Transient Growth Of Perturbations Research Articles

Vorticity wave interaction, Krein collision, and exceptional points in shear flow instabilities.

We relate the model of vorticity wave interaction to Krein collision, PT-symmetry breaking, and the formation of exceptional points in shear flow instabilities. We show that the dynamical system of coupled vorticity waves is a pseudo-Hermitian system with nonreciprocal coupling terms. Krein signatures of the eigenvalues are illustrated as the signs of the action of the vorticity waves. Interaction between positive-action and negative-action vorticity waves then corresponds to the Krein collision between eigenvalues with opposite Krein signatures, the spontaneous breaking of PT symmetry, and the formation of exceptional points. The control parameter of the PT-symmetry-breaking bifurcation is the ratio between frequency detuning and coupling strength of the vorticity waves. The critical behavior near the exceptional points is described as a transition between phase-locking and phase-slip dynamics of the vorticity waves. The phase-slip dynamics correspond to nonmodal, transient growth of perturbations in the regime of unbroken PT symmetry, and the phase-slip frequency Ω∝|k-k_{c}|^{1/2} shares the same critical exponent with the phase rigidity of system eigenvectors.

A time-domain linear method for jet noise prediction and control trend analysis

Large-scale turbulent structures in the form of coherent wavepackets play a significant role in the generation of prominent shallow-angle noise radiation of jets. Economical prediction tools often model these wavepackets in the frequency-domain using stability modes of the mean flow. Simplifying choices, such as parabolized equations and azimuthal decomposition, provide efficient prediction methods but can impose constraints on rate of streamwise variation of the mean state or geometric complexity, thus limiting the range of application to mostly perfectly-expanded circular jets. The current investigation develops a time-domain linearized Navier-Stokes-based approach predicated on the mean basic state with two goals: (i) to obtain the radiated shallow-angle noise field, including that from imperfectly-expanded jets containing shock trains, and (ii) to estimate noise control trends with frequency imposed by a notional actuator. Implicit linearization about the mean flow is achieved through a general method that repurposes native non-linear Navier-Stokes code capabilities; this avoids any additional constraints on nozzle geometry or flow features such as shocks. A crucial step is to sift the linearized perturbations to isolate the acoustic component according to Doak's momentum potential theory (MPT). Comparisons with well-validated Large Eddy Simulation (LES) databases in different spectral ranges show accurate model predictions for super-radiative shallow angle noise, including for hot jets from military-style nozzles. Transient pulse response enabled by the time-domain nature of the procedure also facilitates estimation of control frequency effectiveness. For this, the transient perturbation growth characteristics are segregated into the distinct effects of the excitation on vorticity relative to the MPT acoustic variable. For a jet with extensive published experimental data using plasma actuators, it is shown that the method correctly predicts noise amplification at lower frequencies and reduction at higher values, at the observed crossover location. Considerations on the costs associated with the approach, which exploits linearity to extract results at multiple frequencies with each simulation, are outlined.

Optimal suppression of a separation bubble in a laminar boundary layer

By means of nonlinear optimization, we seek the velocity disturbances at a given upstream position that suppress a laminar separation bubble as effectively as possible. Both steady and unsteady disturbances are examined and compared. For steady disturbances, an informed guess based on linear analysis of transient perturbation growth leads to significant delay of separation and serves as a starting point for the nonlinear optimization algorithm. It is found that the linear analysis largely captures the suppression of the separation bubble attained by the nonlinear optimal perturbations. The mechanism of separation delay is the generation of a mean flow distortion by nonlinear interactions during the perturbation growth. The mean flow distortion enhances the momentum close to the wall, counteracting the deceleration of the flow in that region. An examination of the effect of the disturbance spanwise wavenumber reveals that perturbations maximizing the mean flow distortion also approximately maximize the peak wall pressure, which is beneficial for lowering form drag. The optimal spanwise wavenumber leading to maximal peak wall pressure is significantly larger than the one maximizing the shift in separation onset. For unsteady disturbances, the mechanism of separation delay relies on enhancing wall-normal momentum transfer by triggering instabilities of the separated shear layer. It is found that Tollmien–Schlichting waves obtained from linear stability theory provide accurate estimates of the nonlinearly optimal disturbances. Comparison of optimal steady and unsteady perturbations reveals that the latter are able to obtain a higher time-averaged peak wall pressure.

