Hydrodynamical instabilities of thermocapillary flow in a half-zone

1995 ◽  
Vol 297 ◽  
pp. 357-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Måarten Levenstam ◽  
Gustav Amberg

The stability of the flow in a half-zone configuration is analysed with the aid of direct numerical simulation. The work is concentrated on the small Prandtl numbers relevant for typical semiconductor melts. The axisymmetric thermocapillary flow is found to be unstable to a steady non-axisymmetric state with azimuthal wavenumber 2, for a zone with aspect ratio 1. The critical Reynolds number for this bifurcation is 1960. This three dimensional steady solution loses stability to an oscillatory state at a Reynolds number of 6250. For small Prandtl numbers, both bifurcations are seen to be quite insensitive to changes in the Prandtl number, and are thus hydrodynamic in nature. An analogy to the instability of thin vortex rings is made. This analogy suggests a physical mechanism behind the instability and also gives an explanation of how the azimuthal wavenumber of the bifurcated solution is selected. The implications of this for the floating-zone crystal growth process are discussed.

2002 ◽  
Vol 458 ◽  
pp. 35-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
CH. NIENHÜSER ◽  
H. C. KUHLMANN

The thermocapillary flow in liquid bridges is investigated numerically. In the limit of large mean surface tension the free-surface shape is independent of the flow and temperature fields and depends only on the volume of liquid and the hydrostatic pressure difference. When gravity acts parallel to the axis of the liquid bridge the shape is axisymmetric. A differential heating of the bounding circular disks then causes a steady two-dimensional thermocapillary flow which is calculated by a finite-difference method on body-fitted coordinates. The linear-stability problem for the basic flow is solved using azimuthal normal modes computed with the same discretization method. The dependence of the critical Reynolds number on the volume fraction, gravity level, Prandtl number, and aspect ratio is explained by analysing the energy budgets of the neutral modes. For small Prandtl numbers (Pr = 0.02) the critical Reynolds number exhibits a smooth minimum near volume fractions which approximately correspond to the volume of a cylindrical bridge. When the Prandtl number is large (Pr = 4) the intersection of two neutral curves results in a sharp peak of the critical Reynolds number. Since the instabilities for low and high Prandtl numbers are markedly different, the influence of gravity leads to a distinctly different behaviour. While the hydrostatic shape of the bridge is the most important effect of gravity on the critical point for low-Prandtl-number flows, buoyancy is the dominating factor for the stability of the flow in a gravity field when the Prandtl number is high.


2017 ◽  
Vol 822 ◽  
pp. 813-847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azan M. Sapardi ◽  
Wisam K. Hussam ◽  
Alban Pothérat ◽  
Gregory J. Sheard

This study seeks to characterise the breakdown of the steady two-dimensional solution in the flow around a 180-degree sharp bend to infinitesimal three-dimensional disturbances using a linear stability analysis. The stability analysis predicts that three-dimensional transition is via a synchronous instability of the steady flows. A highly accurate global linear stability analysis of the flow was conducted with Reynolds number $\mathit{Re}<1150$ and bend opening ratio (ratio of bend width to inlet height) $0.2\leqslant \unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\leqslant 5$. This range of $\mathit{Re}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ captures both steady-state two-dimensional flow solutions and the inception of unsteady two-dimensional flow. For $0.2\leqslant \unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\leqslant 1$, the two-dimensional base flow transitions from steady to unsteady at higher Reynolds number as $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ increases. The stability analysis shows that at the onset of instability, the base flow becomes three-dimensionally unstable in two different modes, namely a spanwise oscillating mode for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=0.2$ and a spanwise synchronous mode for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\geqslant 0.3$. The critical Reynolds number and the spanwise wavelength of perturbations increase as $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ increases. For $1<\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\leqslant 2$ both the critical Reynolds number for onset of unsteadiness and the spanwise wavelength decrease as $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ increases. Finally, for $2<\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\leqslant 5$, the critical Reynolds number and spanwise wavelength remain almost constant. The linear stability analysis also shows that the base flow becomes unstable to different three-dimensional modes depending on the opening ratio. The modes are found to be localised near the reattachment point of the first recirculation bubble.


