Falling film flow along steep two-dimensional topography: The effect of inertia

Steady film flow along a vertical wall with isolated step changes is studied numerically for Reynolds numbers Re ∼ O(10⁻³–10²) and capillary numbers Ca ∼ O(10⁻²–10¹). The lengthscale of free surface capillary features upstream of a step-in or step-out decreases uniformly with Re and switches from a −1/3 to a −1/2 power-law dependence on Ca. The height of the capillary features first grows with Re, but eventually diminishes when inertia forces overpower capillary forces. Simultaneously, the key dynamics move from upstream to downstream of the step, and switch from capillary arrest to inertial re-directioning of the falling liquid. The latter mechanism involves a low-pressure region originating from the edge of the step. At a step-out, a new free surface feature appears with increasing Re, which is caused by liquid overshoot in the horizontal direction and is restrained initially by capillary and subsequently by inertial forces. Simple scaling arguments are shown to predict many of the above characteristics.     

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.     

A robust 2D shallow water model for solving flow over complex topography using homogenous flux method

A robust Godunov‐type numerical scheme solver is proposed for solving 2D SWEs and is applied to simulate flow over complex topography with wetting and drying. In reality, the topography is usually complex and irregular; therefore, to avoid the numerical errors generated by such features, a Homogenous Flux Method is used to handle the bed slope term in the SWEs. The method treats the bed slope term as a flux to be incorporated into the flux gradient and so maintains the balance between the two in a Godunov‐type shock‐capturing scheme. The main advantages of the method are: first, it is simple and easy to implement; second, numerical experiments demonstrate that it can handle discontinuous or vertical bed topography without any special treatment and third, it is applicable to both steady and unsteady flows. It is demonstrated how the approach set out here can be applied to the nonlinear hyperbolic system of the SWEs. The two‐dimensional hyperbolic system is then solved by use of a second‐order total‐variation‐diminishing version of the weighted average flux method in conjunction with a Harten‐Lax‐van Leer‐Contract approximate Riemann solver incorporating the new flux gradient term. Several benchmark tests are presented to validate the model and the approach is verified against experimental measurements from the European Union Concerted Action on Dam Break Modelling project. These show very good agreement. Finally, the method is applied to a volcano‐induced outburst flood over an initially dry channel with complex irregular topography to demonstrate the technique's capability in simulating a real flood. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of the slip condition on the resonance of a film flow over an inclined slippery topography plate

Meccanica - This study addresses the linear and nonlinear resonance of the film flow on an inclined slippery topography plate in the frame of long-wave theory. The influence of the surface tension...     

A new decoupled finite element algorithm for viscoelastic flow. Part 2: Convergence properties of the algorithm

We present the results of some numerical experiments which were carried out in order to investigate the general characteristics of the algorithm described in Part I of this paper.     

On time-dependent,two-layer flow over topography: II. Evolution and propagation of solitary waves

The evolution of topographically generated interfacial motion is considered in a two-layer model. A system of two non-linear equations, similar to the Boussinesq equations for shallow water waves, is derived. The consequences of the cubic non-linearity of these equations on the nature of the solitary wave solutions are explored. A dispersion relation for solitary waves implies the existence of maxima for speed and displacement in a wave. The limiting values are shown to agree with other studies. The growth of solitary and/or cnoidal waves is studied for finite pulses of displacement and for internal bores.     

The dependence of viscoelastic flow properties on the structure for styrene-butadiene copolymers

The flow properties for 300 kg/m³ solutions of four-arm, star-branched random and block styrene-butadiene-styrene copolymers in n-butylbenzene are presented. The viscosity, η, first and second normal stress differences, N₁ and N₂, and the steady sher compliance, J, were determined as a function of the shear rate from cone-plate shearing data obtained with a stiffened Model R17 Weissenberg Rheogoniometer. The normal stress differences were determined from total normal force and plate pressure distribution data. Four sensitive, miniature, variable-capacitance pressure transducers mounted in the 7.4-cm plate with their approximately 2.4 mm in diameter pressure-sensing diaphragms flush with the plate surface provided data for the pressure distribution on the plate. In general, the data extend from the zero shear-rate viscosity region somewhat into the shear thinning region. Based on limited data, the zero shear viscosities for the random copolymers increased with (M₃)^3.2, whereas those for the 28% block and 38% block polymers increased with (M_w)^?;6, respectively. The latter high exponents are believed to be a consequence of a network with junctions formed by dispersed phase polystyrene block domains. The sign for N₂ was opposite that of N₁ and the ratio N₂/M₁ for all of the star copolymers averaged –0.214 with a standard deviation of 1.5%. This value is within ±1% of the ratios for tetrachain polybutadienes and polystyrenes and is significantly lower than the –0.29 for linear polybutadiene and polystyrene solutions in normal butylbenzene. The N₂/N₁ ratio did not vary significantly over the shear-rate range investigated.     

