We analyse numerically the linear stability of the fully developed flow of a liquid metal in a rectangular duct subject to a transverse magnetic field. The walls of the duct perpendicular to the magnetic field are perfectly conducting whereas the parallel ones are insulating. In a sufficiently strong magnetic field, the flow consists of two jets at the insulating walls and a near-stagnant core. We use a vector stream function formulation and Chebyshev collocation method to solve the eigenvalue problem for small-amplitude perturbations. Due to the two-fold reflection symmetry of the base flow the disturbances with four different parity combinations over the duct cross-section decouple from each other. Magnetic field renders the flow in a square duct linearly unstable at the Hartmann number Ha 5.7 with respect to a disturbance whose vorticity component along the magnetic field is even across the field and odd along it. For this mode, the minimum of the critical Reynolds number Re_c 2018, based on the maximal velocity, is attained at Ha ~ 10. Further increase of the magnetic field stabilises this mode with Re_c growing approximately as Ha. For Ha>40, the spanwise parity of the most dangerous disturbance reverses across the magnetic field. At Ha ~ 46 a new pair of most dangerous disturbances appears with the parity along the magnetic field being opposite to that of the previous two modes. The critical Reynolds number, which is very close for both of these modes, attains a minimum Re_c ~ 1130 at Ha ~ 70 and increases as Re_c ~ Ha^1/2 for Ha >> 1. The asymptotics of the critical wavenumber is k_c ~ 0.525Ha^1/2 while the critical phase velocity approaches 0.475 of the maximum jet velocity.
We analyse numerically the linear stability of the fully developed liquid metal flow in a square duct with insulating side walls and thin electrically conducting horizontal walls with the wall conductance ratio $c=0.01\cdots 1$ subject to a vertical magnetic field with the Hartmann numbers up to $Ha=10^{4}.$ In a sufficiently strong magnetic field, the flow consists of two jets at the side walls walls and a near-stagnant core with the relative velocity $\sim(cHa)^{-1}.$ We find that for $Ha\gtrsim300,$ the effect of wall conductivity on the stability of the flow is mainly determined by the eff…
The detailed mathematical study of the recent paper by Sajjadi, Hunt and Drullion (2014) is pre- sented. The mathematical developement considered by them, for unsteady growing monochro- matic waves is also extended to Stokes waves. The present contribution also demonstrates agree- ment with the pioneering work of Belcher and Hunt (1993) which is valid in the limit of the complex part of the wave phase speed \c_i \downarrow 0. It is further shown that the energy-transfer parameter and the surface shear stress for a Stokes wave reverts to a monochromatic wave when the second harmonic is excluded…
The recent analytical of multi-layer analyses proposed by Sajjadi, Hunt and Drullion (2014) (SHD14) is solved numerically for atmospheric turbulent shear fows blowing over unsteady Stokes water waves, of low to moderate steepness. It is demonstrated that as the wave steepens further the inner layer exceeds the critical layer and beneath the cat's-eye there is a strong reverse flow which will then affect the surface drag, but at the surface the flow adjusts itself to the orbital velocity of the wave. We show that in the limit as c_r=U_* is very small, namely slow moving waves the energy-transfe…
Linear stability of inviscid, parallel, and stably stratified shear flow is studied under the assumption of smooth strictly monotonic profiles of shear flow and density, so that the local Richardson number is positive everywhere. The marginally unstable modes are systematically found by solving a one-parameter family of regular Sturm-Liouville problems, which can determine the stability boundaries more efficiently than solving the Taylor-Goldstein equation directly. By arguing for the non-existence of a marginally unstable mode, we derive new sufficient conditions for stability, which generali…
The stability of two-dimensional Poiseuille flow and plane Couette flow for concentrated suspensions is investigated. Linear stability analysis of the two-phase flow model for both flow geometries shows the existence of a convectively driven instability with increasing growth rates of the unstable modes as the particle volume fraction of the suspension increases. In addition it is shown that there exists a bound for the particle phase viscosity below which the two-phase flow model may become ill-posed as the particle phase approaches its maximum packing fraction. The case of two-dimensional Po…
Geometric analysis of steady pseudo-plane ideal flow reveals a fundamental relation between vertical coherence and streamline topology. It shows vertical alignment only exists in straightline jet and circular vortex. A geometric stability theory is then developed as a structural stability in contrast to traditional dynamical stability, suggesting all vertical-aligned pseudo-plane flows are geometrically stable and all non-aligned non-straightline flows are unstable. It provides a topological explanation for the tendency of axisymmetrization and vertical alignment observed in vortex experiments…
The concept of statistical stability is central to Malkus's 1956 attempt to predict the mean profile in shear flow turbulence. Here we discuss how his original attempt to assess this - an Orr-Sommerfeld analysis on the mean profile - can be improved by considering a cumulant expansion of the Navier-Stokes equations. Focusing on the simplest non-trivial closure (commonly referred to as CE2) which corresponds to the quasilinearized Navier-Stokes equations, we develop an extended Orr-Sommerfeld analysis (EOS) which also incorporates information about the fluctuation field. A more practical versio…
