We show possibility of the Plane Couette (PC) flow instability for Reynolds number Re>Reth=140. This new result of the linear hydrodynamic stability theory is obtained on the base of refusal from the traditionally used assumption on longitudinal periodicity of the disturbances along the direction of the fluid flow. We found that earlier existing understanding on the linear stability of this flow for any arbitrary large Reynolds number is directly related with an assumption on the separation of the variables of the spatial variability for the disturbance field and their periodicity in linear theory of stability. By the refusal from the pointed assumptions also for the Plane Poiseuille (PP) flow, we get a new threshold Reynolds value Reth=1040 that with 4% accuracy agrees with the experiment contrary to more than 500% discrepancy for the earlier known estimate Reth=5772 obtained in the frame of the linear theory but when using the "normal" disturbance form (S. A. Orszag, 1971).
The normal-mode analysis of the Reynolds-Orr energy equation governing the stability of viscous motion for general three-dimensional disturbances has been revisited. The energy equation has been solved as an unconstrained minimization problem for the Couette-Poiseuille flow. The minimum Reynolds number for every Couette-Poiseuille velocity profile has been computed and compared with those available in the literature. For fully three-dimensional disturbances, it is shown that the minimum Reynolds number is in general smaller than the corresponding two-dimensional counterpart for all the Couette…
A continuum one-dimensional model of the plane Couette-Poiseuille flow is developed to describe the pressure distribution in a drag stage of molecular pump of either the Gaede or Holweck type. In spite of its simplicity and approximate nature the model provides a good qualitative representation of the drag pump operation in the whole range of the regimes from the continuum to free molecular ones.
We present a new experimental set-up that creates a shear flow with zero mean advection velocity achieved by counterbalancing the nonzero streamwise pressure gradient by moving boundaries, which generates plane Couette-Poiseuille flow. We carry out the first experimental results in the transitional regime for this flow. Using flow visualization we characterize the subcritical transition to turbulence in Couette-Poiseuille flow and show the existence of turbulent spots generated by a permanent perturbation. Due to the zero mean advection velocity of the base profile, these turbulent structures …
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…
The linear amplification mechanisms leading to streamwise-constant large-scale structures in laminar and turbulent channel flows are considered. A key feature of the analysis is that the Orr--Sommerfeld and Squire operators are each considered separately. Physically this corresponds to considering two separate processes: (i) the response of wall-normal velocity fluctuations to external forcing; and (ii) the response of streamwise velocity fluctuations to wall-normal velocity fluctuations. In this way we exploit the fact that, for streamwise-constant fluctuations, the dynamics governing the wal…
In the above paper by Bechtel, Cai, Rooney and Wang, Physics of Fluids, 2004, 16, 3955-3974 six different theories of a Newtonian viscous fluid are investigated and compared, namely, the theory of a compressible Newtonian fluid, and five constitutive limits of this theory: the incompressible theory, the limit where density changes only due to changes in temperature, the limit where density changes only with changes in entropy, the limit where pressure is a function only of temperature, and the limit of pressure a function only of entropy. The six theories are compared through their ability to …
We explore the effect of forcing on the linear shear flow or plane Couette flow, which is also the background flow in the very small region of the Keplerian accretion disk. We show that depending on the strength of forcing and boundary conditions suitable for the systems under consideration, the background plane shear flow and, hence, accretion disk velocity profile modifies to parabolic flow, which is plane Poiseuille flow or Couette-Poiseuille flow, depending on the frame of reference. In the presence of rotation, plane Poiseuille flow becomes unstable at a smaller Reynolds number under pure…
The steady state of a dilute gas enclosed between two infinite parallel plates in relative motion and under the action of a uniform body force parallel to the plates is considered. The Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook model kinetic equation is analytically solved for this Couette-Poiseuille flow to first order in the force and for arbitrary values of the Knudsen number associated with the shear rate. This allows us to investigate the influence of the external force on the non-Newtonian properties of the Couette flow. Moreover, the Couette-Poiseuille flow is analyzed when the shear-rate Knudsen number and…
