Long-wave instability of a helical vortex

2015 ◽  
Vol 780 ◽  
pp. 687-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Umberto Quaranta ◽  
Hadrien Bolnot ◽  
Thomas Leweke

We investigate the instability of a single helical vortex filament of small pitch with respect to displacement perturbations whose wavelength is large compared to the vortex core size. We first revisit previous theoretical analyses concerning infinite Rankine vortices, and consider in addition the more realistic case of vortices with Gausssian vorticity distributions and axial core flow. We show that the various instability modes are related to the local pairing of successive helix turns through mutual induction, and that the growth rate curve can be qualitatively and quantitatively predicted from the classical pairing of an array of point vortices. We then present results from an experimental study of a helical vortex filament generated in a water channel by a single-bladed rotor under carefully controlled conditions. Various modes of displacement perturbations could be triggered by suitable modulation of the blade rotation. Dye visualisations and particle image velocimetry allowed a detailed characterisation of the vortex geometry and the determination of the growth rate of the long-wave instability modes, showing good agreement with theoretical predictions for the experimental base flow. The long-term (downstream) development of the pairing instability leads to a grouping and swapping of helix loops. Despite the resulting complicated three-dimensional structure, the vortex filaments surprisingly remain mostly intact in our observation interval. The characteristic distance of evolution of the helical wake behind the rotor decreases with increasing initial amplitude of the perturbations; this can be predicted from the linear stability theory.

1972 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 641-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila E. Widnall

The stability of a helical vortex filament of finite core and infinite extent to small sinusoidal displacements of its centre-line is considered. The influence of the entire perturbed filament on the self-induced motion of each element is taken into account. The effect of the details of the vorticity distribution within the finite vortex core on the self-induced motion due to the bending of its axis is calculated using the results obtained previously by Widnall, Bliss & Zalay (1970). In this previous work, an application of the method of matched asymptotic expansions resulted in a general solution for the self-induced motion resulting from the bending of a slender vortex filament with an arbitrary distribution of vorticity and axial velocity within the core.The results of the stability calculations presented in this paper show that the helical vortex filament has three modes of instability: a very short-wave instability which probably exists on all curved filaments, a long-wave mode which is also found to be unstable by the local-induction model and a mutual-inductance mode which appears as the pitch of the helix decreases and the neighbouring turns of the filament begin to interact strongly. Increasing the vortex core size is found to reduce the amplification rate of the long-wave instability, to increase the amplification rate of the mutual-inductance instability and to decrease the wavenumber of the short-wave instability.


1994 ◽  
Vol 273 ◽  
pp. 241-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renzo L. Ricca

In this paper we analyse in detail, and for the first time, the rôle of torsion in the dynamics of twisted vortex filaments. We demonstrate that torsion may influence considerably the motion of helical vortex filaments in an incompressible perfect fluid. The binormal component of the induced velocity, asymptotically responsible for the displacement of the vortex filament in the fluid, is closely analysed. The study is performed by applying the prescription of Moore & Saffman (1972) to helices of any pitch and a new asymptotic integral formula is derived. We give a rigorous proof that the Kelvin régime and its limit behaviour are obtained as a limit form of that integral asymptotic formula. The results are compared with new calculations based on the re-elaboration of Hardin's (1982) approach and with results obtained by Levy & Forsdyke (1928) and Widnall (1972) for helices of small pitch, here also re-elaborated for the purpose.


1976 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 721-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chon-Yin Tsai ◽  
Sheila E. Widnall

The stability of short-wave displacement perturbations on a vortex filament of constant vorticity in a weak externally imposed strain field is considered. The circular cross-section of the vortex filament in this straining flow field becomes elliptical. It is found that instability of short waves on this strained vortex can occur only for wavelengths and frequencies at the intersection points of the dispersion curves for an isolated vortex. Numerical results show that the vortex is stable at some of these points and unstable at others. The vortex is unstable at wavelengths for which ω = 0, thus giving some support to the instability mechanism for the vortex ring proposed recently by Widnall, Bliss & Tsai (1974). The growth rate is calculated by linear stability theory. The previous work of Crow (1970) and Moore & Saffman (1971) dealing with long-wave instabilities is discussed as is the very recent work of Moore & Saffman (1975).


