| Abstract: | The evolution of small, angular dependent velocity disturbances in laminar pipe flow is studied. In particular, streamwise independent perturbations are considered. To fully describe the flow field, two equations are required, one for the radial and the other for the streamwise velocity perturbation. Whereas the former is homogeneous, the latter has the radial velocity component as a forcing term. First, the normal modes of the system are determined and analytical solutions for eigenfunctions, damping rates, and phase velocities are calculated. As the azimuthal wave number (n) increases, the damping rate increases and the phase velocities decrease. Particularly interesting are results showing that the phase velocities associated with the streamwise eigenfunctions are independent of the radial mode index when n = 1, and when n = 5 the same is obtained for phase velocities associated with the eigenfunctions of the radial component. Then, the initial value problem is treated and the time development of the disturbances is determined. The radial and the azimuthal velocity components always decay but, owing to the forcing, the streamwise component shows an initial algebraic growth, followed by a decay. The kinetic energy density is used to characterize the induced streamwise disturbance. Its dependence on the Reynolds number, the radial mode, and the azimuthal wave number is investigated. With a normalized initial disturbance, n = 1 gives the largest amplification, followed by n = 2 etc. However, for small times, higher values of n are associated with the largest energy density. As n increases, the distribution of the streamwise velocity perturbation becomes more concentrated to the region near the pipe wall. |
