On the Stability of Oscillatory Pipe Flows

The linear stability of pure oscillatory pipe flow is investigated by solving the linearized disturbance equations as an initial value problem. The importance of the initial conditions on transient dynamics of the flow is analyzed. It is shown that transient growth can play an important role in the development of flow instability. The accuracy of the quasi-steady assumption is assessed. It is shown that the growth rates obtained with this assumption deviate considerably from the results obtained with a direct numerical solution of the linearized initial value problem

Further developments in rapidly decelerating turbulent pipe flow modeling

2013-2014 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

DNS study of a pipe flow following a step increase in flow rate

Direct numerical simulation (DNS) is conducted to study the transient flow in a pipe following a near-step increase of flow rate from an initial turbulent flow. The results are compared with those of the transient flow in a channel reported in He and Seddighi (2013). It is shown that the flow again exhibits a laminar–turbulent transition, similar to that in a channel. The behaviours of the flow in a pipe and a channel are the same in the near-wall region, but there are significant differences in the centre of the flow. The correlation between the critical Reynolds number and free stream turbulence previously established for a channel flow has been shown to be applicable to the pipe flow. The responses of turbulent viscosity, vorticity Reynolds number, and budget terms are analysed. Some significant differences have been found to exist between the developments of the vorticity Reynolds number in the pipe and channel flows

Fourier analysis of the roll-up and merging of coherent structures in shallow mixing layers

The current study investigates the role of nonlinearity in the development of two-dimensional coherent structures (2DCS) in shallow mixing layers. A nonlinear numerical model based on the depth-averaged shallow water equations is used to investigate temporal shallow mixing layers, where the mapping from temporal to spatial results is made using the velocity at the center of the mixing layer. The flow is periodic in the stream-wise direction and the transmissive boundary conditions are used in the cross-stream boundaries to prevent reflections. The numerical results are examined with the aid of Fourier decomposition. Results show that the previous success in applying local linear theory to shallow mixing layers does not imply that the flow is truly linear. Linear stability theory is confirmed to be only valid within a short distance from the inflow boundary. Downstream of this linear region, nonlinearity becomes important for the roll-up and merging of 2DCS. While the energy required for the merging of 2DCS is still largely provided by the velocity shear, the merging mechanism is one where nonlinear mode interaction changes the velocity field of the subharmonic mode and the gradient of the along-stream velocity profile which, in turn, changes the magnitude of the energy production of the subharmonic mode by the velocity shear implicitly. The nonlinear mode interaction is associated with energy up-scaling and is consistent with the inverse energy cascade which is expected to occur in shallow shear flows. Current results also show that such implicit nonlinear interaction is sensitive to the phase angle difference between the most unstable mode and its subharmonic. The bed friction effect on the 2DCS is relatively small initially and grows in tandem with the size of the 2DCS. The bed friction also causes a decrease in the velocity gradient as the flow develops downstream. The transition from unstable to stable flow occurs when the bed friction balances the energy production. Beyond this point, the bed friction is more dominant and the 2DCS are progressively damped and eventually get annihilated. The energy production by the velocity shear plays an important role from the upstream end all the way to the point of transition to stable flow. The fact that linear stability theory is valid only for a short distance from the inflow boundary suggests that some elements of nonlinearity is incorporated in the mean velocity profile in experiments by the averaging process. The implicit nature of nonlinear interaction in shallow mixing layers and the sensitivity of the nonlinear interaction to phase angle difference between the most unstable mode and its subharmonic allows local linear theory to be successful in reproducing features of the instability such as the dominant mode of the 2DCS and its amplitude

A model for the scattering of long waves by slotted breakwaters in the presence of currents

Slotted breakwaters have been used to provide economical protection from waves in harbors where surface waves and currents may co-exist. In this paper, the effects of currents on the wave scattering by slotted breakwaters are investigated by using a simple model. The model is based on a long wave approximation. The effects of wave height, barrier geometry and current strength on the reflection and transmission coefficients are examined by the model. The model results are compared with recent experimental data. It is found that both the wave-following and wave-opposing currents can increase the reflection coefficient and reduce the transmission coefficient. The model can be used to study the interaction between long waves and slotted breakwaters in coastal waters

Numerical study of the blockage length effect on the transient wave in pipe flows

202310 bcchAccepted ManuscriptRGCOthersNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaPublishe