This thesis deals with the instabilities of the incompressible boundary-layer flow thatis induced by a disk rotating in otherwise still fluid. The results presented include bothwork in the linear and nonlinear regime and are derived from direct numerical sim-ulations (DNS). Comparisons are made both to theoretical and experimental resultsproviding new insights into the transition route to turbulence. The simulation codeNek5000 has been chosen for the DNS using a spectral-element method (SEM) witha high-order discretization, and the results were obtained through large-scale paral-lel simulations. The known similarity solution of the Navier–Stokes equations for therotating-disk flow, also called the von K ́arm ́an rotating-disk flow, is reproduced by theDNS. With the addition of modelled small simulated roughnesses on the disk surface,convective instabilities appear and data from the linear region in the DNS are anal-ysed and compared with experimental and theoretical data, all corresponding verywell. A theoretical analysis is also presented using a local linear-stability approach,where two stability solvers have been developed based on earlier work. Furthermore,the impulse response of the rotating-disk boundary layer is investigated using DNS.The local response is known to be absolutely unstable and the global response, onthe contrary, is stable if the edge of the disk is assumed to be at radius infinity. Herecomparisons with a finite domain using various boundary conditions give a globalbehaviour that can be both linearly stable and unstable, however always nonlinearlyunstable. The global frequency of the flow is found to be determined by the Rey-nolds number at the confinement of the domain, either by the edge (linear case) or bythe turbulence appearance (nonlinear case). Moreover, secondary instabilities on topof the convective instabilities induced by roughness elements were investigated andfound to be globally unstable. This behaviour agrees well with the experimental flowand acts at a smaller radial distance than the primary global instability. The sharpline corresponding to transition to turbulence seen in experiments of the rotating diskcan thus be explained by the secondary global instability. Finally, turbulence datawere compared with experiments and investigated thoroughly. / <p>QC 20170203</p>

The rotating-disk boundary layer is not only a simpler model for the study of cross-flow instability than swept-wing boundary layers but also a useful simplification of many industrial-flow applications where rotating configurations are present. For the rotating disk, it has been suggested that a local absolute instability, leading to a global instability, is responsible for the small variation in the observed laminar-turbulent transition Reynolds number however the exact nature of the transition is still not fully understood. This thesis aims to clarify certain aspects of the transition process. Furthermore, the thesis considers the turbulent rotating-disk boundary layer, as an example of a class of three-dimensional turbulent boundary-layer flows. The rotating-disk boundary layer has been investigated in an experimental apparatus designed for low vibration levels and with a polished glass disk that gave a smooth surface. The apparatus provided a low-disturbance environment and velocity measurements of the azimuthal component were made with a single hot-wire probe. A new way to present data in the form of a probability density function (PDF) map of the azimuthal fluctuation velocity, which gives clear insights into the laminar-turbulent transition region, has been proposed. Measurements performed with various disk-edge conditions and edge Reynolds numbers showed that neither of these conditions a↵ect the transition process significantly, and the Reynolds number for the onset of transition was observed to be highly reproducible. Laminar-turbulent transition for a ‘clean’ disk was compared with that for a disk with roughness elements located upstream of the critical Reynolds number for absolute instability. This showed that, even with minute surface roughness elements, strong convectively unstable stationary disturbances were excited. In this case, breakdown of the flow occurred before reaching the absolutely unstable region, i.e. through a convectively unstable route. For the rough disk, the breakdown location was shown to depend on the amplitude of individual stationary vortices. In contrast, for the smooth (clean-disk) condition, the amplitude of the stationary vortices did not fix the breakdown location, which instead was fixed by a well-defined Reynolds number. Furthermore, for the clean-disk case, travelling disturbances have been observed at the onset of nonlinearity, and the associated disturbance profile is in good agreement with the eigenfunction of the critical absolute instability. Finally, the turbulent boundary layer on the rotating disk has been investigated. The azimuthal friction velocity was directly measured from the azimuthal velocity profile in the viscous sublayer and the velocity statistics, normalized by the inner scale, are presented. The characteristics of this three-dimensional turbulent boundary-layer flow have been compared with those for the two-dimensional flow over a flat plate and close to the wall they are found to be quite similar but with rather large differences in the outer region. / <p>QC 20150119</p>