Instantaneous linear stability of plane Poiseuille flow forced by spanwise oscillations

In the present work, the stability of a plane Poiseuille flow forced by spanwise oscillations is studied via the instantaneous linear stability theory (LST). For streamwise Poiseuille flow and a spanwise Stokes layer, the superposition of these two linearly stable flows can lead to transient growth of perturbations. Periodic and aperiodic growth rates over time are found. Mode-crossing is observed in the aperiodic mode. Effects of oscillation amplitude W0 and frequency Ω are studied. The maximum instantaneous growth rate increases with increasing W0. At low W0, the stability of the flow is dominated by the corresponding Poiseuille flow or by the interactions between the two flows. At high W0, the stability characteristics of the Poiseuille–Stokes flow are very similar to those of the corresponding Stokes layer. It is demonstrated that oscillations have destabilizing effects in short-time intervals of one oscillation period. Oscillations of extremely low or high Ω have much weaker effects than those of medium Ω. The transient growth of the most unstable mode is traced by using direct numerical simulation (DNS). Instantaneous LST can capture the transient growth but fails to predict the accurate growth rate when the amplification ratio is higher than e9. The difference between LST and DNS is mainly due to the incorrect production of LST without nonlinear transportation. From the growing phase to the decay phase of the transient mode, the production term shifts from the destabilizing role to the stabilizing role because of the correlation-phase reversal of the perturbation velocities.

Sustaining turbulence in spectrally stable shear flows – interplay of linear transient growth and nonlinear transverse cascade

We analyze the sustaining mechanism of nonlinear perturbations/turbulence in spectrally stable smooth shear flows. The essence of the sustenance is a subtle interplay of linear transient growth of Fourier harmonics and nonlinear processes. In spectrally stable shear flows, the transient growth of perturbations is strongly anisotropic in spectral (k-)space. This, in turn, leads to anisotropy of nonlinear processes ink-space and, as a result, the main (new) nonlinear process appears to be not a direct/inverse, but rather a transverse/angular redistribution of harmonics in Fourier space referred to as the nonlinear transverse cascade. It is demonstrated that nonlinear state is sustained owing to the interplay of the linear nonmodal growth and the transverse cascade. The possibility of such course of events has been described ink-space byG. Chagelishvili, J.-P. Zahn, A. Tevzadze and J. Lominadze, A&A, 402, 401 (2003)that reliably exemplifies the well-known bypass scenario of subcritical turbulence in spectrally stable shear flows. We present selected results of the simulations performed in different (HD and MHD; 2D and 3D; plane and Keplerian) shear flows to demonstrate the transverse cascade in action.

Non-normality increases variance of gravity waves trapped in a tilted box

ABSTRACTWe study the prototype problem of internal gravity waves in a square domain tilted with respect to the gravity vector by an angle θ. Only for and a countable number of other angles regular normal modes exist, for all other angles wave attractors and singularities dominate the flow. We show that the linear operator of the governing PDE becomes non-normal for giving rise to non-modal transient growth. This growth depends on the underlying norm: for the variance norm significant growth rates can be found whereas for the energy norm, no growth is possible since, in contrast to shear flows for which the mean flow feeds the perturbations, there is no energy source. We continue by showing that the non-normality of the system matrix is increasing with θ and reaches a maximum for . Moreover, with increasing tilt angle the growth rate is increasing as can be expected from the increasing non-normality of the matrix. Our results imply that at least the most simple wave attractors can be seen as those initial flow fields that gain most of the variance during a given time period. We conclude that in a closed confinement with walls tilted with respect to gravity, internal wave variance can be maintained by transient growth of perturbations without a direct contribution of unstable normal modes.

