Structure Of Shear Layer Research Articles

Scale dependence of local shearing motion in decaying turbulence generated by multiple-jet interaction

Scale dependence of local shearing motion is investigated experimentally in decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence generated through multiple-jet interaction. The turbulent Reynolds number, based on the Taylor microscale, is between approximately 900 and 400. Velocity fields, measured using particle image velocimetry, are analysed through the triple decomposition of a low-pass filtered velocity gradient tensor, which quantifies the intensities of shear and rigid-body rotation at a given scale. These motions manifest predominantly as layer and tubular vortical structures, respectively. The scale dependence of the moments of velocity increments, associated with shear and rigid-body rotation, exhibits power-law behaviours. The scaling exponents for shear are in quantitative alignment with the anomalous scaling of the velocity structure functions, suggesting that velocity increments are influenced predominantly by shearing motion. In contrast, the exponents for rigid-body rotation are markedly smaller than those predicted by Kolmogorov scaling, reflecting the high intermittency of rigid-body rotation. The mean flow structure associated with shear at intermediate scales is investigated with conditional averages around locally intense shear regions in the filtered velocity field. The averaged flow field exhibits a shear layer structure with aspect ratio approximately 4.5, surrounded by rotating motion. The analysis at different scales reveals the existence of self-similar structures of shearing motion across various scales. The mean velocity jump across the shear layer increases with the layer thickness. This relationship is well predicted by Kolmogorov's second similarity hypothesis, which is useful in predicting the mean characteristics of shear layers across a wide range of scales.

Influence of Double-Ducted Serpentine Nozzle Configurations on the Interaction Characteristics between the External and Nozzle Flow of Aircraft

To clarify the influence of the serpentine nozzle configurations on the flow characteristics and aerodynamic performance of aircraft, the flow features and aerodynamic performances of the double-ducted serpentine nozzles with different aspect ratios (AR), length–diameter ratios (LDR) and shielding ratios (SR) are numerically investigated. The results show that the asymmetric nozzle flow occurs due to the curved profile of serpentine nozzles, and a local accelerating effect exists at the S-bend, causing the increase in wall shear stress. The unilateral unsymmetrical expansion of the tail jet in the upward direction interacts with the separated external flow of the afterbody, forming an obvious cross-shock wave and shear layer structure. The surface pressure of the afterbody increases along the external flow direction, and decreases sharply in the separation point of the boundary layer. With the increase in AR and LDR, the local accelerating effect of the nozzle flow weakens, while with the increase in SR, the accelerating effect increases. The total pressure recovery coefficient, flow coefficient and axial thrust coefficient all decrease with the increase in AR, LDR, and SR. The thrust vector angle decreases with the increase in AR but is less affected by LDR and SR.

Internal shear layers in librating spherical shells: the case of attractors

Following our previous work on periodic ray paths (He et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 939, 2022, A3), we study asymptotically and numerically the structure of internal shear layers for very small Ekman numbers in a three-dimensional spherical shell and in a two-dimensional cylindrical annulus when the rays converge towards an attractor. We first show that the asymptotic solution obtained by propagating the self-similar solution generated at the critical latitude on the librating inner core describes the main features of the numerical solution. The internal shear layer structure and the scaling for its width and velocity amplitude in $E^{1/3}$ and $E^{1/12}$ , respectively, are recovered. The amplitude of the asymptotic solution is shown to decrease to $E^{1/6}$ when it reaches the attractor, as is also observed numerically. However, some discrepancies are observed close to the particular attractors along which the phase of the wave beam remains constant. Another asymptotic solution close to those attractors is then constructed using the model of Ogilvie (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 543, 2005, pp. 19–44). The solution obtained for the velocity has an $O(E^{1/6})$ amplitude, but a self-similar structure different from the critical-latitude solution. It also depends on the Ekman pumping at the contact points of the attractor with the boundaries. We demonstrate that it reproduces correctly the numerical solution. Surprisingly, the numerical solution close to an attractor with phase shift (that is, an attractor touching the axis in three or two dimensions with a symmetric forcing) is also found to be $O(E^{1/6})$ , but its amplitude is much weaker. However, its asymptotic structure remains a mystery.