Cette thèse porte sur les effets combinés de l’excentricité et du débit axial sur les propriétés de stabilité linéaire de l’écoulement de Couette circulaire avec cylindre extérieur fixe. Cet écoulement intervient, entre autres, lors du forage de puits de pétrole. Une méthode pseudospectrale est mise en oeuvre pour calculer l’écoulement de base, stationnaire et invariant suivant la direction axiale, ainsi que les modes normaux d’instabilité. L’écoulement est régi par quatre paramètres adimensionnels : rapport de rayons _ et excentricité e pour la géométrie, nombres de Reynolds azimuthal et axial, Re et Rez, pour la dynamique. La première partie de l’étude est consacrée aux propriétés de stabilité temporelle. Il apparaît que l’excentricité repousse le seuil d’instabilité convective vers de plus fortes valeurs de Re. L’effet de l’advection axiale sur le seuil est principalement stabilisant également. L’excentricité a pour conséquence de déformer la structure des modes par rapport au cas concentrique. Le mode au plus fort taux de croissance temporelle est ainsi constitué de tourbillons de Taylor « pseudo-toroïdaux » lorsque le débit axial est nul, et de structures « pseudo-hélicoïdales » d’ordre azimuthal croissant lorsque Rez augmente. Les résultats sont qualitativement similaires lorsque l’on change le rapport de rayons. Les prédictions théoriques sont en bon accord avec les quelques résultats expérimentaux disponibles. Dans une seconde partie, l’instabilité absolue est étudiée par application d’un critère de point selle à la relation de dispersion. Le débit axial a pour effet d’inhiber fortement l’instabilité absolue, d’origine centrifuge, et la valeur de Re au seuil est typiquement supérieure à celle de Rez d’un ordre de grandeur. L’effet de l’excentricité est plus complexe : légère stabilisation aux faibles valeurs de e, puis déstabilisation marquée aux excentricités modérées lorsque Rez est suffisament grand, et enfin stabilisation lorsque e croît davantage. Contrairement au cas de l’instabilité convective, le mode dominant l’instabilité absolue correspond à l’écoulement tourbillonnaire « pseudo-toroïdal » pour toute la gamme de paramètres considérée. / This work is concerned with the combined effects of eccentricity and pressure-driven axial flow on the linear stability properties of circular Couette flow with a fixed outer cylinder. An example of this flow can be found in oil-well drilling operations. A pseudospectral method is implemented to compute the basic flow, steady and homogeneous in the axial direction, as well as the normal modes of instability. There are four non-dimensional parameters: the radius ratio _ and the eccentricity e for the geometry, the azimuthal and axial Reynolds numbers, Re and Rez, for the dynamics. The first part of the study is devoted to the temporal stability properties. It is found that eccentricity pushes the convective instability threshold towards higher values of Re. The effect of axial advection on the threshold also tends to be stabilising. Eccentricity deforms the modes structure compared to the concentric case. As a result, the mode with the largest temporal growth rate takes the form of ‘pseudo-toroidal’ Taylor vortices in the absence of axial flow, and ‘pseudo-helical’ structures with increasing azimuthal order as Rez becomes larger. Results are qualitatively similar for different radius ratios. Agreement with the few available experimental data is good. In a second part, absolute instability is studied by applying the pinch-point criterion to the dispersion relation. Axial flow is found to strongly inhibit absolute instability, the mechanism of which being centrifugal, and the value of Re at the threshold is typically one order of magnitude larger than that of Rez. The effect of eccentricity is more complex: weak stabilisation for low values of e, marked destabilisation for moderate eccentricities and high enough Rez, and finally stabilisation as e is further increased. Unlike temporal instability, the dominant absolutely unstable mode is the ‘pseudo-toroidal’ Taylor vortex flow over the whole range of parameter space considered.