We study the nonlinear stability of plane Couette and Poiseuille flows with the Lyapunov second method by using the classical L2-energy. We prove that the streamwise perturbations are L2-energy stable for any Reynolds number. This contradicts the results of Joseph [10], Joseph and Carmi [12] and Busse [4], and allows us to prove that the critical nonlinear Reynolds numbers are obtained along two-dimensional perturbations, the spanwise perturbations, as Orr [16] had supposed. This conclusion combined with recent results by Falsaperla et al. [8] on the stability with respect to tilted rolls, pro…
We present a detailed study of the linear stability of plane Couette-Poiseuille flow in the presence of a cross-flow. The base flow is characterised by the cross flow Reynolds number, $R_{inj}$ and the dimensionless wall velocity, $k$. Squire's transformation may be applied to the linear stability equations and we therefore consider 2D (spanwise-independent) perturbations. Corresponding to each dimensionless wall velocity, $k\in[0,1]$, two ranges of $R_{inj}$ exist where unconditional stability is observed. In the lower range of $R_{inj}$, for modest $k$ we have a stabilisation of long wavelen…
Here we report some interesting new features of the spatio-temporal instability of the incompressible plane Couette-Poiseuille flow (CPF). First of all, this flow represents the first instance of a "non-inflectional" absolute instability, within constant-viscosity formulation, which is triggered when one of the plates moves opposite to the bulk motion. More strikingly, with further increase in the negative plate motion, the absolute instability ($\textrm{AI}$) transitions to an "upstream" convective instability ($\textrm{CI}^-$), wherein an unstable wave packet moves opposite to the direction …
An investigation of the effect of a destabilizing cross-stream temperature gradient on the transient growth phenomenon of plane Poiseuille flow and plane Couette flow is presented. Only the streamwise-uniform and nearly streamwise-uniform disturbances are highly influenced by the Rayleigh number Ra and Prandtl number Pr. The maximum optimal transient growth G max of streamwise-uniform disturbances increases slowly with increasing Ra and decreasing Pr. For all Ra and Pr, at moderately large Reynolds numbersRe, the supremum of G max is always attained for streamwise-uniform perturbations (or nea…
Exact solutions are obtained for the steady flow of a power-law fluid between parallel plates with partial slip conditions and uniform cross flow. The problem is properly formulated and similarities are exploited. The exact solutions are obtained in terms of integrals which can be performed, in closed form, in special cases of the power-law index n. Solutions to cases of n=1/2, 1, and 2; representing a pseudo-plastic, a Newtonian, and a dilatant fluid, respectively, are presented. Tendencies to corresponding degenerate cases in the literature are demonstrated. Depending on the strength of the …
We report the results of an experimental investigation into the decay of turbulence in plane Couette-Poiseuille flow using 'quench' experiments where the flow laminarises after a sudden reduction in Reynolds number $Re$. Specifically, we study the velocity field in the streamwise-spanwise plane. We show that the spanwise velocity containing rolls, decays faster than the streamwise velocity, which displays elongated regions of higher or lower velocity called streaks. At final Reynolds numbers above 425, the decay of streaks displays two stages: first a slow decay when rolls are present and seco…
In this article we prove, choosing an appropriately weighted $L_2$-energy equivalent to the classical energy, that the plane Couette and Poiseuille flows are nonlinearly stable with respect to streamwise perturbations for any Reynolds number. In this case the coefficient of time-decay of the energy is $π^2/(2 {\rm Re})$, and it is a bound from above of the time-decay of streamwise perturbations of linearized equations. We also prove that the plane Couette and Poiseuille flows are nonlinearly stable if the Reynolds number is less then ${\rm Re}_{Orr}/\sin φ$ when the perturbation is a tilted pe…
The problem of two-dimensional steady nonlinear dynamics in plane Couette flow is revisited using homotopy from either plane Poiseuille flow or from plane Couette flow perturbed by a small symmetry-preserving identity operator. Our results show that it is not possible to obtain the nonlinear plane Couette flow solutions reported by Cherhabili and Ehrenstein [Eur. J. Mech. B/Fluids, 14, 667 (1995)] using their Poiseuille-Couette homotopy. We also demonstrate that the steady solutions obtained by Mehta and Healey [Phys. Fluids, 17, 4108 (2005)] for small symmetry-preserving perturbations are inf…
For Gagen-Poiseuille flow, we show that exponential instability (to extremely small, axially symmetric disturbances represented by Galerkin's approximation) is possible only if there exists bi-periodic variability of the disturbances along the pipe axis when the threshold Reynolds number depends on the ratio of two longitudinal periods. Absolute minimum (for) is obtained that corresponds to the observed conditions of transition from the laminar resistance law to the turbulent one and Tollmien-Schlichting waves exciting in the boundary layer.