Experimental Study on the Flow Pattern of Double-hemisphere Rough Elements with Different Streamwise Spacing

Particle image velocimetry is used to study the variation around single- and double-hemisphere rough elements with different streamwise spacings immersed in the boundary layer. Instantaneous velocity field information in the streamwise–normal and streamwise–spanwise directions is collected at a Reynolds number of 1800. 3R, 5R, and 7R are determined as the rough element spacing used in the double-hemisphere rough element experiment, representing the smaller, medium transition, and larger rough element spacing, respectively. The average velocity, Reynolds shear stress, shedding frequency, and proper orthogonal decomposition results of the flow field around the rough elements under various working conditions were compared. The downstream hemisphere will encroach on the streamline following the upstream hemisphere, and changing the spacing means changing the position of the encroached area. When the spacing is smaller, the streamline reattachment is destroyed, and the momentum and mass exchange between the two-hemisphere rough elements decreases. The double-hemisphere rough element is a slender, blunt, rough element. At the medium transition spacing, the shear layer and vortex structure shed from the upstream hemisphere are over the downstream hemisphere, and the double-hemisphere rough elements will cause disturbance in a larger wall-normal range. The streamline has been reattached at the larger streamwise spacing, and the interaction between the two hemispheres is the weakest. Here, the double-hemisphere rough element will form the recirculation zone, recirculation arch vortex, and periodic hairpin vortex.

Effect of tabs on the shear layer dynamics of a jet in cross-flow

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of a jet in cross-flow (JICF) with a triangular tab at two positions are performed at jet-to-cross-flow velocity ratios of $R = 2$ and $4$ with a jet Reynolds number of 2000 based on the jet's bulk velocity and exit diameter. The DNS and dynamic mode decomposition show the sensitivity of the tab's effect on the jet upstream shear layer (USL) structure and cross-section to $R$ , echoing the experimental discoveries of Harris et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 918, 2021). Furthermore, DNS reveals that the presence of a tab placed on the upstream side of the nozzle significantly modifies the USL through production of streamwise vortices that curl around the spanwise vortex tubes originating from the primary instability of the USL. This provides an explanation for the improvement in mixing that has been associated with an upstream tab. The streamwise vortex structure shows remarkable similarities to the ‘strain-oriented vortex tubes’ observed for disturbed plane shear layers by Lasheras & Choi (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 189, 1988, pp. 53–86). For both $R$ cases, the USL instability is delayed, the jet penetration is reduced, and the jet cross-section is flattened, although the tab has a less pronounced effect on the USL structure at higher velocity ratios, where the formation of the streamwise vortices is delayed. In contrast, a tab placed 45 $^\circ$ from the upstream position produces significantly different effects compared with the upstream tab. At $R = 4$ , the jet cross-section is significantly skewed away from the tab and a tertiary vortex is formed, as observed in past studies of round JICFs at relatively high $R$ and low Reynolds numbers. The ability of the tab to produce a controllable steady-state tertiary vortex has implications for a variety of applications. The 45 $^\circ$ tab produces asymmetric effects in the wake of the jet at $R = 2$ , but the effect on the jet cross-section is much smaller, highlighting the sensitivity of jets at high $R$ to asymmetric perturbations.

Large-Eddy Simulations of Unsteady Reaction Flow Characteristics Using Four Geometrical Combustor Models

Combustion instability constitutes the primary loss source of combustion chambers, gas turbines, and aero engines, and it affects combustion performance or results in a sudden local oscillation. Therefore, this study investigated the factors affecting flame fluctuation on unsteady combustion flow fields through large-eddy simulations. The effects of primary and secondary holes in a triple swirler staged combustor on flame propagation and pressure fluctuation in a combustion field were studied. Moreover, the energy oscillations and dominant frequencies in the combustion field were obtained using the power spectral density technique. The results revealed a variation in the vortex structure and Kelvin–Helmholtz instability in the combustion field, along with a variation in the pressure pulsation during flame propagation under the influence of the primary and secondary hole structures. Additionally, the spatial distributions of pressure oscillation and heat release rate amplitude were obtained, revealing that the foregoing increased owing to the primary and secondary holes in the combustion field, reaching a peak in the shear layer and vortex structure regions.