Non-modal stability analysis of stratified two-phase channel flows

The non-modal transient growth of perturbations in horizontal and inclined channel flows of two immiscible fluids is studied. 3D perturbations are examined in order to find the optimal perturbations that attain the maximum amplification of perturbation energy at relatively short times. Definition of the energy norm is extended to account for the gravitational potential energy along with the kinetic energy and the interfacial capillary energy. Contrarily to the fastest exponential growth, which is reached by essentially 2D perturbations, the maximal non-modal energy growth is attained mostly by three-dimensional spanwise perturbations. Significant transient energy growth is found to occur in linearly stable flow configurations, which, similarly to single phase shear flows, may trigger non-linear destabilizing mechanisms within one of the phases. It is shown that the transient energy growth in linearly stable cases can be accompanied by noticeable interface deformations. Therefore, flow pattern transition due to non-modal transient growth and reduction of the range of operational conditions for which stratified-smooth flow remains stable cannot be ruled out.

Large-scale structures in a turbulent channel flow with a minimal streamwise flow unit

Direct numerical simulations are used to examine large-scale motions with a streamwise length$2\sim 4h$($h$denotes the channel half-width) in the logarithmic and outer regions of a turbulent channel flow. We test a minimal ‘streamwise’ flow unit (Toh & Itano,J. Fluid Mech., vol. 524, 2005, pp. 249–262) (or MSU) for larger Kármán numbers ($h^{+}=395$and 1020) than in the original work. This flow unit consists of a sufficiently long (${L_{x}}^{+}\approx 400$) streamwise domain to maintain near-wall turbulence (Jiménez & Moin,J. Fluid Mech., vol. 225, 1991, pp. 213–240) and a spanwise domain which is large enough to represent the spanwise behaviour of inner and outer structures correctly; as$h^{+}$increases, the streamwise extent of the MSU domain decreases with respect to$h$. Particular attention is given to whether the spanwise organization of the large-scale structures may be represented properly in this simplified system at sufficiently large$h^{+}$and how these structures are associated with the mean streamwise velocity$\overline{U}$. It is shown that, in the MSU, the large-scale structures become approximately two-dimensional at$h^{+}=1020$. In this case, the streamwise velocity fluctuation$u$is energized, whereas the spanwise velocity fluctuation$w$is weakened significantly. Indeed, there is a reduced energy redistribution arising from the impaired global nature of the pressure, which is linked to the reduced linear–nonlinear interaction in the Poisson equation (i.e. the rapid pressure). The logarithmic dependence of$\overline{ww}$is also more evident due to the reduced large-scale spanwise meandering. On the other hand, the spanwise organization of the large-scale$u$structures is essentially identical for the MSU and large streamwise domain (LSD). One discernible difference, relative to the LSD, is that the large-scale structures in the MSU are more energized in the outer region due to a reduced turbulent diffusion. In this region, there is a tight coupling between neighbouring structures, which yields antisymmetric pairs (with respect to centreline) of large-scale structures with a spanwise spacing of approximately$3h$; this is intrinsically identical with the outer energetic mode in the optimal transient growth of perturbations (del Álamo & Jiménez,J. Fluid Mech., vol. 561, 2006, pp. 329–358).

Optimal energy growth in a stably stratified shear flow

Transient growth of perturbations by a linear non-modal evolution is studied here in a stably stratified bounded Couette flow. The density stratification is linear. Classical inviscid stability theory states that a parallel shear flow is stable to exponentially growing disturbances if the Richardson number (Ri) is greater than 1/4 everywhere in the flow. Experiments and numerical simulations at higher Ri show however that algebraically growing disturbances can lead to transient amplification. The complexity of a stably stratified shear flow stems from its ability to combine this transient amplification with propagating internal gravity waves (IGWs). The optimal perturbations associated with maximum energy amplification are numerically obtained at intermediate Reynolds numbers. It is shown that in this wall-bounded flow, the three-dimensional optimal perturbations are oblique, unlike in unstratified flow. A partitioning of energy into kinetic and potential helps in understanding the exchange of energies and how it modifies the transient growth. We show that the apportionment between potential and kinetic energy depends, in an interesting manner, on the Richardson number, and on time, as the transient growth proceeds from an optimal perturbation. The oft-quoted stabilizing role of stratification is also probed in the non-diffusive limit in the context of disturbance energy amplification.

