On the effects of suction and injection on the absolute instability of the rotating-disk boundary layer

In this paper we are concerned with the theoretical behavior of the laminar von Kármán boundary-layer flow, extending the work presented by Lingwood [J. Fluid Mech. 299, 17 (1995); 314, 373 (1996)] to the flow with mass transfer at the surface of the disk. It is known that, within specific regions of the parameter space, the flow is absolutely unstable in the radial direction, i.e. disturbances grow in time at every radial location within these regions. Uniform suction through the disk is shown to delay the onset of absolute instability, while uniform injection promotes the onset. By comparing suction and injection velocities of the same magnitude, it is shown that suction has a greater stabilizing effect on the absolute instability than the destabilizing effect of injection. Suction is also strongly stabilizing to both stationary and travelling inviscidly unstable branch-1 modes; injection is destabilizing. Stationary viscously unstable branch-2 modes are strongly stabilized and destabilized by suction and injection, respectively, but travelling branch-2 modes are shown to be much less sensitive to mass transfer through the disk

On the global nonlinear instability of the rotating-disk flow over a finite domain

Direct numerical simulations based on the incompressible nonlinear Navier–Stokes equations of the flow over the surface of a rotating disk have been conducted. An impulsive disturbance was introduced and its development as it travelled radially outwards and ultimately transitioned to turbulence has been analysed. Of particular interest was whether the nonlinear stability is related to the linear stability properties. Specifically three disk-edge conditions were considered; (i) a sponge region forcing the flow back to laminar flow, (ii) a disk edge, where the disk was assumed to be infinitely thin, and (iii) a physically-realistic disk edge of finite thickness. This work expands on the linear simulations presented by Appelquist et al. (J. Fluid. Mech., vol. 765, 2015, pp. 612-631), where, for case (i), this configuration was shown to be globally linearly unstable when the sponge region effectively models the influence of the turbulence on the flow field. In contrast, case (ii) was mentioned there to be linearly globally stable, and here, where nonlinearity is included, it is shown that both case (ii) and (iii) are nonlinearly globally unstable. The simulations show that the flow can be globally linearly stable if the linear wavepacket has a positive front velocity. However, in the same flow field, a nonlinear global instability can emerge, which is shown to depend on the outer turbulent region generating a linear inward-travelling mode that sustains a transition-front within the domain. The results show that the front position does not approach the critical Reynolds number for the local absolute instability, R = 507. Instead, the front approaches R = 583 and both the temporal frequency and spatial growth rate correspond to a global mode originating at this position.Swedish Research Counci

On the stability of the Hartmann layer

In this paper we are concerned with the theoretical stability of the laminar Hartmann layer, which forms at the boundary of any electrically conducting fluid flow under a steady magnetic field at high Hartmann number. We perform both linear and energetic stability analyses to investigate the stability of the Hartmann layer to both infinitesimal and finite perturbations. We find that there is more than three orders of magnitude between the critical Reynolds numbers from these two analyses. Our interest is motivated by experimental results on the laminar–turbulent transition of ducted magnetohydrodynamics flows. Importantly, all existing experiments have considered the laminarization of a turbulent flow, rather than transition to turbulence. The fact that experiments have considered laminarization, rather than transition, implies that the threshold value of the Reynolds number for stability of the Hartmann layer to finite-amplitude, rather than infinitesimal, disturbances is in better agreement with the experimental threshold values. In fact, the critical Reynolds number for linear instability of the Hartmann layer is more than two orders of magnitude larger than experimentally observed threshold values. It seems that this large discrepancy has led to the belief that stability or instability of the Hartmann layer has no bearing on whether the flow is laminar or turbulent. In this paper, we give support to Lock’s hypothesis [Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 233, 105 (1955)] that “transition” is due to the stability characteristics of the Hartmann layer with respect to large-amplitude disturbances

A model for the turbulent Hartmann layer

Here we study the Hartmann layer, which forms at the boundary of any electrically-conducting fluid flow under a steady magnetic field at high Hartmann number provided the magnetic field is not parallel to the wall. The Hartmann layer has a well-known form when laminar. In this paper we develop a model for the turbulent Hartmann layer based on Prandtl’s mixing-length model without adding arbitrary parameters, other than those already included in the log-law. We find an exact expression for the displacement thickness of the turbulent Hartmann layer @also given by Tennekes, Phys. Fluids 9, 1876 ~1966!#, which supports our assertion that a fully-developed turbulent Hartmann layer of finite extent exists. Leading from this expression, we show that the interaction parameter is small compared with unity and that therefore the Lorentz force is negligible compared with inertia. Hence, we suggest that the turbulence present in the Hartmann layer is of classical type and not affected by the imposed magnetic field, so justifying use of a Prandtl model. A major result is a simple implicit relationship between the Reynolds number and the friction coefficient for the turbulent Hartmann layer in the limit of large Reynolds number. By considering the distance over which the stress decays, we find a condition for the two opposite Hartmann layers in duct flows to be isolated (nonoverlapping)

Boundary-layer transition over a rotating broad cone

The Swedish Research Council (VR

A new way to describe the transition characteristics of a rotating-disk boundary-layer flow

A new method of graphically representing the transition stages of a rotating-disk flow is presented. The probability density function contour map of the fluctuating azimuthal disturbance velocity is used to show the characteristics of the boundarylayer flow over the rotating disk as a function of Reynolds numbers. Compared with the variation of the disturbance amplitude (rms) or spectral distribution, this map more clearly shows the changing flow characteristics through the laminar, transitional, and turbulent regions. This method may also be useful to characterize the different stages in the transition process not only for the rotating-disk flow but also for other flows.Swedish Research Counci

