Stability of Couette flow of an ideal fluid with free boundaries

The linear and nonlinear stage of development of instability of Couette flow with two free boundaries is studied. It is established that instability occurs only for long waves, and the critical wave number is computed. In the presence of surface-tension forces, instability is preserved only at Weber numbersWe ≤ 1/3. Computer Center, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, Krasnoyarsk 660036. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 39, No. 5, pp. 99–105, September–October, 1998.     

Stability of Couette flow between two rotating cylinders

We investigate the stability in the large of Couette flow between two cylinders rotating in the same direction. For the case of infinitesimally small perturbations, a sufficient condition for stability of the Couette flow (the Synge condition) was obtained in [1, 2]. In [3] for an investigation of the stability in the nonlinear case, to this condition we must add certain constraints on the initial energy and the angular velocities. In the proposed study, using the second method of Lyapunov, sufficient conditions for stability in the large are obtained, which differ little from the Synge condition. In this case these conditions approach the Synge condition as the distance between the cylinders is decreased.     

Dynamics of ideal fibre-reinforced rigid-plastic beams

A mechanism is proposed by which discontinuities in slope can propagate along an ideal fibr-ereinforced beam which is inextensible in the direction of its axis. The equations of motion of the beam are formulated, including the dynamical conditions which must be satisfied at the discontinuity. Constitutive equations for a rigid-plastic fibre-reinforced beam are established, and it is shown that slope discontinuities may propagate in a strain-hardening material, but are stationary in a perfectlyplastic beam. The theory is illustrated by its application to the problem of a beam moving in a direction normal to its axis brought to rest by striking a rigid stop at its mid-point. It is shown that in the subsequent motion slope discontinuities travel outwards from the centre of the beam. A complete explicit solution is obtained for the case of a beam with linear strain-hardening.     

Finite deformation of an ideal rigid-plastic membrane

We consider finite deformation of a membrane which is a cylinder in the initial state under a pressure uniformly distributed over the inner surface. The problem is solved using the model of deformation of an incompressible rigid-plastic material with full plasticity. Exact analytical relations are obtained for the pressure and kinematic characteristics as functions of the rotation angle of the normal on the contour of the shell. Elongations and displacements are found as functions of the radial coordinate. The time of reaching the maximum value of the external pressure is determined. It is shown that the change in the membrane thickness along the radial coordinate is constant.     

Stability of the center of the inner cylinder in a Couette flow

The plane problem of the stability of the center of a rotating inner cylinder in Couette flow is considered in the linear formulation in the absence of external forces and for a narrow gap. Neutral waves were not detected in [1] and the authors concluded that such motion is always unstable. Some neutral curves for the limiting case of a narrow gap were obtained in [2] by the Runge—Kutta method together with the intersecting line method, and the case of small Reynolds numbers and arbitrary gaps was also considered. In the present paper the asymptotic behavior of a narrow gap is constructed for the corresponding eigenvalue problem. Numerical investigation of the exact solution of first-order equations gives results in the form of neutral curves. For an eigenvalue σ and a parameter γ which characterizes instability, second-order asymptotic terms are obtained by the perturbation method.     

Strain-energy failure criterion for rigid-plastic bodies

In the framework of the theory of strain-hardening rigid-plastic bodies, we suggest a strain-energy failure criterion. The strain states of a rigid-plastic body are depicted as points in the principal strain space and form a third-order hyperbolic surface for incompressible bodies. The strain processes are depicted by lines on this surface. The loading surface related to the strain surface lines is introduced, which permits calculating the energy dissipation as a parameter determining the failure.     

Stability of MHD Couette flow in a narrow gap annulus

A numerical solution to the MHD stability problem for dissipative Couette flow in a narrow gap is presented under following conditions: (i) the inner cylinder rotating with the outer one stationary, (ii) co-rotating cylinders, (iii) counter-rotating cylinders, (iv) an axially applied magnetic field, and (v) conducting and non-conducting walls.Results for the critical wave number and the critical Taylor number are presented and are compared with those of Chandrasekhar (1953). The agreement is very good. The amplitude of the radial velocity and the cell-pattern are shown on graphs for both the conducting and non-conducting walls and for different values of ± (=₂/₁, ₂-the angular velocity of the outer cylinder, ₁-the angular velocity of the inner cylinder) and Q the magnetic field parameter which is the square of the Hartman number. The effects of ± and Q on the stability of the flow are discussed. It is seen that the effect of the magnetic field is to inhibit the onset of instability, it being more so in the presence of conducting walls than in the presence of non-conducting walls.     

Stability of Couette flow of liquids with power law viscosity

The stability of the Couette flow of the liquid with the power law viscosity in a wide annular gap has been investigated theoretically in this work with the aid of the method of small disturbances. The Taylor number, being a criterion of the stability, has been defined using the mean apparent viscosity value in the main flow. In the whole range of the radius ratio, R _i /R _o and the flow index, n, considered (R _i /R _o 0.5, n = 0.25–1.75 ), the critical value of the Taylor number Ta _c is an increasing function of the flow index, i.e., shear thinning has destabilizing influence on the rotational flow, and dilatancy exhibits an opposite tendency.In the wide ranges of the flow index, n > 0.5, and the radius ratio, R _i /R _o > 0.5, the wide-gap effect on the stability limit is predicted to be almost the same for non-Newtonian fluids as for Newtonian ones. The ratio on the critical Taylor numbers for non-Newtonian and Newtonian fluids: Ta _c (n) and Ta _c (n = 1) obey a generalized functional dependence: Ta _c (n)/Ta _c (n = 1) = g(n), where g(n) is a function corresponding to the solution for the narrow gap approximation.Theoretical predictions have been compared with experimental results for pseudoplastic liquids. In the range of the radius ratio R _i /R _o > 0.6 the theoretical stability limit is in good agreement with the experiments, however, for R _i /R _o < 0.6, the critical Taylor number is considerably lower than predicted by theory.     