Life stages of wall-bounded decay of Taylor-Couette turbulence

The decay of Taylor-Couette turbulence, i.e~the flow between two coaxial and independently rotating cylinders, is numerically studied by instantaneously stopping the forcing from an initially statistically stationary flow field at a Reynolds number of $Re=3.5\times 10^4$. The effect of wall-friction is analysed by comparing three separate cases, in which the cylinders are either suddenly made no-slip or stress-free. Different life stages are observed during the decay. In the first stage, the decay is dominated by large-scale rolls. Counterintuitively, when these rolls fade away, if the flow inertia is small a redistribution of energy occurs, the energy of the azimuthal velocity behaves non-monotonically: first decreasing by almost two orders of magnitude, and then increasing during the redistribution. The second stage is dominated by non-normal transient growth of perturbations in the axial (spanwise) direction. Once this mechanism is exhausted, the flow enters the final life stage, viscous decay, which is dominated by wall-friction. We show that this stage can be modeled by a one-dimensional heat equation, and that self-similar velocity profiles collapse onto the theoretical solution.

Linear stability analysis of magnetohydrodynamic duct flows with perfectly conducting walls.

The stability of magnetohydrodynamic flow in a duct with perfectly conducting walls is investigated in the presence of a homogeneous and constant static magnetic field. The temporal growth and spatial distribution of perturbations are obtained by solving iteratively the direct and adjoint governing equations with respect of perturbations, based on nonmodal stability theory. The effect of the applied magnetic field, as well as the aspect ratio of the duct on the stability of the magnetohydrodynamic duct flow is taken into account. The computational results show that, weak jets appear near the sidewalls at a moderate magnetic field and the velocity of the jet increases with the increase of the intensity of the magnetic field. The duct flow is stable at either weak or strong magnetic field, but becomes unstable at moderate intensity magnetic field, and the stability is invariance with the aspect ratio of the duct. The instability of magnetohydrodynamic duct flow is related with the exponential growth of perturbations evolving on the fully developed jets. Transient growth of perturbations is also observed in the computation and the optimal perturbation is found to be in the form of streamwise vortices and localized within the sidewall layers. By contrast, the Hartmann layer perpendicular to the magnetic field is irrelevant to the stability issue of the magnetohydrodynamic duct flow.

Optimal transient growth on a vortex ring and its transition via cascade of ringlets

Linear and nonlinear transient growths of perturbations on a vortex ring up to Reynolds number ($\equiv$ circulation/viscosity) $Re=27\,000$ are studied. For short time intervals, perturbations around the ring axis undergo the strongest linear transient growth and lead to secondary structures in the form of ringlets, owing to the Orr mechanism and an inviscid vorticity-amplification mechanism: in contrast to the well-reported instabilities and lobe structures along the vortex ring core. These secondary ringlet structures induce a tertiary group of ringlets through similar transient perturbation growth. This cascade of ringlets lead to the breakup of the main ring even before activation of the vortex-core instabilities. Such a cascade scenario is also observed in the development of a vortex ring perturbed by random disturbance in the axis region. These new modes and mechanisms for the generation and breakup of vortex ring structures bring insights into the dynamics and control of vortex ring flows.