Air flow and sediment transport dynamics on a foredune with contrasting vegetation cover

AbstractWind flow and sediment transport across a northern California beach‐foredune system with two adjacent vegetation types are examined for the same incident wind conditions. The invasive Ammophila arenaria was taller (c. 1 m) with denser coverage than the neighbouring Elymus mollis alliance canopy (c. 0.65 m), which consisted of a variety of interspersed native plants. Wind flow was measured with rotating cup and sonic anemometry, while sediment transport was measured using laser particle counters. Wind speed profiles over the two canopies were significantly different because of differing vegetation height, coverage density, and stem stiffness. In both cases, there was a lower zone of semi‐stagnant air (below about 0.3 m) that transitioned upward to a shear zone comprising the upper part of the canopy and immediately above. The shear zone above the Elymus canopy was relatively thin (confined to 0.3–0.5 m above‐ground) whereas the shear zone in the Ammophila canopy was thicker extending from a height of about 0.5h (h is average plant height) to about 1.5h. Vertical profiles of Reynolds shear stress (RSS) and turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) are consistent with the shear layer structure over these two contrasting vegetation canopies. The degree of topographically‐forced and vegetation‐enhanced flow steering was significant, with Ammophila strongly shifting the highly oblique (55°) incident wind to essentially shore‐perpendicular trajectories. In comparison, the shore‐perpendicular steering effect was not as pronounced for the Elymus canopy. Sediment transport intensity on the beach was continuous, but decreased progressively to the dune toe, and then dropped to essentially zero once the vegetation canopy was encountered (on the stoss slope). Overall, the study illustrates the significant differences in wind flow and turbulence conditions that may occur in contrasting plant canopies on foredunes, suggesting that greater attention needs to be placed on vegetation roughness characteristics in models of foredune morphodynamics and sediment transport potential.

Supersonic cavity shear layer control using spanwise pulsed spark discharge array

An experimental study on supersonic cavity flow control using a spanwise pulsed spark discharge array (SP-PSDA) is performed in this paper. High-speed schlieren imaging at a frame rate of 50 kHz is deployed for flow visualization. The schlieren snapshots, as well as their statistics, are analyzed to reveal the supersonic cavity flow control effect and its underlying mechanism. Results show that the shear layer presents a wave-like oscillation due to thermal bulbs induced by SP-PSDA. Specifically, the shear layer structure in the baseline case resembles an incomplete hairpin structure, which becomes complete after plasma actuation. SP-PSDA actuation at 5 kHz has a better control effect, which enhances the IRMS of the whole hairpin structure and produces several channels within it—these aid momentum transport within the shear layer. According to the results of proper orthogonal decomposition, the thermal bulbs couple with the shear layer to form large-scale coherent structures. These structures excite the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, converting the oscillation frequency of the shear layer to an actuation frequency.

Effect of vorticity transport on flow structure in the tip region of axial compressors

Numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the flow structure in the blade tip region of axial compressors. Various tip clearance heights and end wall motion conditions in a linear compressor cascade are studied to assess the effect of vorticity transport on the tip leakage flow (TLF). Moreover, the effect of vorticity transport on the TLF in a compressor rotor at different operating conditions is studied using delayed detached eddy simulation. The results show that the vorticity transport at both the blade tip and the end wall plays an important role in the roll-up and evolution of the tip leakage vortex (TLV), resulting in great impacts on the loss and stability of the TLV. It is found that the TLV is composed of a two-layer structure. The inner vortex core region formed by the vorticity transport from the blade tip shear layer to the TLV has a great effect on the strength and loss of the vortex, and the structure of the outer shear layer is altered by the secondary vortex formed by the vorticity transport from the end wall shear layer and thus affects the stability of the TLV. By the mechanism of the vorticity transport, the effects of the clearance height, the end wall motion, and the non-uniform clearance as a control method can be explained uniformly. The new understanding of the TLF structure and the vorticity transport mechanism helps to improve the performance of axial compressors by controlling the vorticity transport of the TLF.