1988 ◽  
Vol 189 ◽  
pp. 117-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lerner ◽  
E. Knobloch

The stability properties of an inviscid, parallel, incompressible, free shear flow are studied. The shear profile is that of an unbounded, plane Couette flow containing a defect, or transition zone, whose magnitude ε is assumed to be small. The linearized eigenvalue problem is solved first for discretized models. When the defect has a finite thickness, the instability is confined to longitudinal wavenumbers, k [les ] 0(ε), in contrast to the more common 0(1) bandwidth, in units of inverse shear length. This observation motivates the application of a long-wave expansion to a smooth defect profile. A double expansion in both k and ε captures the whole waveband of the instability, and yields convergent expansions for the unstable eigenfunctions and for the dispersion relation describing their growth rate. The fastest growing modes are determined, and their back-reaction on the basic shear is calculated.


1998 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 1597-1602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Fukuta ◽  
Youichi Murakami

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Hetland

AbstractBaroclinic instabilities are ubiquitous in many types of geostrophic flow; however, they are seldom observed in river plumes despite strong lateral density gradients within the plume front. Supported by results from a realistic numerical simulation of the Mississippi–Atchafalaya River plume, idealized numerical simulations of buoyancy-driven flow are used to investigate baroclinic instabilities in buoyancy-driven flow over a sloping bottom. The parameter space is defined by the slope Burger number S = Nf−1α, where N is the buoyancy frequency, f is the Coriolis parameter, and α is the bottom slope, and the Richardson number Ri = N2f2M−4, where M2 = |∇Hb| is the magnitude of the lateral buoyancy gradients. Instabilities only form in a subset of the simulations, with the criterion that SH ≡ SRi−1/2 = Uf−1W−1 = M2f−2α 0.2, where U is a horizontal velocity scale and SH is a new parameter named the horizontal slope Burger number. Suppression of instability formation for certain flow conditions contrasts linear stability theory, which predicts that all flow configurations will be subject to instabilities. The instability growth rate estimated in the nonlinear 3D model is proportional to ωImaxS−1/2, where ωImax is the dimensional growth rate predicted by linear instability theory, indicating that bottom slope inhibits instability growth beyond that predicted by linear theory. The constraint SH 0.2 implies a relationship between the inertial radius Li = Uf−1 and the plume width W. Instabilities may not form when 5Li > W; that is, the plume is too narrow for the eddies to fit.


2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-138
Author(s):  
E.K. El-Shewy ◽  
S.K. Zaghbeer ◽  
A.A. El-Rahman

AbstractNonlinearity properties of obliquely wave propagation and instability in collisionless magnetized nonthermal dusty plasmas containing fluid of negative-positive grains are investigated. Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation is obtained and the three-dimensional wave instability is studied. The parameters such as polarity charge ratio, cyclotron frequency and fast nonthermal effectiveness of the instability properties and growth rate are theoretically studied. It is found that both positive and negative soliton profiles are formed depending on the fraction ratio of electron-ion nonthermality. Also, the growth rate was dependent nonlinearly on the direction cosines, the cyclotron frequency and the positive (negative) grain charge ratio, but independent of the fractional ratio of electron-ion nonthermality. Present discussion may be very significant regarding the observations of nonlinear phenomena in space.


Fluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Grimshaw

The linear stability theory of wind-wave generation is revisited with an emphasis on the generation of wave groups. The outcome is the fundamental requirement that the group move with a real-valued group velocity. This implies that both the wave frequency and the wavenumber should be complex-valued, and in turn this then leads to a growth rate in the reference frame moving with the group velocity which is in general different from the temporal growth rate. In the weakly nonlinear regime, the amplitude envelope of the wave group is governed by a forced nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The effect of the wind forcing term is to enhance modulation instability both in terms of the wave growth and in terms of the domain of instability in the modulation wavenumber space. Also, the soliton solution for the wave envelope grows in amplitude at twice the linear growth rate.


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