Transition to turbulence in the rotating-disk boundary-layer flow with stationary vortices

This paper proposes a resolution to the conundrum of the roles of convective and absolute instability in transition of the rotating-disk boundary layer. It also draws some comparison with swept-wing ows. Direct numerical simulations based on the incompressible Navier{Stokes equations of the ow over the surface of a rotating disk with modelled roughness elements are presented. The rotating-disk ow has been of particular interest for stability and transition research since the work by Lingwood (J. Fluid. Mech., vol. 299, 1995, pp. 17-33) where an absolute instability was found. Here stationary disturbances develop from roughness elements on the disk and are followed from the linear stage, growing to saturation and nally transition to turbulence. Several simulations are presented with varying disturbance amplitudes. The lowest amplitude corresponds approximately to the experiment by Imayama et al. (J. Fluid. Mech., vol. 745, 2014, pp. 132-163). For all cases, the primary instability was found to be convectively unstable, and secondary modes were found to be triggered spontaneously while the ow was developing. The secondary modes further stayed within the domain, and an explanation for this is a proposed globally unstable secondary instability. For the low-amplitude roughness cases, the disturbances propagate beyond the threshold for secondary global instability before becoming turbulent, and for the high-amplitude roughness cases the transition scenario gives a turbulent ow directly at the critical Reynolds number for the secondary global instability. These results correspond to the theory of Pier (J. Eng. Math, vol. 57, 2007, pp. 237-251) predicting a secondary absolute instability. In our simulations, high temporal frequencies were found to grow with a large ampli cation rate where the secondary global instability occurred. For smaller radial positions, low-frequency secondary instabilities were observed, tripped by the global instability.Swedish Research Counci

Investigation of the structures in the unstable rotating-cone boundary layer

This work reports on the unstable region and the transition process of the boundary-layer flow induced by a rotating cone with a half apex angle of 60 degrees using the probability density function (PDF) contour map of the azimuthal velocity fluctuation, which was first used by Imayamaetal. (Physics of Fluids, vol.24, 2012, 031701) for the similar boundary-layer flow induced by a rotating disk. The PDF shows that the transition behavior of the rotating-cone flow is similar to that on the rotating disk. The effects of roughness elements on the cone surface have been examined. For the cone with roughnesses, we reconstructed the most probable vortex structure within the boundary layer from the hot-wire anemometry time signals. The results show that the PDF clearly describes the overturning process of the high-momentum upwelling of the spiral vortices, which due to vortex meandering cannot be detected in the phase-averaged velocity field reconstructed from the point measurements. At a late stage of the overturning process, our hot-wire measurements captured high-frequency oscillations, which may be related to secondary instability.Swedish Research Council (VR); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)

Investigation of the Global Instability of the Rotating-disk Boundary Layer

The development of the flow over a rotating disk is investigated by direct numerical simulations using both the linearized and fully nonlinear incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. These simulations allow investigation of the transition to turbulence of the realistic spatially-developing boundary layer. The current research aims to elucidate further the global linear stability properties of the flow, and relate these to local analysis and discussions in literature. An investigation of the nonlinear upstream (inward) influence is conducted by simulating a small azimuthal section of the disk (1/68). The simulations are initially perturbed by an impulse disturbance where, after the initial transient behaviour, both the linear and nonlinear simulations show a temporally growing upstream mode. This upstream global mode originates in the linear case close to the end of the domain, excited by an absolute instability at this downstream position. In the nonlinear case, it instead originates where the linear region ends and nonlinear harmonics enter the flow field, also where an absolute instability can be found. This upstream global mode can be shown to match a theoretical mode from local linear theory involved in the absolute instability at either the end of the domain (linear case) or where nonlinear harmonics enter the field (nonlinear case). The linear simulation grows continuously in time whereas the nonlinear simulation saturates and the transition to turbulence moves slowly upstream towards smaller radial positions asymptotically approaching a global upstream mode with zero temporal growth rate, which is estimated at a nondimensional radius of 582.Swedish Research Counci

Turbulence in the rotating-disk boundary layer investigated through direct numerical simulations

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) are reported for the turbulent rotating-disk boundary layer for the first time. Two turbulent simulations are presented with overlapping small and large Reynolds numbers, where the largest corresponds to a momentum-loss Reynolds number of almost 2000. Simulation data are compared with experimental data from the same flow case reported by Imayama et al. (2014), and also a comparison is made with a numerical simulation of a two-dimensional turbulent boundary layer (2DTBL) over a flat plate reported by Schlatter and Örlü (2010). The agreement of the turbulent statistics between experiments and simulations is in general very good, as well as the findings of a missing wake region and a lower shape factor compared to the 2DTBL. The simulations also show rms-levels in the inner region similar to the 2DTBL. The simulations validate Imayama et al.’s results showing that the rotating-disk turbulent boundary layer in the near-wall region contains shorter streamwise (azimuthal) wavelengths than the 2DTBL, probably due to the outward inclination of the low-speed streaks. Moreover, all velocity components are available from the simulations, and hence the local flow angle, Reynolds stresses and all terms in the turbulent kinetic energy equation are also discussed. However there are in general no large differences compared to the 2DTBL, hence the three-dimensional effects seem to have only a small influence on the turbulence.Swedish Research Counci