Un modèle d'écoulement visqueux a été développé pour étudier la stabilité d'une coque cylindrique contenant un écoulement axial parce que le modèle de fluide parfait a été démontré comme étant inadéquat. Il a été montré que la stabilité du système est très sensible à la modélisation de l'interface coque-fluide et qu'un faible taux de rotation tend à stabiliser le système

GOSSELIN, Frédérick

PAÏDOUSSIS, Michael P.

I-Revues

18ème Congrès Français de Mécanique Grenoble, 27-31 août 2007 
1 
Stability of a Rotating Cylindrical Shell Containing Axial Viscous Flow  
 
Frédérick Gosselin & Michael P. Païdoussis  
 
Ecole Polytechnique 
LadHyX 
 91128 Palaiseau cedex France 
frederick.gosselin@ladhyx.polytechnique.fr 
 
*Formerly at McGill University 
McGill University 
Mechanical Engineering Department 
Macdonald Engineering Building, Rm 366 
817 Sherbrooke Street West 
Montreal, Québec, Canada, H3A 2K6 
mary.fiorilli@mcgill.ca 
 
Abtract  : 
A viscous flow model was developed to investigate the stability of a rotating cylindrical shell containing 
axial flow because the inviscid model was shown to be inadequate due to singularities in the solution.  It 
was found that the stability of the system is very sensitive to the treatment of the shell-fluid interface and 
that a small rate of rotation tends to stabilise the system. 
 
Résumé : 
Un modèle d’écoulement visqueux a été développé pour étudier la stabilité d’une coque cylindrique 
contenant un écoulement axial parce que le modèle de fluide parfait a été démontré comme étant 
inadéquat. Il a été montré que la stabilité du système est très sensible à la modélisation de l’interface 
coque-fluide et qu’un faible taux de rotation tend à stabiliser le système. 
 
Key-words :  fluid-structure interactions; shear flow ; swirling flow 
 
1 Introduction 
 
Ever since the seventies, the dynamics of thin cylindrical shells coupled with subsonic 
flows has been of interest to engineers. Païdoussis and Denise (1972) made the fortuitous 
discovery that shells containing low-speed flow do flutter and paved the way to a resumption of 
interest in this area of research in fluid-structure interactions (FSI). Since then, the research 
done on the dynamics of shells interacting with fluid has evolved in different branches. 
Païdoussis (2004) offers a full review of the field. 
The present paper studies the stability of a rotating cylindrical shell containing a co-
rotating axial viscous flow. Practical examples of such a system include swirling flow in dual 
spool aircraft jet-engines, rotating drums used in the process industry, some nuclear applications 
[Païdoussis (2004, section 7.6)], spin-stabilised rockets, and piping in a rotating space-station.  
In Lai and Chow (1973), the stability of a rotating thin shell containing inviscid fluid flow 
was investigated. There, just as in the present study, both the fluid and the shell are rotating 
about the axis of the cylindrical shell at a constant rate. The linear Donnell-Mushtari shell 
theory is modified to account for solid body rotation and is coupled to an analytical inviscid 
fluid solution, similar in essence to that derived by Chow (1969) for swirling flow in a varicose 
tube. It was found that the critical flow rate in the shell decreases with increasing angular 
velocity. Using essentially the same method of solution, Chen and Bert (1977) studied the 
dynamics of a stationary (non-rotating) shell carrying a rotating flow. Once again, it was found 
that rotation severely decreases the stability of the system. 
The validity of the results obtained by Lai and Chow and Chen and Bert was questioned by 
Cortelezzi et al. (2004), who found it impossible to reproduce the results of the former when 
rotation is present. Without rotation, the solution for pressure in the fluid is continuous, but in 
the presence of rotation, the solution is not bounded in particular regions of the parameter space. 
The presence of singularities in the flow solution makes it impossible to obtain the critical 
18ème Congrès Français de Mécanique Grenoble, 27-31 août 2007 
2 
velocity of the system. It is emphasised that the problem lies within the flow solution and is 
possibly due to the absence of viscous effects. 
The objective of the present study is to develop a model to predict the stability of a FSI 
system comprising a rotating cylindrical shell conveying a co-rotating fluid. To hopefully avoid 
the singularities in the flow solution with rotation, the flow model includes viscous effects. 
 
2 Theoretical model 
 
Consider a cylindrical shell of radius R , thickness h R  and of infinite length. This 
shell contains an axial incompressible viscous flow. The whole system is in a frame of reference 
rotating about the axis of the cylinder at rate Ω  as illustrated in Fig. 1. The deformation of the 
shell is quantified by the three orthogonal time-dependent components of deformation u , v  and 
w  (shown in Fig. 1). The stability of the system is assessed by studying whether the shell 
deformations grow or decay with time. 
 