We study the homogeneous and the spatially periodic instabilities in a nematic liquid crystal layer subjected to steady plane {\em Couette} or {\em Poiseuille} flow. The initial director orientation is perpendicular to the flow plane. Weak anchoring at the confining plates and the influence of the external {\em electric} and/or {\em magnetic} field are taken into account. Approximate expressions for the critical shear rate are presented and compared with semi-analytical solutions in case of Couette flow and numerical solutions of the full set of nematodynamic equations for Poiseuille flow. In …
We study a large-scale instability in a sheared nonhelical turbulence that causes generation of large-scale vorticity. Three types of the background large-scale flows are considered, i.e., the Couette and Poiseuille flows in a small-scale homogeneous turbulence, and the "log-linear" velocity shear in an inhomogeneous turbulence. It is known that laminar plane Couette flow and antisymmetric mode of laminar plane Poiseuille flow are stable with respect to small perturbations for any Reynolds numbers. We demonstrate that in a small-scale turbulence under certain conditions the large-scale Couette…
We propose a framework to understand input-output amplification properties of non- linear partial differential equation (PDE) models of wall-bounded shear flows, which are spatially invariant in one coordinate (e.g., streamwise-constant plane Couette flow). Our methodology is based on the notion of dissipation inequalities in control theory. In particular, we consider flows with body and other forcings, for which we study the input- to-output properties, including energy growth, worst-case disturbance amplification, and stability to persistent disturbances. The proposed method can be applied t…
The energy gradient theory is used to study the instability of Taylor-Couette flow between concentric rotating cylinders. This theory has been proposed in our previous works. In our previous studies, the energy gradient theory was demonstrated to be applicable for wall-bounded parallel flows. It was found that the critical value of the energy gradient parameter Kmax at turbulent transition is about 370-389 for wall-bounded parallel flows (which include plane Poiseuille flow, pipe Poiseuille flow and plane Couette flow) below which no turbulence occurs. In this paper, the detailed derivation fo…
A turbulent-laminar banded pattern in plane Couette flow is studied numerically. This pattern is statistically steady, is oriented obliquely to the streamwise direction, and has a very large wavelength relative to the gap. The mean flow, averaged in time and in the homogeneous direction, is analysed. The flow in the quasi-laminar region is not the linear Couette profile, but results from a non-trivial balance between advection and diffusion. This force balance yields a first approximation to the relationship between the Reynolds number, angle, and wavelength of the pattern. Remarkably, the var…
We consider the nonaxisymmetric modes of instability present in Taylor-Couette flow under the application of helical magnetic fields, mainly for magnetic Prandtl numbers close to the inductionless limit, and conduct a full examination of marginal stability in the resulting parameter space. We allow for the azimuthal magnetic field to be generated by a combination of currents in the inner cylinder and fluid itself, and introduce a parameter governing the relation between the strength of these currents. A set of governing eigenvalue equations for the nonaxisymmetric modes of instability are deri…
The objective of this work is to investigate linear modal and algebraic instability in Poiseuille flows with fluids close to their vapour-liquid critical point. Close to this critical point, the ideal gas assumption does not hold and large non-ideal fluid behaviours occur. As a representative non-ideal fluid, we consider supercritical carbon dioxide (CO$_2$) at pressure of 80 bar, which is above its critical pressure of 73.9 bar. The Poiseuille flow is characterized by the Reynolds number ($Re=ρ_{w}^{*}u_{r}^{*}h^{*}/μ_{w}^{*}$), the product of Prandtl ($Pr=μ_{w}^{*}C_{pw}^{*}/κ_{w}^{*}$) and …
Intelligent backpropagated neural networks application on Couette-Poiseuille flow of variable viscosity in a composite porous channel filled with an anisotropic porous layer