Internal shear layers in librating spherical shells: the case of periodic characteristic paths

Internal shear layers generated by the longitudinal libration of the inner core in a spherical shell rotating at a rate $\varOmega ^*$ are analysed asymptotically and numerically. The forcing frequency is chosen as $\sqrt {2}\varOmega ^*$ such that the layers issued from the inner core at the critical latitude in the form of concentrated conical beams draw a simple rectangular pattern in meridional cross-sections. The asymptotic structure of the internal shear layers is described by extending the self-similar solution known for open domains to closed domains where reflections on the boundaries occur. The periodic ray path ensures that the beams remain localised around it. Asymptotic solutions for both the main beam along the critical line and the weaker secondary beam perpendicular to it are obtained. The asymptotic predictions are compared with direct numerical results obtained for Ekman numbers as low as $E=10^{-10}$ . The agreement between the asymptotic predictions and numerical results improves as the Ekman number decreases. The asymptotic scalings in $E^{1/12}$ and $E^{1/4}$ for the amplitudes of the main and secondary beams, respectively, are recovered numerically. Since the self-similar solution is singular on the axis, a new local asymptotic solution is derived close to the axis and is also validated numerically. This study demonstrates that, in the limit of vanishing Ekman numbers and for particular frequencies, the main features of the flow generated by a librating inner core are obtained by propagating through the spherical shell the self-similar solution generated by the singularity at the critical latitude on the inner core.

Wave trapping and E × B staircases

A model of E × B staircases is proposed based on a wave kinetic equation coupled to a poloidal momentum equation. A staircase pattern is idealized as a periodic radial structure of zonal shear layers that bound regions of propagating wave packets, viewed as avalanches. Wave packets are trapped in shear flow layers due to refraction. In this model, an E × B staircase motif emerges due to the interaction between propagating wave packets (avalanches) and trapped waves in the presence of an instability drive. Amplitude, shape, and spatial period of the staircase E × B flow are predicted as functions of the background fluctuation spectrum and the growth rate of drift waves. The zonal flow velocity radial profile is found to peak near its maxima and to flatten near its minima. The optimum configuration for staircase formation is a growth rate, that is, maximum at zero radial wave number. A mean shear flow is responsible for a preferential propagation speed of avalanches. It is not a mandatory condition for the existence of staircase solutions, but has an impact on their spatial period.

Experimental investigation into effects of boundary proximity and blockage on horizontal-axis tidal turbine wake

This study examined how the wake of a scaled turbine was changed by a bypass using three different water depths with the hub at mid-depth, and one water depth with the hub at 40%, 50%, and 60% of the channel depth. The velocity of the flow field was sampled to compare the distributions of the turbulence intensity, velocity deficit, shear layer structure, and wake rotation among the different cases. In the experiments, the shear layer had an expansion rate of 0.14–0.22 and was transversally elliptical, as also shown in other works, as a result of the compression of the wake. The downstream turbulence intensities changed from a trimodal into a decreasing bimodal distribution until the recovery of flow was detected at 12 times the rotor diameter. The rotational velocity of the wake followed a sigmoid function and was larger in the transversal than in the lateral plane by virtue of the mass flow differences within the bypass and pile interference. Overall, an increase in the wake deficit was associated with the blockage ratio and proximity of the turbine to the water surface. It could be argued that the benefits of the blockage and greater current speeds in power extraction were offset by the wake prolongation, which has implications for multi-unit designs.