We present a generalized hydrodynamic stability theory for interacting particles in polydisperse particle-laden flows. The addition of dispersed particulate matter to a clean flow can either stabilize or destabilize the flow, depending on the particles' relaxation time-scale relative to the carrier flow time scales and the particle loading. To study the effects of polydispersity and particle interactions on the hydrodynamic stability of shear flows, we propose a new mathematical framework by combining a linear stability analysis and a discrete Eulerian sectional formulation to describe the flo…
Using a Lyapunov type functional constructed on the basis of thermodynamical arguments we investigate the finite amplitude stability of internal steady flows of viscoelastic fluids described by the Giesekus model. Using the functional we derive bounds on the Reynolds and the Weissenberg number that guarantee the unconditional asymptotic stability of the corresponding steady internal flow, wherein the distance between the steady flow field and the perturbed flow field is measured with the help of the Bures--Wasserstein distance between positive definite matrices. The application of the theoreti…
Turbulent transport of angular momentum is a necessary process to explain accretion in astrophysical disks. Although the hydrodynamic stability of disk-like flows has been tested in experiments, results are contradictory and suggest either laminar or turbulent flow. Direct numerical simulations reported here show that currently investigated laboratory flows are hydrodynamically unstable and become turbulent at low Reynolds numbers. The underlying instabilities stem from the axial boundary conditions, affect the flow globally and enhance angular-momentum transport.
We investigate the effect of small suction Reynolds number and permeability parameter on the stability of Poiseuille fluid flow in a porous medium between two parallel horizontal stationary porous plates . We have shown that the perturbed flow is governed by an equation named modified Orr-Sommerfeld equation. We find also that the normalization of the wall-normal velocity with characteristic small suction (or small injection) velocity is important for a perfect command of porous medium fluid flow stability analysis. The stabilizing effect of the parameters in general and small suction Reynolds…
A mathematical model describing motion of an inhomogeneous incompressible fluid in a Hele-Shaw cell is considered. Linear stability analysis of shear flow class is provided. The role of inertia, linear friction and impermeable boundaries in Kelvin--Helmholtz instability development is studied. Hierarchy of simplified one-dimensional models of viscosity- and density-stratified flows is obtained in long-wave approximation. Interpretation of Saffman--Taylor instability development is given in the framework of these models.
Hydrodynamic stability of compressible boundary layers is strongly influenced by Mach number ($M$), Prandtl number ($Pr$) and thermal wall boundary condition. These effects manifest on the flow stability via the flow-thermodynamic interactions. Comprehensive understanding of stability flow physics is of fundamental interest and important for developing predictive tools and closure models for integrated transition-to-turbulence computations. The flow-thermodynamic interactions are examined using linear analysis and direct numerical simulations (DNS) in the following parameter regime: $0.5 \leq …
Linear stability analysis is applied to the mean flow of an oscillating round jet with the aim to investigate the robustness and accuracy of mean flow stability wave models. The jet's axisymmetric mode is excited at the nozzle lip through a sinusoidal modulation of the flow rate at amplitudes ranging from 0.1 % to 100 %. The instantaneous flow field is measured via particle image velocimetry and decomposed into a mean and periodic part utilizing proper orthogonal decomposition. Local linear stability analysis is applied to the measured mean flow adopting a weakly nonparallel flow approach. The…
Ricci and sectional curvatures of twisted flux tubes in Riemannian manifold are computed to investigate the stability of the tubes. The geodesic equations are used to show that in the case of thick tubes, the curvature of planar (Frenet torsion-free) tubes have the effect ct of damping the flow speed along the tube. Stability of geodesic flows in the Riemannian twisted thin tubes (almost filaments), against constant radial perturbations is investigated by using the method of negative sectional curvature for unstable flows. No special form of the flow like Beltrami flows is admitted, and the pr…
The so-called 'direct' approach to separation of variables in linear PDEs is applied to the hydrodynamic stability problem. Calculations are made for the complete linear stability equations in cylindrical coordinates. Several classes of the exact solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations describing spatially developing and unsteady flows, for which the linear stability problems can be rigorously reduced to eigenvalue problems of ordinary differential equations, are defined. Those exactly solvable nonparallel and unsteady flow stability problems can be used for testing approximate approaches and…
This research is focused on linear analysis of a plane-parallel flow stability in a transverse magnetic field (Hartmann flow) within a convective approximation. We derive and solve equations describing the perturbation growth. Perturbation modes and their nonexcitation conditions have been determined. An equation for the instability increment has been derived and it is shown that the equation has an unstable root. Additionally, we show that the resulting instabilities qualitatively agree with the experimental data.
