Nonlinear instability of interfacial waves in stratified laminar channel flow

Abstract

The evolution of interfacial waves is investigated for a stratified laminar-laminar flow in a plane channel using numerical simulations based on the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method. Different nonlinear instability mechanisms that can promote saturation or rapid amplification of interfacial waves are investigated. Controlled disturbances are introduced at the interface between the two fluids, to assess five different scenarios of nonlinear interactions including harmonic excitation, subharmonic resonance, interaction between a short and a long wave, and two kinds of modulated wavepackets. Present simulations suggest that the same non-resonant type of wave interaction dominates the nonlinear stages of evolution in all the scenarios, for the fluid properties and parameters covered in this work. This mechanism involves the amplification of harmonics by quadratic nonlinearities and leads to the finite-amplitude saturation of interfacial waves, which results in a wavy flow. Reduced order models based on interaction of few wavelengths and described by the Stuart–Landau equation are proposed for the prediction of the nonlinear flow dynamics of laminar liquid-liquid two-phase flows.