The effect of an additional boundary condition on the plane creeping flow of a second-order fluid

A similarity solution is obtained for the two-dimensional creeping flow of a second-order fluid with non-parallel porous walls. The resulting ordinary differential equation is fifth order. Thus, an additional velocity boundary condition is needed, the other four being due to the usual no-slip conditions. Having chosen to prescribe the rate of shear at the wall, the problem is solved by a standard numerical routine. A singular perturbation analysis is developed for small values of the Deborah number. A type of boundary layer forms for which the viscous Newtonian case is the outer solution.     

Confined creeping flow around an axisymmetric body: increase of the shape effect by a tube wall

Using a specially adapted experimental technique, associated with a visualization method based upon solid tracers, we have obtained the flow pattern induced by the very slow uniform translation of an axisymmetric body along the axis of a vertical tube filled with a viscous liquid, both in a fixed frame (the frame is attached to the tube) and in a “relative” frame (the frame accompanies the body in its translation). The body, whose shape evolves from a sphere to a cylinder frustum, is free from any attachment or interaction with any other body; only the tube wall interaction is relevant. In these conditions, the upstream-downstream symmetry, relative to the creeping regime hypotheses, has been very well verified and quantitative information concerning, in particular, the velocity field has been deduced with sufficient precision (better than 2%) to exercise the control of a numerical process capable of giving all the details of the hydrodynamic field including those not directly available from the experiments. By comparison with the unbounded flows around the same bodies, the strong increase of the shape effect by the presence of the confining tube wall has been pointed out and evaluated, on the drag as well as on the surface vorticity and pressure distributions.     

The effect of roughness on separating flow over two-dimensional hills

Two new experimental data sets for turbulent flow over a steep, rough hill are presented. These include detailed laser Doppler anemometry measurements obtained at the separation and reattachment points and, in particular, within the reverse flow region on the lee side of the hill. These results allow the development of a new parametrization for rough wall boundary layers and validate the use of Stratford’s solution for a separating rough flow. The experiments were conducted in a water channel for two different Reynolds numbers. In the first set of rough wall experiments, the flow conditions and the hill shape are similar to those presented in Loureiro et al. (Exp. Fluids, 42:441–457, 2007a) for a smooth surface, leading to a much reduced separation region. In the second set of experiments, the Reynolds number is raised ten times. The region of separated flow is then observed to increase, but still to a length shorter than that recorded by Loureiro et al. (Exp. Fluids, 42:441–457, 2007a). Detailed data on mean velocity and turbulent quantities are presented. To quantify the wall shear stress, global optimization algorithms are used. The merit function is defined in terms of a local solution that is shown to reduce to the classical law of the wall far away from a separation point and to the expression of Stratford at a separation point. The flow structure at the separation point is also discussed.     

Numerical observations of turbulence structure modification in channel flow over 2D and 3D rough walls

The effects of wall roughness on turbulence structure modifications were explored by numerical experiments, carried out using Large Eddy Simulation techniques. The wall geometry was made using an archetypal artificial method, thus to achieve irregular two- and three-dimensional shapes. The proposed roughness shapes are highly irregular and are characterised by high and small peaks, thus it can be considered a practical realistic roughness. Their effects are analysed comparing the turbulence quantities over smooth, 2D and 3D rough walls of fully developed channel flow at relatively low friction Reynolds number ${\mathit{Re}}_{\tau }=395$. Both transitional and fully rough regimes have been investigated. The two rough surfaces were built in such a way that the same mean roughness height and averaged mean deviation is obtained. Despite of this, very different quantitative and qualitative results are generated. The analysis of the mean quantitative statistics and turbulence fluctuations shows that deviations are mainly concentrated in the inner layer. These results support the Townsend’s similarity hypothesis. Among the geometrical parameters, which characterise the wall geometries, roughness slope correlates well with the roughness function $\mathrm{\Delta }{U}^{+}$. Specifically, a logarithmic law is proposed to predict the downward shift of the velocity profile for the transitional regime. Instantaneous view of turbulent organised structures display differences in small-scale structures. The flow field over rough surfaces is populated with coherent structures shorter than those observed over flat planes. The comparative analysis of both streaks and wall-normal vortical structures shows that 2D and 3D irregularities have quite different effects. The results highlight that 3D rough wall are representative of a more realistic surface compared to idealised 2D roughness.     