In this paper, we prove the stability of Couette flow for 2D Navier-Stokes Boussinesq system without thermal diffusivity for the initial perturbation in Gevrey-$\frac{1}{s}$, ($1/3<s\leq 1$). The synergism of density mixing, vorticity mixing and velocity diffusion leads to the stability.
In this article we prove a linear inviscid damping result with optimal decay rates of the 2D irrotational circulation flow around an elliptical cylinder. In our result, all components of the asymptotic velocity field do not vanish and the asymptotic flow lines are not ellipse any more.
Verifying nonlinear stability of a laminar fluid flow against all perturbations is a central challenge in fluid dynamics. Past results rely on monotonic decrease of a perturbation energy or a similar quadratic generalized energy. None show stability for the many flows that seem to be stable despite these energies growing transiently. Here a broadly applicable method to verify global stability of such flows is presented. It uses polynomial optimization computations to construct non-quadratic Lyapunov functions that decrease monotonically. The method is used to verify global stability of 2D plan…
Flow instability and turbulent transition can be well explained using a new proposed theory--Energy gradient theory [1]. In this theory, the stability of a flow depends on the relative magnitude of energy gradient in streamwise direction and that in transverse direction, if there is no work input. In this note, it is shown based on the energy gradient theory that inviscid non-uniform flow is unstable if the energy in transverse direction is not constant. This new finding breaks the classical linear theory from Rayleigh that inviscid flow is unstable if the velocity profile has an inflection po…
In the context of flow visualization a triple decomposition of the velocity gradient into irrotational straining flow, shear flow and rigid body rotational flow was proposed by Kolar in 2007 [V. Kolar, International journal of heat and fluid flow, 28, 638, (2007)], which has recently received renewed interest. The triple decomposition opens for a refined energy stability analysis of the Navier-Stokes equations, with implications for the mathematical analysis of the structure, computability and regularity of turbulent flow. We here perform an energy stability analysis of turbulent incompressibl…
In this paper, we study the nonlinear asymptotic stability of Couette flow for the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation with small viscosity $ν>0$ in $\mathbb{T}\times\mathbb{R}$. It's generally known the nonlinear asymptotic stability of the Couette flow depends closely on the size and regularity of the initial perturbation, which yields the stability threshold problem. This work studies the relationship between the size and the regularity of the initial perturbation that makes the nonlinear asymptotic stability holds. More precisely, we proved that if the initial perturbation is in some Ge…
Bondi (1952) and Parker (1958} derived a steady-state solution for Bernouilli's equation in spherical symmetry around a point mass for two cases, respectively, an inward accretion flow and an outward wind. Left unanswered were the stability of the steady-state solution, the solution itself of time-dependent flows, whether the time-dependent flows would evolve to the steady-state, and under what conditions a transonic flow would develop. In a Hamiltonian description, we find that the steady state solution is equivalent to the Lagrangian implying that time-dependent flows evolve to the steady st…
In this article we establish linear inviscid damping with optimal decay rates around 2D Taylor-Couette flow and similar monotone flows in an annular domain $B_{r_{2}}(0) \setminus B_{r_{1}}(0) \subset \mathbb{R}^{2}$. Following recent results by Wei, Zhang and Zhao, we establish stability in weighted norms, which allow for a singularity formation at the boundary, and additional provide a description of the blow-up behavior.
General stability criterions of two-dimensional inviscid parallel flow are obtained analytically for the first time. First, a criterion for stability is found as $\frac{U''}{U-U_s}>-μ_1$ everywhere in the flow, where $U_s$ is the velocity at inflection point, $μ_1$ is eigenvalue of Poincaré's problem. Second, we also prove a principle that the flow is stable, if and only if all the disturbances with $c_r=U_s$ are neutrally stable. Finally, following this principle, a criterion for instability is found as $\frac{U''}{U-U_s}<-μ_1$ everywhere in the flow. These results extend the former theorems …
