Convection mixte en fluide binaire avec effet Soret : étude analytique de la transition vers les rouleaux transversaux 2D

This Note deals with mixed convection in binary fluid with Soret effect in a rectangular duct heated from below. In particular, we study the transition towards transverse 2D rolls appearing at low Reynolds and Rayleigh numbers. The linear stability analysis of Poiseuille flow, with linearly stratified temperature and concentration fields, shows the influence of the separation ratio on the critical Rayleigh number at the transition towards the transversal 2D convective patterns. It highlights the presence, at low Reynolds numbers, of propagating transverse rolls in the downwards as well as in the upwards direction. Finally, we point out that, under these conditions, the propagating frequency of the rolls is the sum of two well defined frequencies: the first related to the Reynolds, the second to the separation ratio. To cite this article: E. Piquer et al., C. R. Mecanique 333 (2005).     

Convective Instability in a Horizontal Porous Channel with Permeable and Conducting Side Boundaries

The stability analysis of the motionless state of a horizontal porous channel with rectangular cross-section and saturated by a fluid is developed. The heating from below is modelled by a uniform flux, while the top wall is assumed to be isothermal. The side boundaries are considered as permeable and perfectly conducting. The linear stability of the basic state is studied for the normal mode perturbations. The principle of exchange of stabilities is proved, so that only stationary normal modes need to be considered in the stability analysis. The eigenvalue problem for the neutral stability condition is solved analytically, and a closed-form dispersion relation is obtained for the neutral stability. The Darcy–Rayleigh number is expressed as an implicit function of the longitudinal wave number and of the aspect ratio. The critical wave number and the critical Darcy–Rayleigh number are evaluated for different aspect ratios. The preferred modes under critical conditions are detected. It is found that the selected patterns of instability at the critical Rayleigh number are two-dimensional, for slender or square cross-sections of the channel. On the other hand, instability is three dimensional when the critical width-to-height ratio, 1.350517, is exceeded. Eventually, the effects of a finite longitudinal length of the channel are discussed.     

Overstability Analysis of Thermo-bioconvection Saturating a Porous Medium in a Suspension of Gyrotactic Microorganisms

A linear stability analysis is performed to analyze bioconvection in a dilute suspension of gyrotactic microorganisms in horizontal shallow fluid layer cooling from below and saturated by a porous medium, in the rigid boundary case. It is established that due to cooling from below thermally stratified layer is stabilized, which opposes the development of bioconvection and the situations for oscillatory convection may take place. The stability criterion is obtained in terms of thermal Rayleigh number, bioconvection Rayleigh number, gyrotactic number, bioconvection Peclet number, measure of cell eccentricity, Prandtl number, and Lewis number. It is observed that the presence of porous medium results in decrease of the magnitude of critical bioconvection Rayleigh number in comparison with its non-existence; hence due to porous effect, the system becomes less stable.     

Small Reynolds number instabilities in two-layer Couette flow

Instabilities in two-layer Couette flow are investigated from a small Reynolds number expansion of the eigenvalue problem governing linear stability. The wave velocity and growth rate are given explicitly, and previous results for long waves and short waves are retrieved as special cases. In addition to the inertial instability due to viscous stratification, the flow may be subject to the Rayleigh–Taylor instability. As a result of the competition of these two instabilities, inertia may completely stabilise a gravity-unstable flow above some finite critical Froude number, or conversely, for a gravity-stable flow, inertia may give rise to finite wavenumber instability above some finite critical Weber number. General conditions for these phenomena are given, as well as exact or approximate values of the critical numbers. The validity domain of the many asymptotic expansions is then investigated from comparison with the numerical solution. It appears that the small-Re expansion gives good results beyond Re = 1, with an error less that 1%. For Reynolds numbers of a few hundred, we show from the eigenfunctions and the energy equation that the nature of the instability changes: instability still arises from the interfacial mode (there is no mode crossing), but this mode takes all the features of a shear mode. The other modes correspond to the stable eigenmodes of the single-layer Couette flow, which are recovered when one fluid is rigidified by increasing its viscosity or surface tension.     

