On the stability of a flexibly mounted rotating cylinder partially filled with liquid

Summary An investigation is made into the unstable behaviour of a rotor which is flexibly mounted with some damping and which is forced to rotate around its axis of symmetry with a constant angular velocity. The rotor is assumed to be partially filled with an ideal liquid. Assuming relative liquid motion in two dimensions a perturbation theory leads to an algebraic equation of the fourth degree from which information can be derived about unstable regions and the effect of the combined action of dissipative and gyroscopic forces.     

Theory of stability of rotating shear flows

The stability of rotating horizontal-shear flows is investigated within the framework of the linear approximation. The shear flow perturbations are divided into three classes (symmetric and two- and three-dimensional) and sufficient conditions of stability are obtained for each class. The perturbation dynamics in a flow with constant horizontal shear are described and the algebraic instability of the flow with respect to three-dimensional perturbations is detected. It is shown that the symmetric perturbations may be localized (trapped) inside the shear layer. The problem of finding the growth rates and frequencies of the trapped waves is reduced to a quantum-mechanical Schrödinger equation. Exact solutions are obtained for a “triangular” jet and hyperbolic shear.     

Factors affecting the stability of viscous axial flow in annuli with a rotating inner cylinder

Hot-wire measurements are presented of the onset of instability in developed axial flow and in both developing and developed tangential flow caused by inner cylinder rotation in concentric annuli of radius ratio N of 0.909, 0.809 and 0.565 for axial-flow Reynolds numbers (Re) between 86 and 2000. Within assessed uncertainty intervals, the consistency of marginal stability measurements, at four azimuthal locations 90° apart, indicates insensitivity to small variations in gap width; the measurements also confirm the destabilisation of nearly-developed and developed tangential flow identified by Takeuchi and Jankowski¹ with the occurrence at increasing Re of three-dimensional initial disturbances of spiral-vortex form. Comparison with earlier measurements suggests that in particular annuli, destabilisation may be delayed to higher Re by high values of certain geometrical factors, including radius ratio and the resultant end-effects parameter. Stability may also be restored or improved at high Re by reversion to developing tangential flow in which the initial instability is not of spiral-vortex form and where, for given N, the critical Taylor number appears uniquely related to the dimensionless axial co-ordinate. Stability is then generally greatest at low N.     

The boundary layer on a rapidly rotating cylinder

The study considers plane steady flow of an incompressible fluid around a circular cylinder rotating in a homogeneous free stream. On the basis of an asymptotic analysis of the Navier-Stokes equations for high Reynolds numbers, it is shown that at a certain value of the angular velocity of the cylinder an interaction arises between the flow in the boundary layer and the external potential flow. A solution is obtained numerically which describes the flow in the region of interaction.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 36–45, September–November, 1987.     

Effect of irregular gravitational waves on a vertical circular cylinder

We examine the question of three-dimensional irregular waves acting on a vertical circular cylinder. Pilings in the form of circular cylinders are used as support elements for such hydrotechnical structures as offshore piers and stationary moorings.A theoretical-empirical approach to the solution of the problem for the action of swells was developed in [1].The account for irregularity is based on the hypotheses which are adopted in spectral theory of waves. Examples are presented for particular cases of the sea-state spectral density.     

Convection of a heat-generating fluid in a rotating horizontal cylinder

Thermal convection of a fluid in a horizontal cylinder rotating about its own axis with uniformly volume-distributed internal heat sources is experimentally investigated. The enclosure boundary temperature was kept constant. The threshold of the excitation of convective flows and their structure are studied as functions of the heat-release intensity and the rotation velocity. The experiments are performed with water and water-glycerin solutions. It is shown that rapidly rotating fluid is in a stable quasiequilibrium state, namely, the temperature distribution is axisymmetric and has a maximum at the center of the enclosure. It is found that with decrease in the rotation velocity a convective flow arises thresholdwise, in the form of vortex cells periodically arranged along the axis. The thermal convection in the rotating enclosure is shown to be determined by the effects of two different mechanisms. One of these is due to the centrifugal force of inertia and plays the stabilizing role, while the other, thermovibrational mechanism is connected with nonisothermal fluid oscillations under the action of gravity in the enclosure-fitted reference frame and is responsible for the occurrence of mean thermal convection. The boundaries of the convection generation are plotted in the plane of the governing dimensionless parameters and the heat transfer in the supercritical region is studied.     

