference of energy in the external (irrotational) flow and the internal flow. In the zero vorticity case this reduces to the functional used by Garabedian, Lewy, and Schiffer for Riabouchinsky's problem. The discretization is done using Schwarz-Christoffel transformations for approximating polygons and FFT's to compute required Dirichlet integrals.     

On Prandtl-Batchelor theory of a cylindrical eddy: Existence and uniqueness

For a steady laminar two-dimensional flow, Prandtl and Batchelor proposed a property in the case of a region of nested closed streamlines. This Prandtl-Batchelor(PB) theory claims the constancy of the vorticity in the limit of infinite Reynolds number R ( or vanishing viscosity n\nu ) within such a region. To establish this result rigorously, as a first step we here show that a boundary layer corresponding to the PB theory exists and is unique for the circular eddy under relatively small perturbations of the Euler limit wall velocity.     

Boundary Layer Theory and the Zero-Viscosity Limit of the Navier-Stokes Equation

Abstract A central problem in the mathematical analysis of fluid dynamics is the asymptotic limit of the fluid flow as viscosity goes to zero. This is particularly important when boundaries are present since vorticity is typically generated at the boundary as a result of boundary layer separation. The boundary layer theory, developed by Prandtl about a hundred years ago, has become a standard tool in addressing these questions. Yet at the mathematical level, there is still a lack of fundamental understanding of these questions and the validity of the boundary layer theory. In this article, we review recent progresses on the analysis of Prandtl's equation and the related issue of the zero-viscosity limit for the solutions of the Navier-Stokes equation. We also discuss some directions where progress is expected in the near future. Also at Courant Institute, New York University     

Rossby Solitary Waves in the Presence of a Critical Layer

This study considers the evolution of weakly nonlinear long Rossby waves in a horizontally sheared zonal current. We consider a stable flow so that the nonlinear time scale is long. These assumptions enable the flow to organize itself into a large‐scale coherent structure in the régime where a competition sets in between weak nonlinearity and weak dispersion. This balance is often described by a Korteweg‐de‐Vries equation. The traditional assumption of a weak amplitude breaks down when the wave speed equals the mean flow velocity at a certain latitude, due to the appearance of a singularity in the leading‐order equation, which strongly modifies the flow in a critical layer. Here, nonlinear effects are invoked to resolve this singularity, because the relevant geophysical flows have high Reynolds numbers. Viscosity is introduced in order to render the nonlinear‐critical‐layer solution unique, but the inviscid limit is eventually taken. By the method of matched asymptotic expansions, this inner flow is matched at the edges of the critical layer with the outer flow. We will show that the critical‐layer–induced flow leads to a strong rearrangement of the related streamlines and consequently of the potential‐vorticity contours, particularly in the neighborhood of the separatrices between the open and closed streamlines. The symmetry of the critical layer vis‐à‐vis the critical level is also broken. This theory is relevant for the phenomenon of Rossby wave breaking and eventual saturation into a nonlinear wave. Spatially localized solutions are described by a Korteweg‐de‐Vries equation, modified by new nonlinear terms; depending on the critical‐layer shape, this leads to depression or elevation waves. The additional terms are made necessary at a certain order of the asymptotic expansion while matching the inner flow on the dividing streamlines. The new evolution equation supports a family of solitary waves. In this paper we describe in detail the case of a depression wave, and postpone for further discussion the more complex case of an elevation wave.     

The Solution of Two-Dimensional Oseen Flow Problems Using Integral Conditions

A general method of solving Oseen's linearized equations fortwo-dimensional steady flow of a viscous incompressible fluidpast a cylinder in an unbounded field is developed. The analysisis developed in terms of the scalar vorticity and stream functionand it is shown that the vorticity for Oseen flow problems canbe obtained separately from the stream function. The determinationof the vorticity can be effected using conditions of an integralcharacter deduced from the no-slip condition at the cylindersurface together with the conditions at large distances. Theindependent determination of the vorticity seems to be a newstep in Oseen theory. The method enables one to obtain manyproperties of the flow in terms ofthe Reynolds number by usingonly the vorticity without the necessity of finding the streamfunction. The use of integral conditions makes the detailedcalculations straightforward, systematic, and elementary. Themethod is tested by applying it to the case of uniform flowpast an elliptic cylinder at an arbitrary angle of incidenceand also to cases of symmetrical and asymmetrical flows pastcircular cylinders. The leading approximation for small Reynoldsnumber is obtained where possible. In the case of flow pasta rotating cylinder, the only possible solution is the Oseensolution for the nonrotating case with the addition of a potentialvortex.     