Algorithm for transient growth of perturbations in channel Poiseuille flow

This study develops a direct optimal growth algorithm for three-dimensional transient growth analysis of perturbations in channel flows which are globally stable but locally unstable. Different from traditional non-modal methods based on the Orr-Sommerfeld and Squire (OSS) equations that assume simple base flows, this algorithm can be applied to arbitrarily complex base flows. In the proposed algorithm, a re-orthogonalization Arnoldi method is used to improve orthogonality of the orthogonal basis of the Krylov subspace generated by solving the linearized forward and adjoint Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations. The linearized adjoint N-S equations with the specific boundary conditions for the channel are derived, and a new convergence criterion is pro-posed. The algorithm is then applied to a one-dimensional base flow (the plane Poiseuille flow) and a two-dimensional base flow (the plane Poiseuille flow with a low-speed streak) in a channel. For one-dimensional cases, the effects of the spanwise width of the chan-nel and the Reynolds number on the transient growth of perturbations are studied. For two-dimensional cases, the effect of strength of initial low-speed streak is discussed. The presence of the streak in the plane Poiseuille flow leads to a larger and quicker growth of the perturbations than that in the one-dimensional case. For both cases, the results show that an optimal flow field leading to the largest growth of perturbations is character-ized by high-and low-speed streaks and the corresponding streamwise vortical structures. The lift-up mechanism that induces the transient growth of perturbations is discussed. The performance of the re-orthogonalization Arnoldi technique in the algorithm for both one-and two-dimensional base flows is demonstrated, and the algorithm is validated by comparing the results with those obtained from the OSS equations method and the cross-check method.

Transition scenario and transition control of the flow over a semi-infinite square leading-edge plate

In recent investigations of the flow over a square leading-edge flat plate, elliptic instability and transient growth of perturbations are proposed to explain the turbulent transition mechanism of the separating and reattaching flow reported in early experimental visualizations. An original transition scenario as well as a transition control method is presented by a detailed numerical study in this paper. The transient growth of perturbations in the separation bubble induces the primary instability that causes the 2D unsteady flow consisting of Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) vortices. The pairing instability of the KH vortices induces the subharmonic secondary instability, and then resonance transition occurs. The streamwise Lorentz force as the control input is applied in the recirculation region where the separation bubble generates. The maximum energy amplification magnitude of perturbations takes a linear attenuation with the interaction number; thus, the primary instability is reduced under control. The interaction number represents the strength of the streamwise Lorentz force relative to the inertial force of the fluid. The reduced primary instability is not strong enough to induce the secondary instability, so the flow is globally stable under control. Three-dimensional direct numerical simulation confirms the results of the linear stability analysis. Although the growth rate of the convectively unstable secondary instability is limited by the flow field scale, the feedback loop of the energy transfer promotes the resonance transition. However, as the separation bubble scale is reduced and the feedback loop is broken by the streamwise Lorentz force, the three-dimensional transition is suppressed and a skin-friction drag reduction is achieved.

Transient growth of perturbations on scales beyond the accretion disc thickness

Turbulent state of spectrally stable shear flows may be developed and sustained according to the bypass scenario of transition. If it works in non-magnetised boundless and homogeneous quasi-Keplerian flow, transiently growing shearing vortices should supply turbulence with energy. Employing the large shearing box approximation, as well as a set of global disc models, we study the optimal growth of the shearing vortices in such a flow in the whole range of azimuthal length-scales, $\lambda_y$, as compared to the flow scale-height, $H$. It is shown that with the account of the viscosity the highest possible amplification of shearing vortices, $G_{max}$, attains maximum at $\lambda_y\lesssim H$ and declines towards both the large scales $\lambda_y\gg H$ and the small scales $\lambda_y\ll H$ in a good agreement with analytical estimations based on balanced solutions. We pay main attention to the large-scale vortices $\lambda_y\gg H$, which produce $G_{max}\propto (\Omega/\kappa)^4$, where $\Omega$ and $\kappa$ denote local rotational and epicyclic frequencies, respectively. It is demonstrated that the large-scale vortices acquire high density perturbation as they approach the instant of swing. At the same time, their growth is not affected by bulk viscosity. We check that $G_{max}$ obtained globally is comparable to its local counterpart and the shape and localisation of global optimal vortices can be explained in terms of the local approach. The obtained results allow us to suggest that the critical Reynolds number of subcritical transition to turbulence in quasi-Keplerian flow, as well as the corresponding turbulent effective azimuthal stress should substantially depend on shear rate.

Transient growth of perturbations in Stokes oscillatory flows

Oscillatory Stokes flows, with zero mean, are subjected to subcritical transition to turbulence. The maximal energy growth of perturbations is computed in the subcritical regime through an optimisation method. The results show strong amplifications during half a period. The energy transfer from the base flow involves an Orr mechanism with two-dimensional vorticity waves, and the maximum energy scales exponentially with the Reynolds number. Nonlinear simulations show that low-energy perturbations are sufficient to trigger turbulent flow.