Linear stability analysis of flow in a periodically grooved channel

We have conducted the linear stability analysis of flow in a channel with periodically grooved parts by using the spectral element method. The channel is composed of parallel plates with rectangular grooves on one side in a streamwise direction. The flow field is assumed to be two‐dimensional and fully developed. At a relatively small Reynolds number, the flow is in a steady‐state, whereas a self‐sustained oscillatory flow occurs at a critical Reynolds number as a result of Hopf bifurcation due to an oscillatory instability mode. In order to evaluate the critical Reynolds number, the linear stability theory is applied to the complex laminar flow in the periodically grooved channel by constituting the generalized eigenvalue problem of matrix form using a penalty‐function method. The critical Reynolds number can be determined by the sign of a linear growth rate of the eigenvalues. It is found that the bifurcation occurs due to the oscillatory instability mode which has a period two times as long as the channel period. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of anisotropy of porous media on the onset of buoyancy-driven convection

A theoretical analysis of buoyancy-driven instability under transient basic fields is conducted in an initially quiescent, fluid-saturated, horizontal porous layer. Darcy’s law is used to explain characteristics of fluid motion and the anisotropy of permeability is considered. Under the Boussinesq approximation and the principle of exchange of stabilities, the stability equations are derived by using the linear stability theory and the energy method. The linear stability equations are analyzed numerically by using the frozen-time model and the linear amplification theory and the global stability limits are obtained numerically from the energy method. For the various anisotropic ratios, the critical times are predicted as a function of the Darcy–Rayleigh number and the critical Darcy–Rayleigh number is also obtained. The present predictions are compared each another and with existing theoretical ones.     

Transverse-roll global modes in a Rayleigh–Bénard–Poiseuille system with streamwise variable heating

The effect of a spatially inhomogeneous heating of the bottom wall in Rayleigh–Bénard–Poiseuille convection is studied for slow streamwise variations of the temperature profile. The problem is defined by the constant Reynolds number of the Poiseuille through flow, assumed to be low (typically 10), the constant Prandtl number, and the spatial evolution of the Rayleigh number , assumed to be subcritical everywhere except in a limited region around its single maximum . In this initial study, all spanwise inhomogeneities such as side walls or spanwise variable heating are neglected to obtain two-dimensional (transverse roll) global mode solutions by means of WKBJ asymptotics. The resulting frequency selection yields, at leading order, a global mode frequency equal to the local absolute frequency ω^t at the streamwise location where the Rayleigh number is maximum, with higher-order corrections for non-parallelism. These allow the determination of critical values of for global instability as a function of the profile of the local Rayleigh number and of Prandtl and Reynolds numbers.     

Interfacial instabilities in a stratified flow of two superposed fluids

Here we shall present a linear stability analysis of a laminar, stratified flow of two superposed fluids which are a clear liquid and a suspension of solid particles. The investigation is based upon the assumption that the concentration remains constant within the suspension layer. Even for moderate flow-rates the base-state results for a shear induced resuspension flow justify the latter assumption. The numerical solutions display the existence of two different branches that contribute to convective instability: long and short waves which coexist in a certain range of parameters. Also, a range exists where the flow is absolutely unstable. That means a convectively unstable resuspension flow can be only observed for Reynolds numbers larger than a lower, critical Reynolds number but still smaller than a second critical Reynolds number. For flow rates which give rise to a Reynolds number larger than the second critical Reynolds number, the flow is absolutely unstable. In some cases, however, there exists a third bound beyond that the flow is convectively unstable again. Experiments show the same phenomena: for small flow-rates short waves were usually observed but occasionally also the coexistence of short and long waves. These findings are qualitatively in good agreement with the linear stability analysis. Larger flow-rates in the range of the second critical Reynolds number yield strong interfacial waves with wave breaking and detached particles. In this range, the measured flow-parameters, like the resuspension height and the pressure drop are far beyond the theoretical results. Evidently, a further increase of the Reynolds number indicates the transition to a less wavy interface. Finally, the linear stability analysis also predicts interfacial waves in the case of relatively small suspension heights. These results are in accordance with measurements for ripple-type instabilities as they occur under laminar and viscous conditions for a mono-layer of particles.     