Meshless solution of two-dimensional incompressible flow problems using the radial basis integral equation method

The two-dimensional incompressible fluid flow problems governed by the velocity–vorticity formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations were solved using the radial basis integral (RBIE) equation method. The RBIE is a meshless method based on the multi-domain boundary element method with overlapping subdomains. It solves at each node for the potential and its spatial derivatives. This feature of the RBIE is advantageous in solving the velocity–vorticity formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations since the calculated velocity gradients can be used to compute the vorticity that is prescribed as a boundary condition to the vorticity transport equation. The accuracy of the numerical solution was examined by solving the test problem with known analytical solution. Two benchmark problems, i.e. the lid driven cavity flow and the thermally driven cavity flow were also solved. The numerical results obtained using the RBIE showed very good agreement with the benchmark solutions.     

Vorticity transport in a viscoelastic fluid in the presence of suspended particles through porous media

We consider the transport of vorticity in an Oldroydian viscoelastic fluid in the presence of suspended magnetic particles through porous media. We obtain the equations governing such a transport of vorticity from the equations of magnetic fluid flow. It follows from these equations that the transport of solid vorticity is coupled to the transport of fluid vorticity in a porous medium. Further, we find that because of a thermokinetic process, fluid vorticity can exist in the absence of solid vorticity in a porous medium, but when fluid vorticity is zero, then solid vorticity is necessarily zero. We also study a two-dimensional case.     

On the Nonlinear Development of Small Three-Dimensional Perturbations in Plane Poiseuille Flow: Single-Mode Approach

Nonlinear aspects of developing three-dimensional perturbations in plane Poiseuille flow have been elucidated at the primary, instead of the conventional secondary, level. Three-dimensional perturbation velocities generate normal vorticity by stretching and tilting the basic-flow vorticity. The amplitude of the induced normal vorticity, and hence that of the streamwise perturbation velocity, can grow temporally to significant peak values before the exponential decay predicted by the linear theory sets in. These growths, according to the linear theory, do not influence the amplitudes of the normal perturbation velocity that are monotonically decaying with time. It is shown in this study that the normal velocity continues to be oblivious to the development of induced normal vorticity, even in the nonlinear regime, if the perturbation velocities are described by waves traveling in a single oblique direction. Also, the Reynolds number dependence of the amplitude of the normal vorticity is discussed.     

Observations on the Role of Vorticity in the Stability Theory of Wall Bounded Flows

The linearized equations for the evolution of disturbances to four wall bounded flows are treated. The flows are plane Couette flow and plane Poiseuille flow, Hagen-Poiseuille pipe flow, and the asymptotic suction profile. By looking at the vorticity it is proved simply that plane Couette flow and Hagen-Poiseuille flow are linearly stable. Further study is made of the structure of the disturbance equation by the introduction of a special vorticity adjoint.     

On the Equation of Motion of a Thin Layer of Uniform Vorticity

A higher order extension to Moore's equation governing the evolution of a thin layer of uniform vorticity in two dimensions is obtained. The equation, in fact, governs the motion of the center line of the layer and is valid for consideration of motion whereby the layer thickness is uniformly small compared with the local radius of curvature of the center line. It extends Birkoff's equation for a vortex sheet. The equation is used to examine the growth of disturbances on a straight, steady layer of uniform vorticity. The growth rate for long waves is in good agreement with the exact result of Rayleigh, as required. Further, the growth of waves with length in a certain range is shown to be suppressed by making this approximate allowance for finite thickness. However, it is found that very short waves, which are quite outside the range of validity of the equation but which are likely to be excited in a numerical integration of the equation, are spuriously amplified as in the case of Moore's equation. Thus, numerical integration of the equation will require use of smoothing techniques to suppress this spurious growth of short wave disturbances.