Stability and Transition Over a Low-Reynolds Number Airfoil

Author(s):  
Paul Ziadé ◽  
Pierre E. Sullivan

Large-eddy simulation and linear stability analysis were performed on a NACA 0025 airfoil at a chord Reynolds number of 105 and four angles of attack. The computations showed that the initial vortex roll-up quickly breaks down to three-dimensional turbulence. Flow separation was observed at all angles, whereas only the lowest angle of attack formed a laminar separation bubble due to flow transition occuring close to the airfoil surface. A Chebyshev collocation method was employed to solve the viscous and inviscid stability equations. Linear stability analysis demonstrated that high-frequency disturbances occur in the laminar separation bubble case, whereas lower frequencies are present for the fully separated angles of attack. The maximum disturbance growth rates were dampened with the addition of viscosity but negligible change in peak frequency was noted.

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.


1993 ◽  
Vol 252 ◽  
pp. 209-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satish C. Reddy ◽  
Dan S. Henningson

In recent work it has been shown that there can be substantial transient growth in the energy of small perturbations to plane Poiseuille and Couette flows if the Reynolds number is below the critical value predicted by linear stability analysis. This growth, which may be as large as O(1000), occurs in the absence of nonlinear effects and can be explained by the non-normality of the governing linear operator - that is, the non-orthogonality of the associated eigenfunctions. In this paper we study various aspects of this energy growth for two- and three-dimensional Poiseuille and Couette flows using energy methods, linear stability analysis, and a direct numerical procedure for computing the transient growth. We examine conditions for no energy growth, the dependence of the growth on the streamwise and spanwise wavenumbers, the time dependence of the growth, and the effects of degenerate eigenvalues. We show that the maximum transient growth behaves like O(R2), where R is the Reynolds number. We derive conditions for no energy growth by applying the Hille–Yosida theorem to the governing linear operator and show that these conditions yield the same results as those derived by energy methods, which can be applied to perturbations of arbitrary amplitude. These results emphasize the fact that subcritical transition can occur for Poiseuille and Couette flows because the governing linear operator is non-normal.


2002 ◽  
Vol 455 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHO LIK CHAN ◽  
WEN-YAU CHEN ◽  
C. F. CHEN

The three-dimensional motion observed by Chen & Chen (1997) in the convection cells generated by sideways heating of a solute gradient is further examined by experiments and linear stability analysis. In the experiments, we obtained visualizations and PIV measurements of the velocity of the fluid motion in the longitudinal plane perpendicular to the imposed temperature gradient. The flow consists of a horizontal row of counter-rotating vortices within each convection cell. The magnitude of this secondary motion is approximately one-half that of the primary convection cell. Results of a linear stability analysis of a parallel double-diffusive flow model of the actual ow show that the instability is in the salt-finger mode under the experimental conditions. The perturbation streamlines in the longitudinal plane at onset consist of a horizontal row of counter-rotating vortices similar to those observed in the experiments.


Fluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 342
Author(s):  
Maksims Zigunovs ◽  
Andrei Kolyshkin ◽  
Ilmars Iltins

Linear stability analysis of a steady convective flow in a tall vertical annulus caused by nonlinear heat sources is conducted in the paper. Heat sources are generated as a result of a chemical reaction. The effect of radial cross-flow through permeable porous walls of the annulus is analyzed. The problem is relevant to biomass thermal conversion. The base flow solution is obtained by solving nonlinear boundary value problem. Linear stability analysis is performed, using collocation method. The calculations show that radial inward or outward flow has a stabilizing effect on the flow, while the increase in the Frank–Kamenetskii parameter (proportional to the intensity of the chemical reaction) destabilizes the flow. The increase in the Reynolds number based on the radial velocity leads to the appearance of the second minimum on the marginal stability curves. The rate of increase in the critical Grashof number with respect to the Reynolds number is different for inward and outward radial flows.


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