The stability of steady and time-dependent plane Poiseuille flow

1968 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chester E. Grosch ◽  
Harold Salwen

The linear stability of plane Poiseuille flow has been studied both for the steady flow and also for the case of a pressure gradient that is periodic in time. The disturbance streamfunction is expanded in a complete set of functions that satisfy the boundary conditions. The expansion is truncated after N terms, yielding a set of N linear first-order differential equations for the time dependence of the expansion coefficients.For the steady flow, calculations have been carried out for both symmetric and antisymmetric disturbances over a wide range of Reynolds numbers and disturbance wave-numbers. The neutral stability curve, curves of constant amplification and decay rate, and the eigenfunctions for a number of cases have been calculated. The eigenvalue spectrum has also been examined in some detail. The first N eigenvalues are obtained from the numerical calculations, and an asymptotic formula for the higher eigenvalues has been derived. For those values of the wave-number and Reynolds number for which calculations were carried out by L. H. Thomas, there is excellent agreement in both the eigenvalues and the eigenfunctions with the results of Thomas.For the time-dependent flow, it was found, for small amplitudes of oscillation, that the modulation tended to stabilize the flow. If the flow was not completely stabilized then the growth rate of the disturbance was decreased. For a particular wave-number and Reynolds number there is an optimum amplitude and frequency of oscillation for which the degree of stabilization is a maximum. For a fixed amplitude and frequency of oscillation the wave-number of the disturbance and the Reynolds number has been varied and a neutral stability curve has been calculated. The neutral stability curve for the modulated flow shows a higher critical Reynolds number and a narrower band of unstable wave-numbers than that of the steady flow. The physical mechanism responsible for this stabiIization appears to be an interference between the shear wave generated by the modulation and the disturbance.For large amplitudes, the modulation destabilizes the flow. Growth rates of the modulated flow as much as an order of magnitude greater than that of the steady unmodulated flow have been found.

1960 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Stuart

This paper considers the nature of a non-linear, two-dimensional solution of the Navier-Stokes equations when the rate of amplification of the disturbance, at a given wave-number and Reynolds number, is sufficiently small. Two types of problem arise: (i) to follow the growth of an unstable, infinitesimal disturbance (supercritical problem), possibly to a state of stable equilibrium; (ii) for values of the wave-number and Reynolds number for which no unstable infinitesimal disturbance exists, to follow the decay of a finite disturbance from a possible state of unstable equilibrium down to zero amplitude (subcritical problem). In case (ii) the existence of a state of unstable equilibrium implies the existence of unstable disturbances. Numerical calculations, which are not yet completed, are required to determine which of the two possible behaviours arises in plane Poiseuille flow, in a given range of wave-number and Reynolds number.It is suggested that the method of this paper (and of the generalization described by Part 2 by J. Watson) is valid for a wide range of Reynolds numbers and wave-numbers inside and outside the curve of neutral stability.


2019 ◽  
Vol 880 ◽  
pp. 478-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shengqi Zhang ◽  
Zhenhua Xia ◽  
Yipeng Shi ◽  
Shiyi Chen

Spanwise rotating plane Poiseuille flow (RPPF) is one of the canonical flow problems to study the effect of system rotation on wall-bounded shear flows and has been studied a lot in the past. In the present work, a two-dimensional-three-component (2D/3C) model for RPPF is introduced and it is shown that the present model is equivalent to a thermal convection problem with unit Prandtl number. For low Reynolds number cases, the model can be used to study the stability behaviour of the roll cells. It is found that the neutral stability curves, critical eigensolutions and critical streamfunctions of RPPF at different rotation numbers ($Ro$) almost collapse with the help of a rescaling with a newly defined Rayleigh number $Ra$ and channel height $H$. Analytic expressions for the critical Reynolds number and critical wavenumber at different $Ro$ can be obtained. For a turbulent state with high Reynolds number, the 2D/3C model for RPPF is self-sustained even without extra excitations. Simulation results also show that the profiles of mean streamwise velocity and Reynolds shear stress from the 2D/3C model share the same linear laws as the fully three-dimensional cases, although differences on the intercepts can be observed. The contours of streamwise velocity fluctuations behave like plumes in the linear law region. We also provide an explanation to the linear mean velocity profiles observed at high rotation numbers.


When two parallel plates move normal to each other with a slow time-dependent speed, the velocity field developed in the intervening film of fluid is approximately that of plane Poiseuille flow, except that the magnitude of the velocity is dependent on time and on the coordinate parallel to the planes. This fact is intrinsic to Reynolds’ lubrication theory, and can be shown to follow from the Navier-Stokes equations when both the modified Reynolds number ( Re M ) and an aspect ratio ( δ ) are small. The modified Reynolds number is the product of δ and an actual Reynolds number ( Re ), which is based on the gap between the planes and on a characteristic velocity. The occurrence of flow instability and of turbulence in the film depend on Re . Typical values of Re , which are known to be required for the linear instability of plane Poiseuille flow, are of order 6000. This condition can be achieved, even if Re M is of order 1, provided that δ is of order 10 -4 . Such parameter values are typical of lubrication problems. The Orr-Sommerfeld equation governing flow instability is derived in this paper by use of the WKBJ technique, δ being the approximate small parameter to represent the small length-scale of the disturbance oscillations compared with the larger scale of the basic laminar flow. However, the coefficients in the Orr-Sommerfeld equation depend on slow space and time variables. Consequently the eigenrelation, derivable from the Orr-Sommerfeld equation and the associated boundary conditions, constitutes a nonlinear first-order partial differential equation for a phase function. This equation is solved by use of Charpit’s method for certain special forms of the time-dependent gap between the planes, followed by detailed numerical calculations. The relation between time-dependence and flow instability is delineated by the calculated results. In detail the nature of the instability can be described as follows. We consider a disturbance wave at or near a particular station, the initial distribution of amplitude being gaussian in the slow coordinate parallel to the planes. In the context of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation and its eigenrelation, the particular station implies an equivalent Reynolds number, while the initial distribution of the disturbance wave implies an equivalent wavenumber. As time increases, the disturbance wave can be considered to move in the instability diagram of equivalent wavenumber against Reynolds number, in the sense that these parameters are time- and space-dependent for the evolution of the disturbance-wave system. For our detailed calculations we use a quadratic approximation to the eigenrelation, an approximation which is quite accurate. If the initial distribution implies a point within the neutral curve, when the plates are squeezed together the equivalent wavenumber falls while the equivalent Reynolds number rises, and amplification takes place until the lower branch of the neutral curve is nearly crossed. If the plates are pulled apart (dilatation) the equivalent wavenumber rises, while the Reynolds number drops, and amplification takes place until the upper branch of the neutral curve has been just crossed. In the case of dilatation the transition from amplification to damping takes place more quickly than for the case of squeezing, in part due to the geometry of the neutral curve.