Investigation of store separation characteristics by leading edge spoilers before supersonic cavity

The internal cavity is widely used on new generation aircraft. However, there are some new aerodynamic and acoustic issues accompanied with the internal cavity. Store separation is a challenge when separated from a high-speed cavity, the store usually generates nose-up pitch moment due to the separated flow and large static pressure gradient, which is a threat to store separation safety. Leading edge spoiler is an effective passive flow control method to improve the store separation characteristics, however the effects of varisized leading edge spoiler on store separation characteristics are still unknown. In this paper, a parameterized leading edge spoiler model is established to investigate the store separation characteristics by leading edge spoilers flow control before supersonic cavity, a small aspect ratio fly-wing aircraft and a simplified store model are employed to simulate the store separation characteristics. Numerical results show that the leading edge spoiler lifts the shear layer and significantly changes the pressure distribution inside the cavity, which makes the store a nose down pitch angle during separation. The height of leading edge spoiler greatly influences the store separation characteristics for it changes the shear layer and vortex structure. The angle of spoiler and the gas between spoiler and aircraft also have great effects on store separation, larger angle and smaller gas lead to less nose-up angle.

Influence of scale effect and injection speed on morphology and structure of the microinjection molded isotactic polypropylene parts

AbstractThe morphology and microstructure as well as their forming mechanism of the parts in microinjection molding process are critical. In this work, the coupling effect of scale factor and injection speed on the morphology of the microparts was systematically investigated. Neat isotactic polypropylene parts with thicknesses of 1 mm, 200 μm, and 100 μm were molded at different injection speeds. Polarized light microscope and wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction were used to inspect the microstructures along the sample thickness. In this way, three kinds of typical morphology were observed in the parts, including typical skin‐core structure for the parts with the thickness of 1 mm, noncore shear layer structure for the parts with the thickness of 200 μm, and special skin‐core structure with large fraction of columnar crystal for the parts with the thickness of 100 μm. Most interestingly, it was intuitively and straightforward found that the wall slip occurs when the injection speed exceeds a certain value. Specifically, opposite morphological change trend can be obtained when the parts were molded at different levels of injection speeds. Based on these experimental observations, the formation mechanism was proposed to interpret the morphological evolution. Our work provides a new insight for better understanding the morphology evolution mechanism for microinjection molding parts.

Structural evolution of flow-oriented high density polyethylene upon heating: In situ SAXS and WAXD studies

The structural evolution of micro-injection molded high density polyethylene (HDPE) at the molecular and lamellar levels was investigated as a function of temperature during heating process using wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques. The molded sample exhibits a peculiar multilayer structure of skin and shear layers, and is marked by the existence of shish-kebab-like structure with two populations of lamellar stacks. The variations of the long period as well as the average thicknesses of lamellar and amorphous regions with temperature were determined from one-dimensional correlation functions for the respective lamellar stacks. The average length and the misorientation of shish-like formation were calculated using Ruland equation, and the results indicate that the shish-like structure grows in the longitudinal direction with increasing temperature via incorporation of several partially relaxed chains as a result of autocatalytic process. In addition, the degree of orientation of the chains in the crystalline phase was found to increase slightly with increasing temperature below 100 °C, which could be traced back to the formation of additional crystallites with a low degree of orientation after injection molding. These crystalline lamellae built up during the secondary crystallization are less thermally stable than the primary ones, and therefore are melted selectively upon annealing at relatively lower temperatures yielding an overall increase in the molecular orientation.