A spectacular instability has been observed in low density round jets when the density ratio of jet fluid to ambient fluid falls below a threshold of approximately 0.6. This phenomenon has been observed in non-buoyant jets of helium in air, heated air jets and heated buoyant jets. The oscillation of the flow near the nozzle is extremely regular and periodic and consists of ring vortices. Even the smaller scale structures that appear downstream exhibit similar regularity. A theory for predicting the onset of this oscillation is based on finding regions of absolute instability from linear stability analysis of parallel flow. However, experiments suggest that the theory is at least incomplete and fortuitous as the oscillation is not a linear process. The present work is to observe and understand the process of regeneration of these oscillations by conducting numerical simulations. Here, two-dimensional, plane jets were simulated because they undergo a qualitatively similar process. A spatial and temporal picture of a heated jet has been obtained numerically. A perturbation expansion was used to obtain a system of conservation laws for compressible flows which is valid for low Mach numbers. The low Mach number approximation removes the high frequency acoustic waves from the flow field. This enables a larger time step to be taken without making the calculation unstable. To ensure that all the scales of motion are properly resolved, calculations were done at a low Reynolds number. The governing equations were discretized in space using second-order finite difference formulas on a staggered grid. Velocity fields were advanced using a second-order Adams-Bashforth explicit scheme and then corrected by solving for pressure such that continuity is satisfied at every time step. The Poisson problem for pressure requires the time derivative of the density which was approximated by a third-order backward difference formula. Gauss-Siedel iteration was used to find the pressure. Several numerical tests were conducted prior to simulations of variable density jets to check the stability and accuracy of the code. Two dimensional driven cavity flow calculations were done as a first test. Then a calculation of a forced, spatially developing, incompressible, plane mixing layer was done to check the time accuracy of the code. After obtaining satisfactory performance of the code for the different test cases, two-dimensional, variable density jets were simulated. Since the plane jet extends ad infinitum in the streamwise direction, a sufficiently large domain was used to capture all the relevant physics in the downstream regions of the jet. An advective boundary condition was imposed at the exit plane. Rigid, slipwall conditions were employed to prescribe lateral boundary conditions. A 2-D, incompressible plane jet was simulated first. The jet profile was approximated by two hyperbolic tangent shear layers. The most unstable mode of the inviscid shear layer for this profile, along with its first and second harmonics, was imposed on the velocity profile at the inlet plane. The amplitude of oscillation of the harmonics was chosen so as to provide sufficient energy in the perturbation to accelerate the growth of the layer. No explicit phase lag was introduced in the perturbation. The flow was allowed to develop long enough to wash out the effect of the initial condition. The results obtained for this case indicate that experimentally realized phenomena such as vortex pairing were captured in this simulation. Furthermore, to check the convective nature of instability of the incompressible jet, the forcing at the inlet plane was turned off. The disturbances were gradually convected downstream, out of the computational domain. Next, two-dimensional heated, non-buoyant jets were studied numerically. The effects of the ratio of jet density to ambient density S, the velocity ratio R, and jet width W, on the near field behavior of an initial laminar jet and the regeneration mechanism of the self-sustaining vortices were explored. The theory based on domain of absolute/convective instability identifies these three parameters. No initial perturbation was necessary to start roll-up of the shear layer. For certain choices, e.g., S= 0.75, R = 20, W =10.5, self-sustaining oscillations appeared spontaneously, and these cycles repeated for very long simulation intervals. Waviness on the jet shear layers grow and roll-up into vortices as in constant density shear layers. But unlike the incompressible plane jet, these vortices grow much larger and mixes more with the surrounding fluid. As these vortices evolve, packets of fluid break away as trailing legs similar to side jet expulsions observed in round jets and plumes. The growing vortices disturb the upstream shear layer. Consistently with linear theory, which predicts absolute instability for these parameters, these disturbances are able to grow and roll up. If these disturbances travelled faster than the downstream vortices, it would not be possible for the cycle to repeat. With sufficient shear between the co-flowing streams (R not too small), the entire regeneration process was found to begin from roughly the same streamwise location. Furthermore, it is the symmetric, varicose mode which occurs. At a slightly larger density ratio (S = 0.8, R = 10), self-sustaining oscillations appeared, but each new cycle began slightly farther downstream. It seems likely that these values are close to the boundary in parameter space between self-sustained oscillatory and convectively unstable behaviors. Jet width also influences the selection of these two behaviors. When jet width was reduced, W = 6, even for S = 0.75,R = 20, each new cycle began to shift downstream. For larger jet width (W = 12.3), self-sustaining oscillations occur but the response is now as an asymmetric sinuous mode after a short initial varicose mode. The detailed processes that have now been revealed in plane jets should serve as guidelines for the study of such processes in the technologically more important round jets.

