Elasto-inertial wall mode instabilities in viscoelastic plane Poiseuille flow

Direct numerical solutions of the three-dimensional time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations are presented for the evolution of three-dimensional finite-amplitude disturbances of plane Poiseuille and plane Couette flows. Spectral methods using Fourier series and Chebyshev polynomial series are used. It is found that plane Poiseuille flow can sustain neutrally stable two-dimensional finite-amplitude disturbances at Reynolds numbers larger than about 2800. No neutrally stable two-dimensional finite-amplitude disturbances of plane Couette flow were found. Three-dimensional disturbances are shown to have a strongly destabilizing effect. It is shown that finite-amplitude disturbances can drive transition to turbulence in both plane Poiseuille flow and plane Couette flow at Reynolds numbers of order 1000. Details of the resulting flow fields are presented. It is also shown that plane Poiseuille flow cannot sustain turbulence at Reynolds numbers below about 500.

Suppression or enhancement of interfacial instability in two-layer plane Couette flow of FENE-P fluids past a deformable solid layer

A proof by Petrov [10] that plane Couette flow and plane Poiseuille flow are always stable with respect to infinitesimal disturbances is examined and found to be based on a set of incomplete functions, thus rendering the proof invalid.

The problem of the stability of plane Couette flow to infinitesimal disturbances is carried numerically to larger Reynolds numbers than heretofore. The flow is definitely stable up to R = 1430, although at Reynolds numbers in this vicinity plane Couette flow has been observed experimentally to be turbulent. Observations on boundary-layer instability suggest this to be the source of turbulence in plane Couette flow channels.

We study the linear stability of plane Couette flow subject to an anisotropic slip boundary condition that models the slip effect of parallel microgrooves with a misalignment about the direction of the wall motion. This boundary condition has been reported to be able to destabilize channel flow far below the critical Reynolds number of the no-slip case. Unlike channel flow, the no-slip plane Couette flow is known to be linearly stable at arbitrary Reynolds numbers. Nevertheless, the results show that the slip can cause linear instability at finite Reynolds numbers also. The misalignment angle of the microgrooves that maximizes the destabilizing effect is nearly π/4, and the unstable modes are of small streamwise wavenumbers and relatively large spanwise wavenumbers. The flow is always more destabilized by two slippery walls compared to a single slippery wall. These observations are in qualitative agreement with the slippery channel flow with the same boundary condition, indicating that such an anisotropic superhydrophobic effect has a rather general destabilizing effect in shear flows regardless of the profile of the base flow. The absence of the Tollmien–Schlichting instability allows us to reveal the inverse relationship between the critical Reynolds number and the slip length as well as the misalignment in the small-parameter regime. The results suggest that arbitrary nonvanishing slip length and misalignment, with arbitrarily weak anisotropy, may suffice to destabilize plane Couette flow.

A direct numerical scheme is developed to study the temporal amplification of a 2D disturbance in plane Poiseuille flow. The transient non-linear Navier–Stokes equations are applied in a region of wavelength moving with the wave propagation speed. The complex amplitude involved in the perturbation functions is considered as the initial input of the non-linear stability equations. In this study a fully implicit finite difference scheme with five points in the flow direction and three points in the normal direction is developed so that numerical simulation of the amplification of a two-dimensional temporal disturbance in plane Poiseuille flow can be investigated. The growth and decay of the disturbance with time are presented and neutral stability curves which are in good agreement with existing solutions can be determined. The critical conditions as a function of the amplitude A0 of the disturbance are presented. Fixing the wavelength, the Navier–Stokes equations are solved up to Re=10,000 a friction factor increasing with Reynolds number is observed. The 2D non-linear behaviour of the streamfunction, vorticity and velocity components at Re=10,000 are also exhibited. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The linear stability of the plane Couette flow of both power-law and Carreau fluids past a deformable, neo-Hookean solid is analyzed at arbitrary Reynolds numbers. An algebraic error in the mathematical formulation of the earlier studies (for the power-law fluid) is corrected and is shown to result in quantitative differences in the predictions for the stability of the flow. Due to the lack of a proper (zero-shear) viscosity scale and a time scale for the onset of shear thinning in the power-law model, we show that the stability analysis of the flow yields vastly different scalings for the unstable mode depending on the way the problem is scaled to render it dimensionless. When the deformable solid properties are used to non-dimensionalize, we show that for the unstable modes (the so-called “wall modes” at high Re) Γc∝Re−1(2n+1), while when flow properties are used to non-dimensionalize, Γc∝Re−13 much akin to a Newtonian fluid, where Γ=Vm*η*/G*R* is the dimensionless shear rate in the flow, and Γc denotes the minimum value required for instability. Here, Vm* is the velocity of the top plate, G* is the shear modulus of the solid, R* is the fluid thickness, and η* is the (arbitrary) viscosity scale in the power-law model. Within the framework of the power-law model, it is not possible to discriminate between the two predicted scalings. To resolve this in an unambiguous manner, we used the Carreau model to account for shear thinning and to study its role on the stability of flow past deformable solid surfaces. The Carreau model has a well-defined zero-shear viscosity η0* as well as a time scale λ* that characterizes the onset of shear thinning. For fixed λ*η0*/(ρ*R*2), we show that the unstable wall modes scale as Γc∼Re(1−2n)3 at high Re, thus providing a resolution to the ambiguity in the results obtained using the power-law model. The present work thus shows that, at moderate to high Re, shear thinning has a strongly stabilizing effect on the wall mode instability in flow past deformable solid surfaces.