Memory effects in a non-uniform flow: A study of the behaviour of a tubular film of viscoelastic fluid

Summary Formal use of constitutive equations such as that ofOldroyd in the mathematical model of a flow leads, in general, to a higher order differential equation than is obtained for a purely viscous fluid, and so we expect to need more boundary conditions in order to specify the problem completely. (These extra boundary conditions may be thought of as arising from the need to specify what the fluid remembers of the flow outside the region of interest.) In flows which are uniform spatially, or uniform with time for a material element, the uniformity will provide the extra information and so no extra conditions are needed. Similarly for confined flows, where no new fluid enters the region of interest, no information about flow outside this region is needed.Here the steady flow of a tubular film of a viscoelastic fluid is studied with the particular aim of examining the effect of these extra boundary conditions in a situation where they may be expected to have some significant influence on the flow as a whole. The flow, while being geometrically complex, is essentially an elongational free-surface flow involving the biaxial stretching of a thin axisymmetric tubular film. Features of the constitutive equations studied are the presence of a non-zero relaxation time and the possibility of a variable viscosity. One effect of the non-zero relaxation time is that a tube of constant radius (possible but unstable for aNewtonian fluid) is not dynamically possible. Preliminary computational results suggest that the effect of the extra upstream boundary conditions is not large, and also have failed to show any major difference between the two generalisations of theMaxwell model which have been used.With 1 figure     

The entrance effect of laminar flow over a backward-facing step geometry

The study investigates the entrance effect for flow over a backward-facing step by comparing predictions that set the inlet boundary at various locations upstream of the sudden expansion. Differences are most significant in the sudden expansion region. If the geometry has an inlet channel, then shorter reattachment and separation lengths are predicted. Comparisons with experimental data indicate that better agreement is found using a long inlet channel, but only for low Reynolds numbers where the experimental error is less significant. For certain cases, predictions with a high expansion number are perturbed by the entrance effect more than low-expansion-number predictions; however, the effect is localized in the sudden expansion region. Channels with low expansion numbers always experience a greater entrance effect after some distance upstream and downstream of the sudden expansion. The boundary layer growth in the inlet channel was examined using a uniform inlet velocity profile. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A conservative 2D model of inundation flow with solute transport over dry bed

In this paper, a transient 2D coupled vertically averaged flow/transport model is presented. The model deals with all kind of bed geometries and guarantees global conservation and positive values of both water level and solute concentration in the transient solution. The model is based on an upwind finite volume method, using Roe's approximate Riemann solver. A specific modification of the Riemann solver is proposed to overcome the generation of negative values of depth and concentration, that can appear as a consequence of existing wetting/drying and solute advance fronts over variable bed levels, or by the generation of new ones when dry areas appear. The numerical stability constraints of the explicit model are stated incorporating the influence of the flow velocity, the bed variations and the possible appearance of dry cells. Faced to the important restriction that this new stability condition can impose on the time step size, a different strategy to allow stability using a maximum time step, and in consequence a minimum computational cost is presented. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pulsating flow of viscoelastic fluids in straight tubes of arbitrary cross-section—Part I: longitudinal field

The pulsating flow of a Green-Rivlin fluid in straight tubes of arbitrary cross-section is investigated. We work with the linearly viscoelastic fluid at the first order of the perturbation of the non-linear constitutive structure defined by a series of nested integrals over semi-infinite time domains. The boundary for the base flow, linearly viscoelastic flow in a circular tube in this case, is perturbed through the application of a novel approach to the concept of domain perturbation to yield a continuous spectrum of closed cross-sectional shapes. The longitudinal component of the flow field is investigated in detail for representative cross-sectional shapes in the spectrum including the square, the triangle and the hexagone, and the velocity profiles are presented for a specific fluid.     

Spherical Couette flow of a viscoelastic fluid Part I: Experimental study of the inner sphere rotation

Flow of viscoelastic fluid contained between a stationary outer sphere and a rotating inner sphere is studied experimentally. In the present investigation, relatively low-concentration polyacrylamide-water solutions are used as viscoelastic fluid, and for the sake of comparison glycerin-water solutions are used as the Newtonian fluid. In experiments, measurements of the rotational torque and the velocity profile in the meridional plane of the spherical gap are made. Various transition phenomena of flow modes that are unique to viscoelastic fluids are investigated by flow visualization for a wide range of rotational Reynolds numbers. Experimental results revealed that a roll-cell-like structure (banded radial structure) caused by elastic instability is generated in the polar region, and that it propagates toward the equatorial region when rotation of the inner sphere is increased, resulting in the formation of two distinct regions: the elastic dominant region and the inertial dominant region. Flow modes are classified and the critical Reynolds numbers are obtained for different gap widths. A correlation is obtained for the torque data in the regime before the onset of instability.     

The effect of variable properties on laminar boundary layer flow

The influence of temperature dependent fluid properties on laminar boundary layer flows is examined for wedge flows (Falkner-Skan). An asymptotic expansion for small heat transfer rates is applied under the boundary conditionsT _w= const andq _w=const. Linear deviations from the zero order solution (constant properties) can be given in a form known as the property ratio method. As a consequence this method is no longer an empirical one.