Stability of unsteady rectilinear plane-parallel ideal fluid flow

The stability of unsteady rectilinear plane-parallel ideal fluid flow is solved by the modified Rayleigh method [1, 2]. The numerical results apply to the so-called shear layers that form in the boundary layer prior to breakdown. The corresponding amplification factors and the most hazardous wavenumbers are found. It is shown that an analog of the Squire theorem is valid for the shear layers. In justifying the crude approximation of the initial profile, the Rayleigh method yields the exact solution for the limiting problem. A strong contraction of the class of possible initial values is not essential for finding the critical characteristics.The author thanks G. I. Petrov for his continued interest and guidance in this study.     

Stability of spherical Couette flow in thick layers when the inner sphere revolves

A natural generalization of cylindrical Couette flow is the flow of a viscous incompressible liquid between two concentric spheres rotating about the same axis with different angular velocities. As has often been noted, spherical Couette flow is, despite the apparent similarity, considerably more complex than cylindrical flow. It consists of differential rotation about the axis and one- or two-eddy circulation (depending on the ratio between the angular velocities of the two spheres = ₂/₁) in the meridional plane and depends significantly on the Reynolds number Re = ₁r ₁ ² and the relative thickness of the layer = (r₂-r₁)/r₁ (₁, ₂ and r₁, r₂ are the angular velocities and radii of the inner and outer spheres, respectively. The investigation of spherical Gouette flow and its stability has begun relatively recently (within the last 10 years) and has evidently been stimulated by applied problems associated with astro- and geophysics. Because of the great computational difficulties encountered in investigating such flow theoretically, experimental investigations have yielded more extensive and interesting results [1–8], although all the published results refer to the case of rotation of one inner sphere ( = 0).Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 9–15, March–April, 1978.It remains to thank S. A. Shcherbakov for help in organizing automatic input of the signals to the BÉSM-6 computer.     

Computational limit analysis of rigid-plastic bodies in plane strain

This paper deals with the computational methods for limit analysis of plane strain problems. The finite element mathematical programming formula (FE-MPF) for determining the upper bound load multiplier established by the authors earlier is adopted and modified for plane strain problems. The penalty method is used to impose the incompressibility constraint. The FE-MPF is solved by a direct iteration procedure without the need of a searching process. This algorithm is not sensitive to the volumetric locking effect. And it can be easily extended to the limit analysis of three dimensional problems. The results of numerical examples are satisfactory and show the stable convergency of the present algorithm.     

Impulsive loading of ideal fibre-reinforced rigid-plastic beams—III Cantilever beam

The theory outlined in Part I is applied to the problem of a cantilever beam struck transversely at any point by a mass which subsequently adheres to the beam. In the subsequent motion, slope and velocity discontinuities propagate outwards from the point of impact. Solutions for the velocity and deflection of the various segments of the beam are obtained for the case of linear strain-hardening, and simpler approximate solutions are derived for the case of low impact velocity and/or slight strain-hardening. The discontinuity propagating towards the free end of the beam always comes to rest before it reaches this end, but for sufficiently high values of impact mass and velocity, and a strain-hardening parameter, one or more reflections of the discontinuity may occur at the fixed end of the beam and at the point of impact.     

Nonuniform convective Couette flow

An exact solution describing the convective flow of a vortical viscous incompressible fluid is derived. The solution of the Oberbeck–Boussinesq equation possesses a characteristic feature in describing a fluid in motion, namely, it holds true when not only viscous but also inertia forces are taken into account. Taking the inertia forces into account leads to the appearance of stagnation points in a fluid layer and counterflows, as well as the existence of layer thicknesses at which the tangent stresses vanish on the lower boundary. It is shown that the vortices in the fluid are generated due to the nonlinear effects leading to the occurrence of counterflows and flow velocity amplification, compared with those given by the boundary conditions. The solution of the spectral problem for the polynomials describing the tangent stress distribution makes it possible to explain the absence of the skin friction on the solid surface and in an arbitrary section of an infinite layer.     

Marangoni effect in the Couette flow

Viscous heating in an axisymmetric creeping flow of a second-order fluid with free surface between two coaxially mounted cylinders produces a radial temperature gradient in the fluid. The dependence of the surface tension upon temperature is the cause for a secondary flow in the meridional plane of the flow field. This secondary flow (Marangoni effect), and its influence upon the shape of the free surface are studied. The deformation of the free surface caused by the Marangoni effect is compared with the deformation caused by inertia and normal stress differences.     

Couette flow of granular materials

The flow of granular materials between rotating cylinders is studied using a continuum model proposed by Rajagopal and Massoudi (A method for measuring material moduli for granular materials: flow in an orthogonal rheometer, DOE/PETC/TR90/3, 1990). For a steady, fully developed condition, the governing equations are reduced to a system of coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations. The resulting boundary value problem is non-dimensionalized and is then solved numerically. The effect of material parameters, i.e., dimensionless numbers on the volume fraction and the velocity fields are studied.     

On solving the problem of an ideal incompressible fluid flow around large-aspect-ratio axisymmetric bodies

Based on Babenko’s fundamental mathematical ideas, principally new (unsaturated) algorithms are developed for the numerical solution of problems of a potential axisymmetric ideal fluid flow around bodies of revolution, in particular, an ellipsoid of revolution with an aspect ratio equal to 1000. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 47, No. 5, pp. 56–67, September–October, 2006.