A linear stability analysis of n-layer plane Poiseuille flow is performed. Asymptotic solutions are constructed at very small and very large wavenumbers. A numerical analysis is carried out by means of a compound matrix method to identify linearly unstable conditions for wavenumbers of O(1). The governing equations and the boundary conditions are conveniently formulated for n-layer flow. Neutral stability curves are plotted over a broad range of parameters for three-layer flows. The investigated parameters include the viscosity ratios, the flow rate ratios, the density ratios, the interfacial tensions, and the Stokes and Reynolds numbers.

The stability of the flow of a viscoelastic fluid over a deformable elastic solid medium is reviewed focusing on the role played by the fluid elasticity on the earlier known instability modes for the Newtonian fluids. In particular, two classes of modes are emphasized: the viscous mode for the creeping flow, and the wall mode for high Reynolds number flow. The flow geometry is restricted to plane Couette flow of fluid supported on elastic substrate of finite thickness. The viscoelastic fluid is described using the Oldroyd-B model and the dynamics of the deformable solid continuum is described by either Hookean or neo-Hookean elastic model. In the limit of \(Re \rightarrow 0\), the introduction of fluid elasticity delays the onset of instability and for sufficiently viscoelastic fluid with dilute polymer concentration, the instability is suppressed rendering the flow stable. For concentrated solution and polymer melt, the instability persists, but with higher value of critical shear rate than for the Newtonian fluid, indicating stabilizing role of fluid elasticity in creeping flow regime. However, for high Reynolds number flow of dilute polymer solution, the polymer addition plays a destabilizing role for wall modes, indicated by reduction in critical Reynolds number by an order of magnitude.

Using branch continuation in the FENE-P model, we show that finite-amplitude travelling waves borne out of the recently discovered linear instability of viscoelastic channel flow (Khalid et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 915, 2021, A43) are substantially subcritical reaching much lower Weissenberg ( $Wi$ ) numbers than on the neutral curve at a given Reynolds ( $Re$ ) number over $Re \in [0,3000]$ . The travelling waves on the lower branch are surprisingly weak indicating that viscoelastic channel flow is susceptible to (nonlinear) instability triggered by small finite-amplitude disturbances for $Wi$ and $Re$ well below the neutral curve. The critical $Wi$ for these waves to appear in a saddle node bifurcation decreases monotonically from, for example, $\approx 37$ at $Re=3000$ down to $\approx 7.5$ at $Re=0$ at the solvent-to-total-viscosity ratio $\beta =0.9$ . In this latter creeping flow limit, we also show that these waves exist at $Wi \lesssim 50$ for higher polymer concentrations, $\beta \in [0.5,0.97)$ , where there is no known linear instability. Our results therefore indicate that these travelling waves, found in simulations and named ‘arrowheads’ by Dubief et al. (Phys. Rev. Fluids, vol. 7, 2022, 073301), exist much more generally in $(Wi,Re, \beta )$ parameter space than their spawning neutral curve and, hence, can either directly, or indirectly through their instabilities, influence the dynamics seen far away from where the flow is linearly unstable. Possible connections to elastic and elasto-inertial turbulence are discussed.