Effects of shear-thinning/thickening nature on the stability of Couette-like flow with uniform crossflow

The linear stability of wall-injected pressure- driven Couette-like flow in power-law fluids is studied. Previous study on this kind of flow for Newtonian fluids by Nicoud and Angilella [Phys. Rev. E 56, 3000 （1997）] was extended to power-law fluids to understand the effects of shear-thinning/thickening nature on the flow stability. A related expression between the critical crossflow Reynolds number for Newtonian fluids and that for power-law fluids is obtained as the streamwise Reynolds number is large enough based on numerical computations, and verified theoretically in the case of a limiting condition with the power-law index.     

The Horton–Rogers–Lapwood Problem Revisited: The Effect of Pressure Work

The problem of the onset of convective roll instabilities in a horizontal porous layer with isothermal boundaries at unequal temperatures, well known as the Horton–Rogers–Lapwood problem, is revisited including the effect of pressure work and viscous dissipation in the local energy balance. A linear stability analysis of rolls disturbances is performed. The analysis shows that, while the contribution of viscous dissipation is ineffective, the contribution of the pressure work may be important. The condition of marginal stability is investigated by adopting two solution procedures: method of weighted residuals and explicit Runge–Kutta method. The pressure work term in the energy balance yields an increase of the value of the Darcy–Rayleigh number at marginal stability. In other words, the effect of pressure work is a stabilizing one. Furthermore, while the critical value of the Darcy– Rayleigh number may be considerably affected by the pressure work contribution, the critical value of the wave number is affected only in rather extreme cases, i.e. for very high values of the Gebhart number. A nonlinear stability analysis is also performed pointing out that the joint effects of viscous dissipation and pressure work result in a reduction of the excess Nusselt number due to convection, when the Darcy–Rayleigh number is replaced by the superadiabatic Darcy–Rayleigh number.     

The Stability of a Compressible Rayleigh Layer

The aim of this work is to determine the linear stability of a compressible Rayleigh layer and to ascertain what role unsteady effects play. A Rayleigh layer is formed when an infinite flat plate is impulsively set in motion in its own plane with constant velocity beneath an initially quiescent fluid. When the fluid is compressible there is a motion both parallel and normal to the plate. The classical boundary-layer scaling is employed to determine solutions which are expressed in terms of a similarity variable and are valid for a large range of Mach, Prandtl and Reynolds numbers. Solutions are presented for both an adiabatic and iso-thermal temperature boundary condition at the plate. The temporal stability of the flow is considered by solving an Orr–Sommerfeld system: here the underlying flow is calculated at a certain time and the instantaneous stability to viscous travelling waves is determined. The stability is seen to be altered by changing the Mach number (an increase of which decreases the stability of the flow), and also by cooling and heating the wall. These results are limited by the fact that the growth of the layer in time is not taken into account. To include this we consider the large Reynolds number limit and use a triple-deck structure to determine the modes characteristics. The triple-deck approach is used to determine an asymptote to the lower branch of the neutral curve and unsteady effects can be included in a consistent manner. For the upper branch, however, a five-deck structure is required due to the fact that the critical layer is now distinct from the viscous sublayer. The upper-branch stability is only calculated to the first order which is sufficient to give an insight into the stability characteristics.     

Penetrative convection in sublayer of water including density inversion

Numerical solutions of stability and convective flow in an infinite horizontal water layer, including density inversion, have been obtained using a finite element code. The evolution of the temperature field and flow pattern near the onset of convection are studied in detail. It is known that natural convection develops primarily in the lower unstably stratified layer. Of interest is the penetration of the convection rolls into the upper stably stratified layer and concurrent liquid entrainment as a function of the increasing Rayleigh number at different aspect ratios. Individual convection rolls may grow and expand before splitting up into two roll cells. It is shown that changing the aspect ratio influences critical Rayleigh number, flow symmetry, flow pattern, and transitions between flow patterns. Numerical results on heating from above or from below, agree well with available results in the literature. A correlation to predict critical Rayleigh numbers is given for the case of heating from above.     