Fig. 1. Schematic of the system. 
The equations of motion for the coupled fluid-structure system can be found by summing 
the structural and the fluid forces acting on the shell. The structural forces are obtained via the 
linear Donnell-Mushtari thin shell theory modified to account for the rotating frame of reference 
(Lai and Chow 1973). The shell deformation imposes a displacement of the fluid at the shell-
fluid interface which produces a flow perturbation. This flow perturbation, obtained with the 
linearized Navier-Stokes equations, generates a force on the shell-fluid interface.  
A solution to the motion of the shell is sought in the form of a travelling-wave: 
 ( ) ( )exp exp
u u u
v v ikz in i t v i
w w w
θ ω α
     
     
≡ − − + =     
     
     
, (1) 
where ω , k and n are the frequency, axial wavenumber and circumferential wavenumber, and 
u , v  and w  are the initial amplitudes much smaller than R . A dispersion relation (an 
equation relating the admissible frequencies to the wavenumbers) is obtained after the 
travelling-wave solution is substituted in the equations of motion of the system. 
We define the fluid vector field components as , ,z rV V Vθ . For a no-slip boundary 
condition, the velocity of the fluid at the deformed position of the wall is simply the Lagrangian 
derivative of the displacement of the wall: 
 , , ,
r z
Dw Dv Du
V V V
Dt Dt Dt
θ= = =         at r R w= + . (2) 
The velocity of the fluid is decomposed into two distinct parts, namely the steady mean flow 
velocity and the unsteady perturbation velocity: 
zue

 
veθ

 
rwe

θ
r  
z
Ω  
R
 h
18ème Congrès Français de Mécanique Grenoble, 27-31 août 2007 
3 
 ( ) ( ) ( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
0
0
, , , 0
r
i i
z
v r
V r z t V r v r e v r e
U r v r
α α
θθ
   
   
= + = +   
   
   
  
, (3) 
where the basic flow is defined as an axial flow with a power law profile. Substituting eq. (3) 
into eqs. (2), the perturbation boundary conditions can be approximated at the instantaneous 
position of the wall via a Taylor expansion about the mean position of the wall and keeping only 
first order terms: 
 [ ] [ ] [ ], , ,r z
U
v i ikU w v i ikU v v i ikU u w
r
θω ω ω
∂
= − = − = − −
∂
   at r R= . (4) 
One can notice the added complexity when comparing the boundary conditions of eqs. (4) with 
those for the inviscid theory of Lai and Chow (1973); for free-slip and impermeability 
conditions, only the transverse displacement w affects the flow, as shear cannot be transmitted 
by inviscid flow. With the inclusion of viscosity in the model, all three shell perturbation 
components influence the flow. Hence, we are dealing with a fluid flow subjected not to one but 
three perturbations. We develop a “triple-perturbation” method, in which three perturbation 
flow fields are superposed, each proportional to one of the three components of the shell 
deformation. 
These three superposed flow solutions are obtained by numerically integrating the Navier-
Stokes equations for the three perturbation components using a finite difference scheme. To 
maximise simplicity and efficiency, the numerical scheme makes use of flux quantities [see 
Verzicco and Orlandi (1996)] and a staggered grid [see Harlow and Welch (1965)] to avoid 
iterating, get rid of the singularity at the centre of the flow and maximise the accuracy for the 
number of grid points. 
In the inviscid model, there are two terms in the fluid boundary conditions which transmit 
the structure’s slope (or position) ikw−  and its velocity i wω  to the flow solution. This 
generates centrifugal (added stiffness), Coriolis and added mass forces among others acting on 
the structure. But for the linear boundary conditions of viscous flow, since the mean flow 
velocity is zero at the wall, the position-dependent term disappears from eqs.(4), as 
( ) 0
r R
U r
=
= . Because all effects relative to the slope of the wall are removed, the dynamics of 
the system is greatly impoverished. 
We resolve this problem in a similar manner as was done by Dowell (1971) for the shear 
flow over a flat plate: instead of applying the boundary conditions at the undeformed shell 
position r R= , they are applied at an assumed deformed position r R δ= − . The fluid forces 
acting on the wall are also taken at r R δ= −  instead of r R= ; cf. El Chebair et al. (1990).  
 It is convenient to describe the dynamics in terms of dimensionless quantities by 
defining 
 
21
sR
E
ν
γ ρ
−
= , R
U
U
R
γ
= , Rδ δ′ = , γ′Ω = Ω , ω ωγ′ = , k kR′ = , (5) 
respectively the dimensional timescale, the mean reduced velocity, the deformation scale 
parameter, the dimensionless rotation rate, frequency and axial wavenumber. 
 