How the turbulent/non-turbulent interface is different from internal turbulence

The average patterns of the velocity and scalar fields near turbulent/non-turbulent interfaces (TNTI), obtained from direct numerical simulations (DNS) of planar turbulent jets and shear free turbulence, are assessed in the strain eigenframe. These flow patterns help to clarify many aspects of the flow dynamics, including a passive scalar, near a TNTI layer, that are otherwise not easily and clearly assessed. The averaged flow field near the TNTI layer exhibits a saddle-node flow topology associated with a vortex in one half of the interface, while the other half of the interface consists of a shear layer. This observed flow pattern is thus very different from the shear-layer structure consisting of two aligned vortical motions bounded by two large-scale regions of uniform flow, that typically characterizes the average strain field in the fully developed turbulent regions. Moreover, strain dominates over vorticity near the TNTI layer, in contrast to internal turbulence. Consequently, the most compressive principal straining direction is perpendicular to the TNTI layer, and the characteristic 45-degree angle displayed in internal shear layers is not observed at the TNTI layer. The particular flow pattern observed near the TNTI layer has important consequences for the dynamics of a passive scalar field, and explains why regions of particularly high scalar gradient (magnitude) are typically found at TNTIs separating fluid with different levels of scalar concentration. Finally, it is demonstrated that, within the fully developed internal turbulent region, the scalar gradient exhibits an angle with the most compressive straining direction with a peak probability at around 20$^{\text{o}}$. The scalar gradient and the most compressive strain are not preferentially aligned, as has been considered for many years. The misconception originated from an ambiguous definition of the positive directions of the strain eigenvectors.

Tracer particle dispersion around elementary flow patterns

The motion of tracer particles is kinematically simulated around three elementary flow patterns; a Burgers vortex, a shear-layer structure with coincident vortices and a node-saddle topology. These patterns are representative for their broader class of coherent structures in turbulence. Therefore, examining the dispersion in these elementary structures can improve the general understanding of turbulent dispersion at short time scales. The shear-layer structure and the node-saddle topology exhibit similar pair dispersion statistics compared to the actual turbulent flow for times up to $3{-}10\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}}$, where, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}}$ is the Kolmogorov time scale. However, oscillations are observed for the pair dispersion in the Burgers vortex. Furthermore, all three structures exhibit Batchelor’s scaling. Richardson’s scaling was observed for initial particle pair separations $r_{0}\leqslant 4\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$ for the shear-layer topology and the node-saddle topology and was related to the formation of the particle sheets. Moreover, the material line orientation statistics for the shear-layer and node-saddle topology are similar to the actual turbulent flow statistics, up to at least $4\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}}$. However, only the shear-layer structure can explain the non-perpendicular preferential alignment between the material lines and the direction of the most compressive strain, as observed in actual turbulence. This behaviour is due to shear-layer vorticity, which rotates the particle sheet generated by straining motions and causes the particles to spread in the direction of compressive strain also. The material line statistics in the Burgers vortex clearly differ, due to the presence of two compressive principal straining directions as opposed to two stretching directions in the shear-layer structure and the node-saddle topology. The tetrad dispersion statistics for the shear-layer structure qualitatively capture the behaviour of the shape parameters as observed in actual turbulence. In particular, it shows the initial development towards planar shapes followed by a return to more volumetric tetrads at approximately $10\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}}$, which is associated with the particles approaching the vortices inside the shear layer. However, a large deviation is observed in such behaviour in the node-saddle topology and the Burgers vortex. It is concluded that the results for the Burgers vortex deviated the most from actual turbulence and the node-saddle topology dispersion exhibits some similarities, but does not capture the geometrical features associated with material lines and tetrad dispersion. Finally, the dispersion around the shear-layer structure shows many quantitative (until 2–$4\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}}$) and qualitative (until $20\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}}$) similarities to the actual turbulence.