The stability of the helical flow of pseudoplastic liquids in a narrow annular gap with a rotating inner cylinder

The stability of a laminar helical flow of pseudoplastic liquids in an annular gap with a rotating inner cylinder is investigated theoretically. The analysis is carried out under the assumption of a torroidal form of the secondary flow (torroidal Taylor vortices) for the narrow gap geometry. The power law model has been applied to describe the pseudoplasticity of liquids. The problem of the stability has been formulated with the aid of the method of small disturbances, and solved using the Galerkin method. In order to describe the stability limit the Reynolds and Taylor numbers defined with the aid of the mean viscosity value have been introduced. It has been found that pseudoplasticity has a considerably destabilizing influence on the Couette motion as well as on the helical flow in the initial range of the Reynolds number values (Re<30). A decrease of the flow index value,n, is accompanied by a decrease of the critical value of the Taylor number. This destabilizing effect of pseudoplasticity vanishes in the range of the larger values of the Reynolds number. In the rangeRe>30, the stability limit of the flow of pseudoplastic liquids can be described by a general dependence of the critical valueTa _c onRe, which is consistent with results obtained for the case of Newtonian fluids. a frequency number (Eq. (27)), 1/s - b wave number (Eq. (27)), 1/m - B = M/N parameter - d = R ₂ –R ₁ gap width, m - f(y, B, k) function of viscosity distribution (Eq. (7)) - f ₀ (x) function of viscosity distribution (narrow gap Eq. (35)) - F(x) = V(x)/V _m dimensionless distribution of axial flow velocity - G(x) = U(x) _i dimensionless distribution of angular flow velocity - K consistency coefficient, N sⁿ/m² - M = (P/L)R ₂ parameter of the stress field (Eq. (1)), N/m² - M ₀ torque per unit length, N - n flow index - N = M ₀/(2R ₂ ² ) parameter of the stress field (Eq. (1)), N/m² - p = 1/2n–1/2 parameter - pressure disturbance amplitude, N/m² - p pressure disturbance, N/m² - (P/L) pressure drop per unit length of the gap, N/m² - r radial coordinate, m - r _m location of the maximum value of the axial velocity, m - R ₁,R ₂ inner, outer radius of the annulus, m - Re = V _m 2d/ _m Reynolds number - S = (P/L · d/N) parameteer of the stress field (narrow gap) - t time, s - Ta = _i d ^3/2 R ₁ ^1/2 / _m Taylor number - U tangential velocity, m/s - U _i tangential velocity at the surface of the inner cylinder, m/s - V axial velocity, m/s - V _m mean axial velocity, m/s - V disturbance vector of velocity field, m/s - amplitude of theV _k -disturbance, m/s - X, Y, Z functions in Eqs. (36–38) - y = r/R ₂ dimensionless radial coordinate - x = (r—(R ₁+R ₂)/2)d radial coordinate (narrow gap) - L ₁ L ₄ linear operators in Eqs. (36–38) - = ad/V _m dimensionless frequency number - = b·d dimensionless wave number - component of the rate of strain tensor, 1/s - component of the rate of strain tensor corresponding to the disturbance, 1/s - = R ₁/R ₂ radius ratio - apparent viscosity, Ns/m² - ₀ apparent viscosity in the main flow, Ns/m² - µ disturbance of the apparent viscosity, Ns/m² - µ _m mean apparent viscosity, Ns/m² - density, kg/m³ - _ij component of the stress tensor, N/m² - angular velocity, rad/s - _i angular velocity of the inner cylinder, rad/s     

Laminar flow of power-law fluids past a rotating cylinder

In this work, the continuity and momentum equations have been solved numerically to investigate the flow of power-law fluids over a rotating cylinder. In particular, consideration has been given to the prediction of drag and lift coefficients as functions of the pertinent governing dimensionless parameters, namely, power-law index (1 ≥ n ≥ 0.2), dimensionless rotational velocity (0 ≤ α ≤ 6) and the Reynolds number (0.1 ≤ Re ≤ 40). Over the range of Reynolds number, the flow is known to be steady. Detailed streamline and vorticity contours adjacent to the rotating cylinder and surface pressure profiles provide further insights into the nature of flow. Finally, the paper is concluded by comparing the present numerical results with the scant experimental data on velocity profiles in the vicinity of a rotating cylinder available in the literature. The correspondence is seen to be excellent for Newtonian and inelastic fluids.     