L’étude présentée dans cette thèse se situe dans le domaine de l’acoustique modale des conduits avec des parois absorbantes et un écoulement moyen. Nous considérons une source de bruit en amont avec une fréquence fixe. Avec cela, nous étudions les modes propres acoustiques du conduit en terme de nombre d’onde qui sont présents.Avec cette étude, nous contribuons à la meilleure compréhension de la propagation du sondans ce type de configuration. Parmi les applications, il y a la réduction du bruit des moteurs des aéronefs.Une analyse numérique par la méthode pseudospectrale de collocation, sur la base de polynômes de Chebyshev, a été mise en ouvre pour obtenir le spectre des modes, dans un domaine transversal.Pour cela, deux programmes ont été utilisés : le programme FiEStA, qui a été développé dans le cadre de cette thèse, et qui résout les équations d’Euler linéarisées, en considérant un problème à une ou deux une ou deux dimensions. D’autre part, le programme MAMOUT, a été utilisé pour résoudre les équations de Navier-Stokes linéarisées, pour étudier plus spécifiquement les effets de la viscosité.Avec ces outils, on a constaté les effets de trois paramètres : lorsque le rapport d’aspect augmente, la densité des modes, en particulier des modes propagatifs, se développe également.Quand le nombre de Mach de l’écoulement moyen augmente, on observe les effets suivants sur les valeurs propres : un déplacement vers la partie réelle négative, une amplification de leur valeur absolue et un déplacement vers les modes d’indice inférieur. Le profil d’écoulement moyen induit aussi un déplacement dans les valeur propres, pas facilement prévisible. Il modifie également la forme des fonctions propres ; ce qui est notamment visible pour le mode d’onde plane. Les changements d’impédance induisent un échange cyclique de valeurs propres entre les valeurs de parois rigides des modes consécutifs. Avec certaines valeurs d’impédance, les modes acoustiques de paroi apparaissent. Ils sont caractérisés par la forme exponentielle de leurs fonctions propres.En plus des modes acoustiques, il existe des modes hydrodynamiques de surface qui se sont révélés avec quelques valeurs d’impédance et forme et nombre de Mach de l’écoulement moyen. Pour un ensemble de données de référence, ces modes ont été étudiés. L’impédance a été considérée avec un modèle basé sur des données de la littérature, tout comme le profil d’écoulement moyen.Un mode hydrodynamique a été trouvé. Avec certaines valeurs de la fréquence, l’ensemble des paramètres donne lieu à une instabilité. En utilisant le critère Briggs Bres pour la stabilité,l’instabilité a été jugée absolue.À partir du comportement des modes avec différentes valeurs de l’impédance, et conformément aux résultats publiés, nous avons défini la condition que le spectre doit remplir pour réduire autant que possible le bruit. C’est cela qu’on appelle l’impédance optimale. Nous avons calculé cette valeur pour différents fréquences et écoulements moyens. / The study presented in this thesis is within the domain of modal acoustics of lined ducts withgrazing flow. We consider an upstream source of noise with a fixed frequency, within a lined duct.From this, we study the eigenmodes in terms of wavenumber that are present in this system.With this study, we contribute to the better understanding of sound propagation in thedescribed configuration. Within its main applications, we can find the noise reduction fromaeroengines.A numerical analysis with the pseudospectral collocation method, based on Chebyshevpolynomials was used to obtain the spectrum of modes within the duct, in a domain transversalto the mean flow. For this, two programs were used: On one hand, within the frame of this thesis,the program FiEStA was developed. It solves the linearized Euler Equations, considering eitherone or two dimensions of the transversal plane. On the other hand, the already existing programMAMOUT was used for verification and to solve also the linearized Navier-Stokes Equations toobserve the effects of viscosity.With these tools, the first result was to notice the effects of three parameters: When theaspect ratio grows, the density of modes in the spectrum grows also. In particular, we havemore propagative modes. As the mean flow Mach number grows, we observe these effects on theeigenvalues: a displacement to the negative real part, a slight amplification of their absolute valueand a displacement towards the modes of lower index. The difference in mean flow profile inducesanother displacement in modes, not easily predictable. It changes also the shape of eigenfunctions,which is clearly seen for the planewave mode. The impedance changes induce a cyclic exchange ofeigenvalues from their hard wall value to the hard wall value of a consecutive mode. The changeof eigenfunction is gradually change in wavelength, to obtain the shape of the destination mode.With some impedance values, a pair of modes, called the acoustic surface modes arise. They arecharacterized by the exponential shape of their eigenfunctions.Besides these acoustic surface modes, there are also a pair of hydrodynamic surface modeswhich come to light with some values of impedance and shape and Mach number of the meanflow. With a benchmark data, these modes were studied. The impedance was considered from themodel of a measured liner while the mean flow profile was taken from experimental values. Withthis, the hydrodynamic mode was found. With specific values of frequency, the set of parametersgives rise to an instability. Using the Briggs-Bers criterion for stability, the instability was foundto be absolute for a given frequency.From the comportment of modes with different values of impedance, and in accordance withpublished results, we defined the condition that the spectrum has to fulfill to reduce as much aspossible the upstream noise. This is what we called the optimal impedance. We obtained it forseveral flow profiles and frequencies, in both 1D and 2D domains.

