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Linear and weakly nonlinear analyses of cylindrical Couette flow with axial and radial flows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2017

Denis Martinand*
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS, Centrale Marseille, M2P2, Marseille, France
Eric Serre
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS, Centrale Marseille, M2P2, Marseille, France
Richard M. Lueptow
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: denis.martinand@univ-amu.fr

Abstract

Extending previous linear stability analyses of the instabilities developing in permeable Taylor–Couette–Poiseuille flows where axial and radial throughflows are superimposed on the usual Taylor–Couette flow, we further examine the linear behaviour and expand the analysis to consider the weakly nonlinear behaviour of convective-type instabilities by means of the derivation of the fifth-order amplitude equation together with direct numerical simulations. Special attention is paid to the influence of the radius ratio $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=r_{in}/r_{out}$ , and particularly to wide gaps (small $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$ ) and how they magnify the effects of the radial flow. The instabilities take the form of pairs of counter-rotating toroidal vortices superseded by helical ones as the axial flow is increased. Increasing the radial inflow draws these vortices near the inner cylinder, where they shrink relative to the annular gap, when this gap is wide. Strong axial and radial flows in a narrow annular gap lead to a very large azimuthal wavenumber with steeply sloped helical vortices. Strong radial outflow in a wide annular gap results in very large helical vortices. The analytical and numerical saturated vortices match quite well. In addition, radial inflows or outflows can turn the usually supercritical bifurcation from laminar to vortical flow into a subcritical one. The radial flow above which this change occurs decreases as the radius ratio $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$ decreases. A practical motivation for this weakly nonlinear analysis is found in modelling dynamic filtration devices, which rely on vortical instabilities to reduce the processes of accumulation on their membranes.

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Papers
Copyright
© 2017 Cambridge University Press 
Figure 0

Figure 1. Bifurcation diagram of a Taylor–Couette cell with superimposed radial flow, in terms of the ratio of critical rotation rate to critical rotation rate without radial flow as a function of the non-dimensional radial flow, observed from numerical simulations at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.85$ (Serre et al.2008). ‘Subcritical flow’ is used here in the sense of stable laminar flow. Reproduced from Serre et al. (2008), with permission of AIP Publishing.

Figure 1

Figure 2. Combined effects of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ on the non-dimensional base flows for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=20$ and $Ta=30$ with (a) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.85$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=-10$, (b) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.85$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=0$, (c) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.85$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=10$, (d) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.55$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=-10$, (e) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.55$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=0$, (f) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.55$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=10$, (g) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.25$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=-10$, (h) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.25$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=0$, (i) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.25$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=10$. Vertical vectors (blue online) depict $W_{0}$; horizontal vectors (red online) depict $(U_{0},V_{0})$.

Figure 2

Figure 3. Linear modes of instabilities for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=20$ and (a) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.85$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=-10$, (b) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.85$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=0$, (c) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.85$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=10$, (d) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.55$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=-10$, (e) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.55$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=0$, (f) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.55$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=10$, (g) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.25$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=-10$, (h) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.25$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=0$, (i) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.25$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=10$. Isosurfaces of the radial velocity of the instability $U_{1}$ are shown at $0.2$ (dark grey, red online) and $-0.2$ (light grey, green online) of the maximum value. For all helical vortices, $n^{crit}=1$.

Figure 3

Figure 4. Linear stability results for the most unstable convective mode as a function of the radial and axial Reynolds numbers $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$, at radius ratio $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.85$ (a,b), $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.55$ (c,d) and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.25$ (e,f). The colour scale corresponds to the critical azimuthal wavenumber $n^{crit}$. (a,c,e) Critical Taylor number $Ta^{crit}$. (b,d,f) Effective wavelength of the vortices $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}^{crit}=2\unicode[STIX]{x03C0}(k^{crit\,2}+n^{crit\,2}/r_{centre}^{2})^{-1/2}$. The white circles correspond to the cases shown in figure 3. The black squares in (a) and (b) correspond to the cases shown in the insets below those panels. The white dotted lines show the intersections between this parameter range and the ones in figure 5 ($\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=10$). Note the range of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ is limited to $[-15,30]$ in plots (e,f) because the very large $Ta^{crit}$ obtained for large inflows would dwarf the rest of the plot.