On Rayleight instability in decaying plane Couette flow

The inflexion point criterion of Rayleigh is one of the most well-known results in hydrodynamic stability theory but cannot easily be demonstrated experimentally in wall bounded flows. For plane Couette flow, where both walls move with equal speed in opposite directions, it is possible to establish a (time-dependent) inflectional velocity profile if both walls are brought momentarily to rest. If the Reynolds number is high enough a growing stationary instability develops. This situation is ideally suited for flow visualization of the instability. In this paper we show flow visualization experiments and stability calculations of the developing transverse roll cell instability in such a flow at low Reynolds numbers. Although the stability calculations are based on a quasi-stationary velocity profile, the measured and most amplified wave length obtained from the calculations are in excellent agreement.     

Route to Chaos for Moderate Prandtl Number Convection in a Porous Layer Heated from Below

The route to chaos for moderate Prandtl number gravity driven convection in porous media is analysed by using Adomian's decomposition method which provides an accurate analytical solution in terms of infinite power series. The practical need to evaluate numerical values from the infinite power series, the consequent series truncation, and the practical procedure to accomplish this task, transform the otherwise analytical results into a computational solution achieved up to a desired but finite accuracy. The solution shows a transition to chaos via a period doubling sequence of bifurcations at a Rayleigh number value far beyond the critical value associated with the loss of stability of the convection steady solution. This result is extremely distinct from the sequence of events leading to chaos in low Prandtl number convection in porous media, where a sudden transition from steady convection to chaos associated with an homoclinic explosion occurs in the neighbourhood of the critical Rayleigh number (unless mentioned otherwise by 'the critical Rayleigh number' we mean the value associated with the loss of stability of the convection steady solution). In the present case of moderate Prandtl number convection the homoclinic explosion leads to a transition from steady convection to a period-2 periodic solution in the neighbourhood of the critical Rayleigh number. This occurs at a slightly sub-critical value of Rayleigh number via a transition associated with a period-1 limit cycle which seem to belong to the sub-critical Hopf bifurcation around the point where the convection steady solution looses its stability. The different regimes are analysed and periodic windows within the chaotic regime are identified. The significance of including a time derivative term in Darcy's equation when wave phenomena are being investigated becomes evident from the results.     

Instabilities of a gas-liquid flow between two inclined plates analyzed using the Navier–Stokes equations

The paper is devoted to a theoretical analysis of a counter-current gas-liquid flow between two inclined plates. We linearized the Navier–Stokes equations and carried out a stability analysis of the basic steady-state solution over a wide variation of the liquid Reynolds number and the gas superficial velocity. As a result, we found two modes of the unstable disturbances and computed the wavelength and phase velocity of their neutral disturbances varying the liquid and gas Reynolds number. The first mode is a “surface mode” that corresponds to the Kapitza's waves at small values of the gas superficial velocity. We found that the dependence of the neutral disturbance wavelength on the liquid Reynolds number strongly depends on the gas superficial velocity, the distance between the plates and the channel inclination angle for this mode. The second mode of the unstable disturbances corresponds to the transition to a turbulent flow in the gas phase and there is a critical value of the gas Reynolds number for this mode. We obtained that this critical Reynolds number weakly depends on both the channel inclination angle, the distance between the plates and the liquid flow parameters for the conditions considered in the paper. Despite a thorough search, we did not find the unstable modes that may correspond to the instability in frame of the viscous (or inviscid) Kelvin–Helmholtz heuristic analysis.     

