Viscous Instabilities in Transversely Strained Channel Flows

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Abdullah, Muhammad
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Abdullah, Muhammad
author_facet Abdullah, Muhammad
contents We investigate here linear stability in a canonical three-dimensional boundary layer generated by the superposition of a spanwise pressure gradient upon an otherwise standard channel flow. As the main result, we introduce a simple coordinate transformation that enables the complete description of modal and non-modal stability using previous results on Poiseuille flow. We leverage this insight to derive closed forms for some relevant stability metrics. In particular, the critical Reynolds number for exponential-in-time growth is found to monotonically decrease with the strength of the cross-flow. A suitably chosen re-scaling, however, shows that the stability characteristics ultimately approach those of channel flow, despite the presence of a non-zero spanwise shear. Unstable eigenmodes akin to the Tollmien-Schlichting wave are found to propagate along the direction of the net flow. From a non-modal perspective, the maximal transient (algebraic) growth increases quadratically with the spanwise pressure differential and, similar to two-dimensional flows, is fueled by the lift-up effect. In this regard, the linear energy budget highlights a dramatic increase in energy production against the spanwise shear.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_18891
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Viscous Instabilities in Transversely Strained Channel Flows
Abdullah, Muhammad
Fluid Dynamics
Mathematical Physics
We investigate here linear stability in a canonical three-dimensional boundary layer generated by the superposition of a spanwise pressure gradient upon an otherwise standard channel flow. As the main result, we introduce a simple coordinate transformation that enables the complete description of modal and non-modal stability using previous results on Poiseuille flow. We leverage this insight to derive closed forms for some relevant stability metrics. In particular, the critical Reynolds number for exponential-in-time growth is found to monotonically decrease with the strength of the cross-flow. A suitably chosen re-scaling, however, shows that the stability characteristics ultimately approach those of channel flow, despite the presence of a non-zero spanwise shear. Unstable eigenmodes akin to the Tollmien-Schlichting wave are found to propagate along the direction of the net flow. From a non-modal perspective, the maximal transient (algebraic) growth increases quadratically with the spanwise pressure differential and, similar to two-dimensional flows, is fueled by the lift-up effect. In this regard, the linear energy budget highlights a dramatic increase in energy production against the spanwise shear.
title Viscous Instabilities in Transversely Strained Channel Flows
topic Fluid Dynamics
Mathematical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.18891