Author(s):  
A. Inasawa ◽  
K. Toda ◽  
M. Asai

Disturbance growth in the wake of a circular cylinder moving at a constant acceleration is examined experimentally. The cylinder is installed on a carriage moving in the still air. The results show that the critical Reynolds number for the onset of the global instability leading to a self-sustained wake oscillation increases with the magnitude of acceleration, while the Strouhal number of the growing disturbance at the critical Reynolds number is not strongly dependent on the magnitude of acceleration. It is also found that with increasing the acceleration, the Ka´rma´n vortex street remains two-dimensional even at the Reynolds numbers around 200 where the three-dimensional instability occurs to lead to the vortex dislocation in the case of cylinder moving at constant velocity or in the case of cylinder wake in the steady oncoming flow.


1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanefusa Gotoh

The effect of a uniform and parallel magnetic field upon the stability of a free shear layer of an electrically conducting fluid is investigated. The equations of the velocity and the magnetic disturbances are solved numerically and it is shown that the flow is stabilized with increasing magnetic field. When the magnetic field is expressed in terms of the parameter N (= M2/R2), where M is the Hartmann number and R is the Reynolds number, the lowest critical Reynolds number is caused by the two-dimensional disturbances. So long as 0 [les ] N [les ] 0·0092 the flow is unstable at all R. For 0·0092 < N [les ] 0·0233 the flow is unstable at 0 < R < Ruc where Ruc decreases as N increases. For 0·0233 < N < 0·0295 the flow is unstable at Rlc < R < Ruc where Rlc increases with N. Lastly for N > 0·0295 the flow is stable at all R. When the magnetic field is measured by M, the lowest critical Reynolds number is still due to the two-dimensional disturbances provided 0 [les ] M [les ] 0·52, and Rc is given by the corresponding Rlc. For M > 0·52, Rc is expressed as Rc = 5·8M, and the responsible disturbance is the three-dimensional one which propagates at angle cos−1(0·52/M) to the direction of the basic flow.


1968 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung-Hwan Ko

A study is made of the stability of a viscous, incompressible fluid with a finite conductivity flowing between parallel planes in a parallel magnetic field. The general form of the magnetohydrodynamic stability equation is a sixth-order differential equation. The complete sixth-order differential equation is solved numerically as an eigenvalue problem. Stability curves are obtained for a range of values of the magnetic Reynolds number Rm and the Alfvé n number A based on two-dimensional disturbances. It is found that the minimum critical Reynolds number is raised as Rm increases for a given A2 and as A2 increases for a given Rm, respectively. The stability curve closes and finally degenerates to a point which gives the critical value for Rm or A2. Results obtained for two-dimensional disturbances are modified to take into account three-dimensional disturbances. Then the minimum critical Reynolds number where three-dimensional disturbances become apparent is obtained, below which two-dimensional disturbances are the most unstable.


Author(s):  
Francine Battaglia ◽  
George Papadopoulos

The effect of three-dimensionality on low Reynolds number flows past a symmetric sudden expansion in a channel was investigated. The geometric expansion ratio of in the current study was 2:1 and the aspect ratio was 6:1. Both experimental velocity measurements and two- and three-dimensional simulations for the flow along the centerplane of the rectangular duct are presented for Reynolds numbers in the range of 150 to 600. Comparison of the two-dimensional simulations with the experiments revealed that the simulations fail to capture completely the total expansion effect on the flow, which couples both geometric and hydrodynamic effects. To properly do so requires the definition of an effective expansion ratio, which is the ratio of the downstream and upstream hydraulic diameters and is therefore a function of both the expansion and aspect ratios. When the two-dimensional geometry was consistent with the effective expansion ratio, the new results agreed well with the three-dimensional simulations and the experiments. Furthermore, in the range of Reynolds numbers investigated, the laminar flow through the expansion underwent a symmetry-breaking bifurcation. The critical Reynolds number evaluated from the experiments and the simulations was compared to other values reported in the literature. Overall, side-wall proximity was found to enhance flow stability, helping to sustain laminar flow symmetry to higher Reynolds numbers in comparison to nominally two-dimensional double-expansion geometries. Lastly, and most importantly, when the logarithm of the critical Reynolds number from all these studies was plotted against the reciprocal of the effective expansion ratio, a linear trend emerged that uniquely captured the bifurcation dynamics of all symmetric double-sided planar expansions.