Understanding the instability of compressible shear flows is of both academic interest and practical importance for predicting transition in such flows. In this paper, the linear stability of compressible plane Couette flow and Poiseuille flow in temporal mode is revisited, with emphasis on spectrum features of disturbances and dominant instability at different Mach numbers. The disturbance spectra of different discrete modes are presented, including acoustic modes (i.e., even modes II, IV, etc. and odd modes I, III, etc.) and viscous modes. The results show that as wavenumber increases, the even modes are first synchronized with the viscous branch when their phase velocities are a bit larger than zero, and subsequently synchronized with odd modes when their phase velocities coincide with each other. The synchronizations cause branching of the dispersion curves, and the even modes have several maxima of growth rate. The low-wavenumber maximum (with phase velocity close to zero) is associated with viscous instability and the higher-wavenumber maxima correspond to inviscid instability. Depending on the flow parameters, the branching topology may involve multimodes, which is different from the spectrum branching observed in hypersonic boundary layer. In compressible Couette flow, the mode-II viscous and inviscid instabilities dominate the instability at different Mach numbers. In compressible plane Poiseuille flow, multiple instability modes coexist, including the viscous Tollmien-Schlichting (TS) mode, the acoustic viscous instability modes II and IV and acoustic inviscid instability modes I and III. As Mach number increases (i.e., from incompressible to hypersonic), the mode TS, II, IV, and III would successively dominate the Poiseuille-flow instability. These results yield a comprehensive understanding of the disturbance spectrum and modal instability in compressible plane Couette and Poiseuille flows.

Two new families of exact coherent states are found in plane Poiseuille flow. They are obtained from the stationary and the travelling-wave mirror-symmetric solutions in plane Couette flow by a homotopy continuation. They are characterized by the mirror symmetry inherited from those continued solutions in plane Couette flow. The first family arises from a saddle-node bifurcation and the second family bifurcates by breaking the top–bottom symmetry of the first family. We find that both families exist below the minimum saddle-node-point Reynolds number known to date (Waleffe, Phys. Fluids, vol. 15, 2003, pp. 1517–1534).

The chapter contains the results of numerical and analytical studies of linear stability of a supersonic Couette flow of a vibrationally excited gas. Properties of even and odd inviscid modes of disturbances are analyzed as functions of the Mach number, depth of excitation of vibrational levels, and characteristic relaxation time. The general structure of the spectrum of plane perturbations is studied for finite Reynolds numbers. Two most unstable acoustic viscous modes are identified. Results calculated with using the constant viscosity model and Sutherland’s law are compared. Neutral stability curves are obtained, which show that the dissipative effect of vibrational mode excitation is inherent in both models of viscosity. The relative increase in the critical Reynolds number caused by excitation is approximately 12%.

The onset of the three-dimensional (3D) instability in the flow past two side-by-side square cylinders has been studied via Floquet stability analysis. The gap between the two cylinders is the key parameter that alters flow topology, leading to change of stability characteristics. Depending on the gap, four distinct flow patterns have been identified for base flow. For each pattern of base flow, distinctive Floquet modes of 3D instability have been found. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the Floquet modes are similar to those of mode A or mode B of the single square cylinder case, namely, odd or even Reflection-Translation symmetries. Six distinct Floquet modes have been identified in total, and the spatial and temporal characteristics of each mode are described in detail. The criticality of Floquet modes, including their critical Reynolds number and the associated dominant spanwise wave number, is presented for each gap considered in the current study. For a small gap, the flow past the two cylinders resembles that of a single object, resulting in an approximately doubled characteristic length. Consequently, the critical Reynolds number becomes low with a small gap between the two cylinders. When the two cylinders are moderately apart, the interaction between the two wakes diminishes, and the criticality of 3D instabilities approaches that of the single cylinder case. Coexisting 3D instabilities for a specific base-flow topology are also noticed with a moderate gap. Neutral stability curves are computed and presented for some selected values of the gap.

THE NATURE OF TRANSITION