Investigation of the onset of thermo-bioconvection in a suspension of oxytactic microorganisms in a shallow fluid layer heated from below

This paper investigates the combined effect of density stratification due to oxytactic upswimming and heating from below on the stability of a suspension of motile oxytactic microorganisms in a shallow fluid layer. Different from traditional bioconvection, thermo-bioconvection has two destabilizing mechanisms that contribute to creating the unstable density stratification. This problem may be relevant to a number of geophysical applications, such as the investigation of the dynamics of some species of thermophiles (heat loving microorganisms) living in hot springs. By performing a linear stability analysis, we obtained a correlation between the critical value of the bioconvection Rayleigh number and the traditional, “thermal” Rayleigh number. It is established that heating from below makes the system more unstable and helps the development of bioconvection.     

Asymptotic theory of neutral stability of the Couette flow of a vibrationally excited gas

An asymptotic theory of the neutral stability curve for a supersonic plane Couette flow of a vibrationally excited gas is developed. The initial mathematical model consists of equations of two-temperature viscous gas dynamics, which are used to derive a spectral problem for a linear system of eighth-order ordinary differential equations within the framework of the classical linear stability theory. Unified transformations of the system for all shear flows are performed in accordance with the classical Lin scheme. The problem is reduced to an algebraic secular equation with separation into the “inviscid” and “viscous” parts, which is solved numerically. It is shown that the thus-calculated neutral stability curves agree well with the previously obtained results of the direct numerical solution of the original spectral problem. In particular, the critical Reynolds number increases with excitation enhancement, and the neutral stability curve is shifted toward the domain of higher wave numbers. This is also confirmed by means of solving an asymptotic equation for the critical Reynolds number at the Mach number M ≤ 4.     

Critical Reynolds number of the couette flow of a vibrationally excited diatomic gas energy approach

An energy balance equation for plane-parallel flows of a vibrationally excited diatomic gas described by a two-temperature relaxation model is derived within the framework of the nonlinear energy theory of hydrodynamic stability. A variational problem of calculating critical Reynolds numbers Re_cr determining the lower boundary of the possible beginning of the laminar-turbulent transition is considered for this equation. Asymptotic estimates of Re_cr are obtained, which show the characteristic dependences of the critical Reynolds number on the Mach number, bulk viscosity, and relaxation time. A problem for arbitrary wave numbers is solved by the collocation method. In the realistic range of flow parameters for a diatomic gas, the minimum critical Reynolds numbers are reached on modes of streamwise disturbances and increase approximately by a factor of 2.5 as the flow parameters increase.     

A thermal LBM-LES model in body-fitted coordinates: Flow and heat transfer around a circular cylinder in a wide Reynolds number range

In order to apply the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for modeling passive heat transfer at high Reynolds numbers, a number of models were proposed by introducing the large eddy simulation (LES) into the LBM framework to improve numerical stability. Our study finds that the generalized form of interpolation-supplemented LBM (GILBM), likewise, can locally modify the dimensionless relaxation time, thus enhancing the numerical stability at high Reynolds numbers. Given additional advantages of the GILBM in dealing with complicated geometries and improving computing accuracy, a thermal LBM-LES model in body-fitted coordinates is established in this paper. Numerical validation is performed by investigating the flow and heat transfer around a circular cylinder over a wide range of Reynolds numbers. The obtained results agree well with both experimental and numerical data in the previous work. Meanwhile, the effects of Reynolds number and Prandtl number on thermodynamic features of flow past a circular cylinder are revealed. It is found out that when the Reynolds number exceeds the critical value, the local Nusselt number fluctuates rapidly in a specific region of the rear cylinder surface affected by the Prandtl number. In the near-wake region, the temperature field exhibits significant dependence on the Prandtl number at moderate Reynolds numbers, while such effects turn to be slight at high Reynolds numbers.     

THE BNARD CONVECTION IN A LAYER OF FLUID WITH A TIME-DEPENDENT MEAN TEMPERATURE

The onset of Bénard convection, or the critical Rayleigh number in a layer of fluid with a time-dependent mean temperature has been investigated theoretically. The critical Rayleigh number is regarded as a function of time and is expanded in series of a small parameter. Up to second approximation a simple expression of critical Rayleigh number is obtained for the time region for away from the point of zero.