Magneto-thermo-elastic problem of a rotating nonhomogeneous anisotropic solid cylinder

In the present paper, we investigate the generation of thermal stresses in a nonhomogeneous anisotropic solid cylinder rotating about the z-axis at a constant angular velocity in the presence of a magnetic field. The governing equations are solved numerically using the boundary-element method (BEM) and numerical results are obtained for the variation of the temperature, displacements, and stresses along x-axis. The effect of nonhomogeneity is investigated.     

Stochastic stability of a rotating shaft

The stochastic stability problem of an elastic, balanced rotating shaft subjected to action of axial forces at the ends is studied. The shaft is of circular cross-section, it rotates at a constant rate about its longitudinal axis of symmetry. The effect of rotatory inertia of the shaft cross-section is included in the present formulation. Each force consists of a constant part and a time-dependent stochastic function. Closed form analytical solutions are obtained for simply supported boundary conditions. By using the direct Liapunov method almost sure asymptotic stability conditions are obtained as the function of stochastic process variance, damping coefficient, damping ratio, angular velocity, mode number and geometric and physical parameters of the shaft. Numerical calculations are performed for the Gaussian process with a zero mean and as well as an harmonic process with random phase.     

Turbulent flow around a rotating cylinder in a quiescent fluid

 Hot-wire measurements have been carried out in the turbulent flow around a rotating circular cylinder in still air for Reynolds numbers Re=∣U _w ∣D/ν=1.5×10⁴ to 10⁵. The experimental results confirm the analysis derived by asymptotic theory for high Reynolds numbers. Two different ways of deriving the friction law from the experiments (via shear stress and via velocity distribution) resulted practically in the same law. It is shown, that in spite of the curvature of the streamlines the universal logarithmic velocity distribution is still valid near the wall. Received: 8 August 1996/Accepted: 24 April 1998     

Thermal stresses in a rotating non-homogeneous orthotropic hollow cylinder

 In this paper the radial deformation and the corresponding stresses in a non-homogeneous hollow elastic cylinder rotating about its axis with a constant angular velocity is investigated. The material of the cylinder is assumed to the non-homogeneous and cylindrically orthotropic. The system of fundamental equations is solved by means of a finite difference method and the numerical calculations are carried out for the temperature, the components of displacement and the components of stress with the time t and through the thickness of the cylinder. The results indicate that the effect of inhomogeneity is very pronounced. Received on 21 December 2000     

Flow in a cylinder driven by rotating split-disk endwalls

Flow of an incompressible viscous fluid contained in a cylindrical vessel (radius R, height H) is considered. Each of the cylinder endwalls is split into two parts which rotate steadily about the central axis with different rotation rates: the inner disk (r < r₁) rotating at Ω₁, and the outer annulus (r₁ < r < R) rotating at Ω₂. Numerical solutions to the axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations are secured for small system Ekman numbers E ( v/(ΩH²)). In the linear regime, when the Rossby number Ro

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, the numerical results are shown to be compatible with the theoretical prediction as well as the available experimental measurements. Emphasis is placed on the results in the nonlinear regime in which Ro is finite. Details of the structures of azimuthai and meridional flows are presented by the numerical results. For a fixed Ekman number, the gross features of the flow remain qualitatively unchanged as Ro increases. The meridional flows are characterized by two circulation cells. The shear layer is a region of intense axial flow toward the endwall and of vanishing radial velocity. The thicknesses of the shear layer near r = r₁ and the Ekman layer on the endwall scale with E and E , respectively. The numerical results are consistent with these scalings.     

Vortex shedding flow behind a slowly rotating circular cylinder

This paper investigates flow past a rotating circular cylinder at 3600?Re?5000 and α?2.5. The flow parameter α is the circumferential speed at the cylinder surface normalized by the free-stream velocity of the uniform cross-flow. With particle image velocimetry (PIV), vortex shedding from the cylinder is clearly observed at α<1.9. The vortex pattern is very similar to the vortex street behind a stationary circular cylinder; but with increasing cylinder rotation speed, the wake is observed to become increasing narrower and deflected sideways. Properties of large-scale vortices developed from the shear layers and shed into the wake are investigated with the vorticity field derived from the PIV data. The vortex formation length is found to decrease with increasing α. This leads to a slow increase in vortex shedding frequency with α. At α=0.65, vortex shedding is found to synchronize with cylinder rotation, with one vortex being shed every rotation cycle of the cylinder. Vortex dynamics are studied at this value of α with the phase-locked eduction technique. It is found that although the shear layers at two different sides of the cylinder possess unequal vorticity levels, alternating vortices subsequently shed from the cylinder to join the two trains of vortices in the vortex street pattern exhibit very little difference in vortex strength.