1982 ◽  
Vol 116 ◽  
pp. 91-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian H. Von Kerczek

The instability of oscillatory plane Poiseuille flow, in which the pressure gradient is time-periodically modulated, is investigated by a perturbation technique. The Floquet exponents (i.e. the complex growth rates of the disturbances to the oscillatory flow) are computed by series expansions, in powers of the oscillatory to steady flow velocity amplitude ratio, about the values of the growth rates of the disturbances of the steady flow. It is shown that the oscillatory flow is more stable than the steady flow for values of Reynolds number and disturbance wave number in the vicinity of the steady flow critical point and for values of frequencies of imposed oscillation greater than about one tenth of the frequency of the steady flow neutral disturbance. At very high and low values of imposed oscillation frequency, the unsteady flow is slightly less stable than the steady flow. These results hold for the values of the velocity amplitude ratio at least up to 0·25.


1974 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 765-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. D. George ◽  
J. D. Hellums ◽  
B. Martin

Finite-amplitude disturbances in plane Poiseuille flow are studied by a method involving Fourier expansion with numerical solution of the resulting partial differential equations in the coefficient functions. A number of solutions are developed which extend to relatively long times so that asymptotic stability or instability can be established with a degree of confidence. The amplitude for neutral stability is established for a fixed wavenumber for two values of the Reynolds number. Details of the neutral velocity fluctuation are presented. These and earlier results are expressed in terms of the asymptotic amplitude and compared with results obtained by prior workers. The results indicate that the expansion methods used by prior workers may be valid only for amplitudes considerably smaller than 0·01.


1959 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 518-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Menkes

The effects of density variation in the absence of gravity on the stability of a horizontal shear layer between two streams of uniform velocities is investigated. The density is assumed to decrease exponentially with height and the velocity is represented by U(y) = tanh y.The method of small disturbances is employed to obtain the neutral stability curve. It is demonstrated that disturbances with wave-numbers larger than the width of the transition layer are attenuated.Qualitative agreement with experimental evidence is obtained.


1970 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 813-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. J. Barry ◽  
M. A. S. Ross

Numerical analysis has been used to find the neutral stability curve for the flat plate boundary layer in zero pressure gradient when the main terms representing the growth of boundary-layer thickness are either included or excluded. The boundary layer is found to be slightly less stable when the extra terms are included. The calculations give a critical Reynolds number of 500.


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hidesada Kanda

Abstract For plane Poiseuille flow, results of previous investigations were studied, focusing on experimental data on the critical Reynolds number, the entrance length, and the transition length. Consequently, concerning the natural transition, it was confirmed from the experimental data that (i) the transition occurs in the entrance region, (ii) the critical Reynolds number increases as the contraction ratio in the inlet section increases, and (iii) the minimum critical Reynolds number is obtained when the contraction ratio is the smallest or one, and there is no-shaped entrance or straight parallel plates. Its value exists in the neighborhood of 1300, based on the channel height and the average velocity. Although, for Hagen-Poiseuille flow, the minimum critical Reynolds number is approximately 2000, based on the pipe diameter and the average velocity, there seems to be no significant difference in the transition from laminar to turbulent flow between Hagen-Poiseuille flow and plane Poiseuille flow.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (02) ◽  
pp. 2050031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cong Zhai ◽  
Weitiao Wu

Understanding the pedestrian behavior contributes to traffic simulation and facility design/redesign. In practice, the interactions between individual pedestrians can lead to virtual honk effect, such as urging surrounding pedestrians to walk faster in a crowded environment. To better reflect the reality, this paper proposes a new lattice hydrodynamic model for bidirectional pedestrian flow with consideration of pedestrians’ honk effect. To this end, the concept of critical density is introduced to define the occurrence of pedestrians’ honk event. In the linear stability analysis, the stability condition of the new bidirectional pedestrian flow model is given based on the perturbation method, and the neutral stability curve is also obtained. Based on this, it is found that the honk effect has a significant impact on the stability of pedestrian flow. In the nonlinear stability analysis, the modified Korteweg–de Vries (mKdV) equation of the model is obtained based on the reductive perturbation method. By solving the mKdV equation, the kink-antikink soliton wave is obtained to describe the propagation mechanism and rules of pedestrian congestion near the neutral stability curve. The simulation example shows that the pedestrians’ honk effect can mitigate the pedestrians crowding efficiently and improve the stability of the bidirectional pedestrian flow.


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