A modal stability analysis shows that plane Poiseuille flow of an Oldroyd-B fluid becomes unstable to a `center mode' with phase speed close to the maximum base-flow velocity, $U_{max}$. The governing dimensionless groups are the Reynolds number $Re = ρU_{max} H/η$, the elasticity number $E = λη/(H^2ρ)$, and the ratio of solvent to solution viscosity $η_s/η$; here, $λ$ is the polymer relaxation time, $H$ is the channel half-width, and $ρ$ is the fluid density. For experimentally relevant values (e.g., $E \sim 0.1$ and $β\sim 0.9$), the predicted critical Reynolds number, $Re_c$, for the center…
An analytical approach is carried out that provides an inviscid stability criterion for the strato-rotational instability (in short SRI) occurring in a Taylor-Couette system. The control parameters of the problem are the rotation ratio $μ$ and the radius ratio $η$. The study is motivated by recent experimental \cite{legal} and numerical \cite{rudi, rudi2} results reporting the existence of unstable modes beyond the Rayleigh line for centrifugal instability ($μ=η^2$). The modified Rayleigh criterion for stably stratified flows provides the instability condition, $μ<1$, while in experiments unst…
In the present note, we show that the uni-directional flows in a rectangular channel and in a circular pipe are exact spatio-temporal solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations over a short time interval. We assert that the classical plane Poiseuille-Couette flow and Hagen-Poiseuille flow are time-independent approximations of the exact solutions if an appropriate initial velocity distribution at starting location is specified. Conceptually, there do not exist absolute steady flows starting from unspecified initial data. The classic experimental measurements by Poiseuille can be explained in ter…
Coriolis force effects on shear flows are important in geophysical and astrophysical contexts. We here report a study on the linear stability and the transient energy growth of the plane Couette flow with system rotation perpendicular to the shear direction. External rotation causes linear instability. At small rotation rates, the onset of linear instability scales inversely with the rotation rate and the optimal transient growth in the linearly stable region is slightly enhanced, ~Re^2. The corresponding optimal initial perturbations are characterized by roll structures inclined in the stream…
The nonaxisymmetric azimuthal magnetorotational instability is studied for hydromagnetic Taylor-Couette flows between cylinders of finite electrical conductivity. We find that the magnetic Prandtl number Pm determines whether perfectly conducting or insulating boundary conditions lead to lower Hartmann numbers for the onset of instability. Regardless of the imposed rotation profile, for small Pm the solutions for perfectly conducting cylinders become unstable for weaker magnetic fields than the solutions for insulating cylinders. The critical Hartmann and Reynolds numbers form monotonic functi…
In view of new experimental data the instability against adiabatic nonaxisymmetric perturbations of a Taylor-Couette flow with an axial density stratification is considered in dependence of the Reynolds number Re of rotation and the Brunt-Väisälä number Rn of the stratification. The flows at and beyond the Rayleigh limit become unstable between a lower and an upper Reynolds number (for fixed Rn). The rotation can thus be too slow or too fast for the stratorotational instability. The upper Reynolds number above which the instability decays, has its maximum value for the potential flow (driven b…
This article presents direct numerical simulations of the growth of turbulent spots in the transitional regime of plane Couette flow. A quantitative description of the growth process and of the detail of the quadrupolar flow around the spot is given. Focus is put on formation of spanwise vorticity in the velocity streaks that resembles a secondary shear instability. The main features of the instability (coherence lengths, advection velocity) are studied in the context of the turbulent spot, below and above the threshold Reynolds number of appearance of the oblique turbulent bands of plane Coue…
The transition to turbulence in plane Poiseuille flow (PPF) is connected with the presence of exact coherent structures. In contrast to other shear flows, PPF has a number of different coherent states that are relevant for the transition. We here discuss the different states, compare the critical Reynolds numbers and optimal wavelengths for their appearance, and explore the differences between flows operating at constant mass flux or at constant pressure drop. The Reynolds numbers quoted here are based on the mean flow velocity and refer to constant mass flux, the ones for constant pressure dr…