3 Purely axial flow 
 
It has been shown (Païdoussis 2004) that a FSI model of a cylindrical shell conveying fluid 
using linear inviscid theory can predict acceptably well the critical RU . Therefore, we expect 
that in the absence of rotation the added realism of taking viscous effects into account should 
18ème Congrès Français de Mécanique Grenoble, 27-31 août 2007 
4 
not change the predicted critical flow velocities too much vis-à-vis the inviscid theory results of 
Lai and Chow (1973).  
The simulations are done for a rubber tube conveying water with parameter values equal to 
those defined in Lai and Chow. In Fig. 2, the frequency evolutions obtained with the inviscid 
and the viscous theories are compared. The parameter δ ′  is increased from 0, to 0.1 and 1 in 
Fig. 2 (a-c). For 0δ ′ = , the system is overly unstable. The reason for this is believed to be 
related to the application of the fluid boundary conditions at the mean position of the shell wall 
instead of its instantaneous deformed position as discussed in Section 2. In Fig. 2 (b) and (c), as 
δ ′  is increased, the frequency curves become more similar to the inviscid ones and so does the 
onset of instability. This last point is emphasised in Fig. 3, where the critical flow velocity 
predicted with the viscous model approaches the inviscid prediction for increasing values of δ ′ . 
If δ ′  is varied between 0.005 and 0.01 the critical flow velocity does not change appreciably. 
This is reassuring in the sense that even if the value of the deformation scale parameter is 
roughly estimated, the critical flow velocity prediction is robust. 
 
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
R
ea
l(
ω
')
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
UR
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
Im
ag
in
ar
y
(ω
')
-0.5
0.0
0.5
F
B
B
F Z
Z
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
R
ea
l(
ω
')
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
UR
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
Im
a
g
in
ar
y
( ω
')
-0.5
0.0
0.5
F
B
B
F
Z
Z
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
R
ea
l(
ω
')
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
UR
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
Im
a
g
in
ar
y
( ω
')
-0.5
0.0
0.5
F
B
B
F
 
Fig. 2. Effect of the parameter δ’ on the frequency evolution of a vibrating non-rotating tube 
with axial flow at Re=105 ( ), for dimensionless wavenumbers  k’=15 and n=8, for (a) δ’=0; 
(b) δ’=0.005; (c) δ’=0.01. The letters F and B indicate the forward and backward travelling 
waves and the letter Z indicates the travelling wave emanating from the origin. The inviscid 
results are plotted for comparison ( ). 
δ'
0.000 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.010
C
ri
ti
ca
l 
re
d
u
ce
d
 f
lo
w
 v
el
o
ci
ty
, 
U
R
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
 
Fig. 3. Comparison of the prediction of the onset of instability of the viscous model ( ) at 
Re=10
5
 and the inviscid theory ( ) for the dimensionless wavenumbers k’=15 and n=8. 
4 Effect of rotation 
 
In these simulations, for a given frequency evolution plot, the Reynolds number is 
incremented with the reduced velocity so as to keep the Stokes number constant St Re RU= . 
(a) (b) (c) 
18ème Congrès Français de Mécanique Grenoble, 27-31 août 2007 
5 
The physical properties of a rubber tube containing water flow give St 1 220 795= . 
Simulations are performed for this Stokes number and also for one 100 times smaller; this latter 
would be representative of a system with a fluid a hundred times more viscous, such as oil. 
The effect of rotation on the stability of the system can be seen by comparing Fig. 4 (a) and 
(b) for a lightly viscous flow. With the addition of a rotation rate of 0.05′Ω = , the onset of 
instability increases from RU = 0.13 to 0.15. The same effect can be seen for a more viscous 
flow, not shown here for brevity. The effect of the addition of a small rate of rotation is shown 
in Fig. 5. For the two modes studied and for high or low viscosity, the addition of a small rate of 
rotation stabilises the system. It would seem though that, if subjected to higher rates of rotation, 
the critical velocity of the system should decrease. Srinivasan and Lauterbach (1971) showed 
that, if spun fast enough, empty cylindrical shells become unstable. One would think that the 
same applies to fluid filled shells. If the shell-fluid system is spun fast enough, it will be 
unstable even without flow. So, before that critical rotation rate is reached, the critical flow rate 
should decrease. 
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
R
ea
l(
ω
')
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
UR
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
Im
ag
in
ar
y
( ω
')
-0.05
0.00
0.05
F
B
B
F
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
R
ea
l(
ω
')
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
UR
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
Im
ag
in
ar
y
( ω
')
-0.05
0.00
0.05
F
B
B
F
 