This work represents the initial steps in a wider project that aims to map out the sensitive areas in fuel injectors and combustion chambers. Direct numerical simulation (DNS) using a Low-Mach-number formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations is used to calculate direct-linear and adjoint global modes for axisymmetric low-density jets and lifted jet diffusion flames. The adjoint global modes provide a map of the most sensitive locations to open-loop external forcing and heating. For the jet flows considered here, the most sensitive region is at the inlet of the domain. The sensitivity of the global-mode eigenvalues to force feedback and to heat and drag from a hot-wire is found using a general structural sensitivity framework. Force feedback can occur from a sensor-actuator in the flow or as a mechanism that drives global instability. For the lifted flames, the most sensitive areas lie between the inlet and flame base. In this region the jet is absolutely unstable, but the close proximity of the flame suppresses the global instability seen in the non-reacting case. The lifted flame is therefore particularly sensitive to outside disturbances in the non-reacting zone. The DNS results are compared to a local analysis. The most absolutely unstable region for all the flows considered is at the inlet, with the wavemaker slightly downstream of the inlet. For lifted flames, the region of largest sensitivity to force feedback is near to the location of the wavemaker, but for the non-reacting jet this region is downstream of the wavemaker and outside of the pocket of absolute instability near the inlet. Analysing the sensitivity of reacting and non-reacting variable-density shear flows using the low-Mach-number approximation has up until now not been done. By including reaction, a large forward step has been taken in applying these techniques to real fuel injectors.

Rotating-disk flow has been investigated not only as a simple model of cross flow instability to compare with swept-wing flow but also for industrial flow applications with rotating configurations. However the exact nature of laminar-turbulent transi- tion on the rotating-disk flow is still major problem and further research is required for it to be fully understood, in particular, the laminar-turbulent transition process with absolute instability. In addition the studies of the rotating-disk turbulent boundary- layer flow are inadequate to understand the physics of three-dimensional turbulent boundary-layer flow. In present thesis, a rotating-rotating disk boundary-layer flow has been inves- tigated experimentally using hot-wire anemometry. A glass disk with a flat surface has been prepared to archieve low disturbance rotating-disk environment. Azimuthal velocity measurements using a hot-wire probe have been taken for various conditions. To get a better insight into the laminar-turbulent transition region, a new way to describe the process is proposed using the probability density function (PDF) map of azimuthal fluctuation velocity. The effect of the edge of the disk on the laminar-turbulent transition process has been investigated. The disturbance growth of azimuthal fluctuation velocity as a function of Reynolds number has a similar trend irrespective of the various edge conditions. The behaviour of secondary instability and turbulent breakdown has been in- vestigated. It has been found that the kinked azimuthal velocity associated with secondary instability just before turbulent breakdown became less apparent at a cer- tain wall normal heights. Furthermore the turbulent breakdown of the stationary mode seems not to be triggered by its amplitude, however, depend on the appearance of the travelling secondary instability. Finally, the turbulent boundary layer on a rotating disk has been investigated. An azimuthal friction velocity has been directly measured from the azimuthal velocity profile in the viscous sub-layer. The turbulent statistics normalized by the inner and outer sclaes are presented. / QC 20120529

This thesis deals with the instabilities of the incompressible boundary-layer flow that is induced by a disk rotating in otherwise still fluid. The results presented are mostly limited to linear instabilities derived from direct numerical simulations (DNS) but with the objective that further work will focus on the nonlinear regime, providing greater insights into the transition route to turbulence. The numerical code Nek5000 has been chosen for the DNS using a spectral-element method in an effort to reduce spurious effects from low-order discretizations. Large-scale parallel simulations have been used to obtain the present results. The known similarity solution of the Navier–Stokes equation for the rotating-disk flow, also called the von Karman flow, is investigated and can be reproduced with good accuracy by the DNS. With the addition of small roughnesses on the disk surface, convective instabilities appear and data from the DNS are analysed and compared with experimental and theoretical data. A theoretical analysis is also presented using a local linear-stability approach, where two stability solvers have been developedbased on earlier work. A good correspondence between DNS and theory is found and the DNS results are found to explain well the behaviour of the experimental boundary layer within the range of Reynolds numbers for small amplitude (linear) disturbances. The comparison between the DNS and experimental results, presented for the first time here, shows that the DNS allows (for large azimuthal domains) a range of unstable azimuthal wavenumbers β to exist simultaneously with the dominantβ varying, which is not accounted for in local theory, where β is usually fixed for each Reynolds number at which the stability analysis is applied. Furthermore, the linear impulse response of the rotating-disk boundary layer is investigated using DNS. The local response is known to be absolutely unstable. The global response is found to be stable if the edge of the disk is assumed to be at infinity, and unstable if the domain is finite and the edge of the domain is placed such that there is a large enough pocket region for the absolute instability to develop. The global frequency of the flow is found to be determined by the edge Reynolds number. / <p>QC 20140708</p>

No description available.