Experimental Investigation of Non-Normality of Thermoacoustic Interaction in an Electrically Heated Rijke Tube

An experimental investigation of the non-normal nature of thermoacoustic interactions in an electrically heated horizontal Rijke tube is performed. Since non-normality and the associated transient growth are linear phenomena, the experiments have to be confined to the linear regime. The bifurcation diagram for the subcritical Hopf bifurcation into a limit cycle behavior has been determined, after which the amplitude levels, for which the system acts linearly, have been identified for different power inputs to the heater. There are two main objectives for this experimental investigation. The first one deals with the extraction of the linear eigenmodes associated with the acoustic pressure from experimental data. This is accomplished by the Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) technique applied in the linear regime. The non-orthogonality between the eigenmodes is determined for various values of heater power. The second objective is to identify evidence of transient perturbation growth in the system. The total acoustic energy in the duct has been monitored as the thermoacoustic system evolves from its initial condition. Transient growth, on the order of previous theoretical studies, has been found, and its parameteric dependence on amplitude ratio and phase angle of the initial eigenmode components has been determined. This study represents the first experimental confirmation of non-normality in thermoacoustic systems.

Effects of Free-Stream Turbulence on Transition of a Separated Boundary Layer Over the Leading-Edge of a Constant Thickness Airfoil

This paper describes the change in the transition mechanism of a separated boundary layer formed from the semicircular leading-edge of a constant thickness airfoil as the free-stream turbulence (fst) increases. Experiments are carried out in a low-speed wind tunnel for three levels of fst (Tu = 0.65%, 4.6%, and 7.7%) at two Reynolds numbers (Re) 25,000 and 55,000 (based on the leading-edge diameter). Measurements of velocity and surface pressure along with flow field visualizations are carried out using a planar particle image velocimetry (PIV). The flow undergoes separation in the vicinity of leading-edge and reattaches in the downstream forming a separation bubble. The shear layer is laminar up to 20% of separation length, and then, the perturbations are amplified in the second-half attributing to breakdown and reattachment. The bubble length is highly susceptible to change in Tu. At low fst, the primary mode of instability of the shear layer is Kelvin–Helmholtz (K-H), although the local viscous effect may not be neglected. At high fst, the mechanism of shear layer rollup is bypassed with transient growth of perturbations along with evidence of spot formation. The predominant shedding frequency when normalized with respect to the momentum thickness at separation is almost constant and shows a good agreement with the previous studies. After reattachment, the flow takes longer length to approach a canonical boundary layer.

Transient Growth of Axisymmetric Perturbations in Co-rotating Taylor-couette Flow of a Bingham Fluid

Linear transient growth of perturbation energy is studied in co-rotating Taylor-Couette flow of a Bingham fluid. The effects of yield stress on transient growth and structure of the optimal perturbation are mainly considered. For the wide gap case, the peak of the amplitude of optimal perturbation is shifted towards the inner cylinder with increasing yield stress. The anti-lift-up mechanism found in a range of inner cylinder Reynolds number Re1 is substituted by the classical lift-up view as strong yield stress is imposed. While for the narrow gap case, the peak value of the optimal perturbation is shifted towards the outer cylinder as the yield stress is increased, and the lift-up mechanism always exists.

Curvature suppresses the Rayleigh-Taylor instability

The dynamics of a thin liquid film on the underside of a curved cylindrical substrate is studied. The evolution of the liquid layer is investigated as the film thickness and the radius of curvature of the substrate are varied. A dimensionless parameter (a modified Bond number) that incorporates both geometric parameters, gravity, and surface tension is identified, and allows the observations to be classified according to three different flow regimes: stable films, films with transient growth of perturbations followed by decay, and unstable films. Experiments and linear stability theory confirm that below a critical value of the Bond number curvature of the substrate suppresses the Rayleigh-Taylor instability.