Fig. 4. Effect of rotation on the prediction of the frequency evolution for dimensionless 
wavenumbers k’=15, n=8, δ’=0.01 and  St=1 220 795 ( ), for (a) Ω’=0; (b) Ω’=0.05. The 
inviscid results for the case without rotation are plotted for comparison  ( ). The letters F 
and B indicate the forward and backward travelling waves. 
Rotation rate, Ω'
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
C
ri
ti
ca
l 
re
d
u
ce
d
 v
el
o
ci
ty
, 
U
R
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
 
Fig. 5. Effect of rotation on the prediction of the onset of instability for δ’=0.01: , 
St=1220795, n=8, k’=15; , St=12208, n=8, k’=15; , St=1220795, n=0, k’=10; , 
St=12208, n=0, k’=10. 
The results for higher rates of rotation are not presented because they were deemed 
unsatisfactory. It seems that the phenomenon which gives rise to singularities in the inviscid 
theory leads to additional frequencies in the viscous model in the same region of the parameter 
(a) (b) 
18ème Congrès Français de Mécanique Grenoble, 27-31 août 2007 
6 
space. In the viscous model, these are not singularities, but simply frequencies arising from the 
fluid. The problem is that the method employed (based on a Müller algorithm) for finding the 
roots of the dispersion relation is not appropriate for finding these additional frequencies. At 
high ′Ω , the program would jump from one solution to another and it is very hard to obtain 
smooth curves. It must be emphasized that this issue is not due to singularities or 
inconsistencies in the model; it appears to be solely due to the root-finding method employed.  
Since for any non-zero rate of rotation the inviscid model has singularities, it is possible 
that, even in the results presented here for small rates of rotation, some additional frequencies 
exist, but due to the root-finding method, they were not found. On the other hand, engineering 
judgement would lead us to believe that a frequency arising from the addition of a small rate of 
rotation should not influence the dynamics of the system dramatically.  
 
Conclusion 
 
The stability of a rotating cylindrical shell containing a co-rotating axial viscous flow has 
been studied through the development of a theoretical FSI model. Learning from the flaws and 
breakdown of the inviscid model, it was believed that the added realism brought about by the 
introduction of viscosity in the theory would lead for a successful model.  
Similarly to the problems encountered by Dowell (1971) and El Chebair et al. (1990), it 
was found that the usual technique for linear aeroelasticity studies, consisting of applying the 
fluid boundary conditions at the undeformed position of the wall instead of the instantaneous 
deformed position, greatly alters the stability characteristics of the system. Since for the viscous 
model the mean flow velocity is zero at the wall, the shell-position-dependent terms in the fluid 
boundary conditions disappear. To remedy this problem, the boundary conditions are applied at 
an assumed deformed position just off the shell mean position. 
The dynamics of the system subjected to purely axial flow with no rotation was 
successfully studied. For acceptably small values of δ ′ , the prediction of the onset of instability 
of the system tended towards that predicted by the inviscid model. 
The results obtained for small ′Ω  showed that the system tends to be stabilised when 
subjected to a small rate of rotation. On the other hand, it seems reasonable to suppose that this 
trend should be reversed for higher rates of rotation; but it was impossible to show this, due to 
the limitations of the root-finding method employed. The important finding of this work is that 
the addition of viscosity in the theory allows successful modelling of the system subjected to 
rotation. The flow solution no longer breaks down as was the case with inviscid theory. 
 
The financial support of the NSERC and the FQRNT are gratefully acknowledged. 
 
References 
 
Chow, C.-Y. (1969) J. Fluid Mech., 38, pp. 843-854. 
Cortelezzi, L., Pong, A., Païdoussis, M. P. (2004) J. Appl. Mech., 71, 143-145 
Dowell, E. H. (1971) AIAA J., 9(5), 834-841. 
El Chebair, A., Misra, A.K., Païdoussis, M.P. (1990) J. Sound Vib., 138(3), 457-478. 
Harlow, F.H., Welch, J.E. (1965) Phys. Fluids, 8(12), 2182-2189. 
Lai, Y.-C. & Chow, C.-Y. (1973) ZAMM-Z. Angew. Math. Me. 53, 511-517. 
Païdoussis M.P., Denise J.-P. (1972) J.  Sound Vib., 20, 9-26. 
Païdoussis, M.P. (2004) Fluid-Structure Interactions: Slender Structures and Axial Flow, 
Volume 2. London: Elsevier Academic Press. 
Srinivasan, A.V., Lauterbach, G.F. (1971) ASME J. Eng. Ind., 92, 1229-1232 
Verzicco, R., Orlandi, P. (1996) J.  Comput. Phys., 123, 402-414. 


Stability of a rotating cylindrical shell containing axial viscous flow

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