We present the stability analysis of a plane Couette flow which is stably stratified in the vertical direction orthogonally to the horizontal shear. Interest in such a flow comes from geophysical and astrophysical applications where background shear and vertical stable stratification commonly coexist. We perform the linear stability analysis of the flow in a domain which is periodic in the stream-wise and vertical directions and confined in the cross-stream direction. The stability diagram is constructed as a function of the Reynolds number Re and the Froude number Fr, which compares the impor…
Plane Poiseuille flow shows turbulence at a Reynolds number that is lower than the critical one for the onset of Tollmien-Schlichting waves. The transition to turbulence follows the same route as the by-pass transition in boundary layers, i.e. finite amplitude perturbations are required and the flow is dominated by downstream vortices and streaks in the transitional regime. In order to relate the phenomenology in plane Poiseuille flow to our previous studies of plane Couette flow (Kreilos & Eckhardt, 2012), we study a symmetric subspace of plane Poiseuille flow in which the bifurcation cascade…
The instability of a streak and its nonlinear evolution are investigated by direct numerical simulation (DNS) for plane Poiseuille flow at Re=3000. It is suggested that there exists a traveling-wave solution (TWS). The TWS is localized around one of the two walls and notably resemble to the coherent structures observed in experiments and DNS so far. The phase space structure around this TWS is similar to a saddle point. Since the stable manifold of this TWS is extended close to the quasi two dimensional (Q2D) energy axis, the approaching process toward the TWS along the stable manifold is appr…
We conduct magnetic spherical Couette (MSC) flow experiments in the return flow instability regime with GaInSn as the working fluid, and the ratio of the inner to the outer sphere radii $r_{\rm i}/r_{\rm o} = 0.5$, the Reynolds number ${\rm Re} = 1000$, and the Hartmann number ${\rm Ha} \in [27.5,40]$. Rotating waves with different azimuthal wavenumbers $m \in \{2, 3, 4\}$ manifest in certain ranges of ${\rm Ha}$ in the experiments, depending on whether the values of ${\rm Ha}$ were fixed or varied from different initial values. These observations demonstrate the multistability of rotating wav…
Recently, detailed experiments on visco-elastic channel flow have provided convincing evidence for a nonlinear instability scenario which we had argued for based on calculations for visco-elastic Couette flow. Motivated by these experiments we extend the previous calculations to the case of visco-elastic Poiseuille flow, using the Oldroyd-B constitutive model. Our results confirm that the subcritical instability scenario is similar for both types of flow, and that the nonlinear transition occurs for Weissenberg numbers somewhat larger than one. We provide detailed results for the convergence o…
We report experimental observation of an instability in a Couette-Taylor flow of a polymer fluid in a thin gap between two coaxially rotating cylinders in a regime where their angular velocity decreases with the radius while the specific angular momentum increases with the radius. In the considered regime, neither the inertial Rayleigh instability nor the purely elastic instability are possible. We propose that the observed "elasto-rotational" instability is an analog of the magnetorotational instability which plays a fundamental role in astrophysical Keplerian accretion disks.
In the past twenty years, shear-banding flows have been probed by various techniques, such as rheometry, velocimetry and flow birefringence. In micellar solutions, many of the data collected exhibit unexplained spatio-temporal fluctuations. Recently, it has been suggested that those fluctuations originate from a purely elastic instability of the flow. In cylindrical Couette geometry, the instability is reminiscent of the Taylor-like instability observed in viscoelastic polymer solutions. In this letter, we describe how the criterion for purely elastic Taylor-Couette instability should be adapt…