The scaling of straining motions in homogeneous isotropic turbulence

The scaling of turbulent motions is investigated by considering the flow in the eigenframe of the local strain-rate tensor. The flow patterns in this frame of reference are evaluated using existing direct numerical simulations of homogeneous isotropic turbulence over a Reynolds number range from $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}=34.6$ up to 1131, and also with reference to data for inhomogeneous, anisotropic wall turbulence. The average flow in the eigenframe reveals a shear layer structure containing tube-like vortices and a dissipation sheet, whose dimensions scale with the Kolmogorov length scale, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$. The vorticity stretching motions scale with the Taylor length scale, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}_{T}$, while the flow outside the shear layer scales with the integral length scale, $L$. Furthermore, the spatial organization of the vortices and the dissipation sheet defines a characteristic small-scale structure. The overall size of this characteristic small-scale structure is $120\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$ in all directions based on the coherence length of the vorticity. This is considerably larger than the typical size of individual vortices, and reflects the importance of spatial organization at the small scales. Comparing the overall size of the characteristic small-scale structure with the largest flow scales and the vorticity stretching motions on the scale of $4\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}_{T}$ shows that transitions in flow structure occur where $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}\approx 45$ and 250. Below these respective transitional Reynolds numbers, the small-scale motions and the vorticity stretching motions are progressively less well developed. Scale interactions are examined by decomposing the average shear layer into a local flow, which is induced by the shear layer vorticity, and a non-local flow, which represents the environment of the characteristic small-scale structure. The non-local strain is $4\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}_{T}$ in width and height, which is consistent with observations in high Reynolds number flow of a $4\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}_{T}$ wide instantaneous shear layer with many $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$-scale vortical structures inside (Ishihara et al., Flow Turbul. Combust., vol. 91, 2013, pp. 895–929). In the average shear layer, vorticity aligns with the intermediate principal strain at small scales, while it aligns with the most stretching principal strain at larger scales, consistent with instantaneous turbulence. The length scale at which the alignment changes depends on the Reynolds number. When conditioning the flow in the eigenframe on extreme dissipation, the velocity is strongly affected over large distances. Moreover, the associated peak velocity remains Reynolds number dependent when normalized by the Kolmogorov velocity scale. It signifies that extreme dissipation is not simply a small-scale property, but is associated with large scales at the same time.

Stability of a radially stretching disk beneath a uniformly rotating fluid

The steady radial stretching of a disk beneath a rigidly rotating flow with constant angular velocity is considered. The steady base flow is determined numerically for both a stretching and a shrinking disk. The convective instability properties of the flow are examined using temporal stability analysis of the governing Rayleigh equation, and typically for small to moderate radial wave numbers, the range of azimuthal wave numbers β , over which the flow is unstable increases for both a stretched and a shrinking disk, compared to the unstretched case. The inviscid absolute instability properties of the resulting base flows are also examined using spatiotemporal stability analysis. For suitably large stretching rates, the flow is absolutely unstable in only a small range of positive β . For small stretching rates there exists a second region of absolute instability for a range of negative β values. In this region the “effective” two-dimensional base flow, comprised of a linear combination of the radial and azimuthal velocity profiles that enter the Rayleigh equation calculation, has a critical point (unlike for β > 0 ) that can dominate the absolute instability growth rate contribution compared to the shear layer component. A similar behavior is found to occur for a radially shrinking disk, except these profiles have a strong shear layer structure and hence are more unstable than the stretching disk profiles. We thus find for a suitably large shrinking rate the absolute instability contribution from the critical point becomes subdominant to the shear layer contribution.

Control of Supersonic Cavity Flow Using Plasma Actuators

Cavity flows are present in a wide range of aerospace applications. The pressure fluctuations associated with cavity resonance have made them the target of significant flow control efforts aimed at suppressing resonance. A potential scramjet application for cavity flows may require resonance enhancement in addition to resonance suppression. Localized arc filament plasma actuators have demonstrated the ability to control a high subsonic cavity flow. This work investigates the control authority of the localized arc filament plasma actuators in a supersonic () cavity flow. The localized arc filament plasma actuators significantly suppress the primary cavity resonance of a naturally and strongly resonating cavity. Additionally, the trend in effectiveness suggests that introducing mode competition through the excitation of the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, and thereby influencing the shear-layer structure formation process, is the likely control mechanism. The effects of two-dimensional and three-dimensional excitation are explored. Although two-dimensional excitation achieves the greatest resonance suppression, three-dimensional excitation shows similar suppression with significantly less sensitivity to the excitation Strouhal number, making it more desirable for practical applications. In a weakly resonating cavity, the flow significantly responds to excitation near the resonance Strouhal numbers. However, electromagnetic interference makes it difficult to quantify the level of resonance enhancement.