Author(s):  
Sharath Jose ◽  
Rama Govindarajan

Small variations introduced in shear flows are known to affect stability dramatically. Rotation of the flow system is one example, where the critical Reynolds number for exponential instabilities falls steeply with a small increase in rotation rate. We ask whether there is a fundamental reason for this sensitivity to rotation. We answer in the affirmative, showing that it is the non-normality of the stability operator in the absence of rotation which triggers this sensitivity. We treat the flow in the presence of rotation as a perturbation on the non-rotating case, and show that the rotating case is a special element of the pseudospectrum of the non-rotating case. Thus, while the non-rotating flow is always modally stable to streamwise-independent perturbations, rotating flows with the smallest rotation are unstable at zero streamwise wavenumber, with the spanwise wavenumbers close to that of disturbances with the highest transient growth in the non-rotating case. The instability critical rotation number scales inversely as the square of the Reynolds number, which we demonstrate is the same as the scaling obeyed by the minimum perturbation amplitude in non-rotating shear flow needed for the pseudospectrum to cross the neutral line. Plane Poiseuille flow and plane Couette flow are shown to behave similarly in this context.


2000 ◽  
Vol 422 ◽  
pp. 141-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
YI-CHUNG SU ◽  
JACOB N. CHUNG

A comprehensive numerical study on the linear stability of mixed-convection flow in a vertical pipe with constant heat flux is presented with particular emphasis on the instability mechanism and the Prandtl number effect. Three Prandtl numbers representative of different regimes in the Prandtl number spectrum are employed to simulate the stability characteristics of liquid mercury, water and oil. The results suggest that mixed-convection flow in a vertical pipe can become unstable at low Reynolds number and Rayleigh numbers irrespective of the Prandtl number, in contrast to the isothermal case. For water, the calculation predicts critical Rayleigh numbers of 80 and −120 for assisted and opposed flows, which agree very well with experimental values of Rac = 76 and −118 (Scheele & Hanratty 1962). It is found that the first azimuthal mode is always the most unstable, which also agrees with the experimental observation that the unstable pattern is a double spiral flow. Scheele & Hanratty's speculation that the instability in assisted and opposed flows can be attributed to the appearance of inflection points and separation is true only for fluids with O(1) Prandtl number. Our study on the effect of the Prandtl number discloses that it plays an active role in buoyancy-assisted flow and is an indication of the viability of kinematic or thermal disturbances. It profoundly affects the stability of assisted flow and changes the instability mechanism as well. For assisted flow with Prandtl numbers less than 0.3, the thermal–shear instability is dominant. With Prandtl numbers higher than 0.3, the assisted-thermal–buoyant instability becomes responsible. In buoyancy-opposed flow, the effect of the Prandtl number is less significant since the flow is unstably stratified. There are three distinct instability mechanisms at work independent of the Prandtl number. The Rayleigh–Taylor instability is operative when the Reynolds number is extremely low. The opposed-thermal–buoyant instability takes over when the Reynolds number becomes higher. A still higher Reynolds number eventually leads the thermal–shear instability to dominate. While the thermal–buoyant instability is present in both assisted and opposed flows, the mechanism by which it destabilizes the flow is completely different.


2014 ◽  
Vol 757 ◽  
pp. 613-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. V. Moradi ◽  
J. M. Floryan

AbstractThe travelling wave instability in a channel with small-amplitude longitudinal grooves of arbitrary shape has been studied. The disturbance velocity field is always three-dimensional with disturbances which connect to the two-dimensional waves in the limit of zero groove amplitude playing the critical role. The presence of grooves destabilizes the flow if the groove wavenumber $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}\beta $ is larger than $\beta _{tran}\approx 4.22$, but stabilizes the flow for smaller $\beta $. It has been found that $\beta _{tran}$ does not depend on the groove amplitude. The dependence of the critical Reynolds number on the groove amplitude and wavenumber has been determined. Special attention has been paid to the drag-reducing long-wavelength grooves, including the optimal grooves. It has been demonstrated that such grooves slightly increase the critical Reynolds number, i.e. such grooves do not cause an early breakdown into turbulence.


1981 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 192-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. Gupta ◽  
V. K. Garg

It is found that even a 5 percent change in the velocity profile produces a 100 percent change in the critical Reynolds number for the stability of developing flow very close to the entrance of a two-dimensional channel.


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