Figure 4

Figure 5. Linear stability analysis for the most unstable convective mode as a function of the radial Reynolds number $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ and radius ratio $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$, at axial Reynolds number $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=10$. (a) and (b) are as in figure 4. The white diamonds correspond to the three cases shown in plots (c), (d) and (e). The white dashed lines show the intersections between this parameter range and the ones in figure 4.

Figure 5

Figure 6. Nonlinear stability analysis as a function of the radial and axial Reynolds numbers $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ for radius ratio $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.75$ (a), as well as $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$ for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=10$ (b). Conditions for supercritical transitions are depicted with a superimposed lighter shade of grey (yellow online), while conditions for subcritical transitions are depicted with superimposed darker shades of grey (orange and red online). In the case of subcritical transitions, the associated hysteresis is shown in terms of critical Taylor numbers $\unicode[STIX]{x0394}Ta_{nonlin}^{crit}=Ta_{nonlin}^{crit}-Ta^{crit}$. Dark regions (red online) denote values of parameters where the transition is subcritical but $\unicode[STIX]{x0394}Ta_{nonlin}^{crit}$ could not be computed from the weakly nonlinear analysis. Solid black curves correspond changes in the azimuthal wavenumber $n^{crit}$.

Figure 6

Figure 7. Comparisons between numerical (black symbols) and analytical (solid curves, blue online) critical Taylor numbers $Ta^{crit}$, approached by increasing $Ta$ in (a), and hysteresis $\unicode[STIX]{x0394}Ta_{nonlin}^{crit}=Ta_{nonlin}^{crit}-Ta^{crit}$ where $Ta_{nonlin}^{crit}$ is approached by decreasing $Ta$ in (b), as functions of the radial Reynolds number $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$, for axial Reynolds number $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=0$ and radius ratio $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.75$.

Figure 7

Figure 8. Comparison between the second-order solution (terms (2.16) and (2.17)) together with the amplitude $|A|_{3}$ (dashed curves, red online), the fourth-order solution (terms (2.16), (2.17), (2.19) and (2.20)) together with the amplitude $|A|_{5}$ (dash-dotted curves, blue online), and direct numerical simulations (solid black curves) for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.75$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=0$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=0$ and $L/d=50$ for simulations (only the upper half-domain is shown here, the bottom half-domain being symmetric about $z=0$). Both radial (leftmost sets of curves in (a–c)) and azimuthal (rightmost sets of curves) velocities at midgap $r_{mid}$ are depicted. (a) $Ta=90\approx 1.05Ta^{crit}$ (all three curves overlie one another), (b) $Ta=120\approx 1.40Ta^{crit}$ (the fourth-order solution overlies the numerical simulation) and (c) $Ta=150\approx 1.75Ta^{crit}$ (the fourth-order solution nearly overlies the numerical simulation for $U$), with $Ta^{crit}=85.78$.

Figure 8

Figure 9. Comparison between the fourth-order approximation (terms (2.16), (2.17), (2.19) and (2.20)) together with the amplitude $|A|_{5}$ (dash-dotted curves, blue online, in (a)) and direct numerical simulations (solid black curves in (a) and isosurface in (b)), for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.75$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=0$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=20$ at $Ta=110$, to be compared with $Ta^{crit}=98.07$. Both radial (leftmost pair of curves in (a)) and azimuthal (rightmost pair of curves) velocities at midgap are depicted. The helical structure with $n=+1$ is observed in the numerical simulation in (b), in agreement with the analysis. The isosurface shows the radial velocity $U$ at a value of $0.2$ times the maximum value.

Figure 9

Figure 10. Comparisons between numerical simulations (black solid curves and symbols) and analytical results (dash-dotted curves, blue online) for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.75$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=0$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=10$ (a,c,e) and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=-15$ (b,d,f). (a,b) Radial velocity at midgap $U(r_{mid},z)$. (c,d) Fourier transform $\tilde{U} (r_{mid},k)$ of $U(r_{mid},z)$; the solid line (red online) locates the theoretical value $k^{crit}$. (e,f) Amplitudes of the instability as a function of the Taylor number. In (f), circles denote the amplitude reached by increasing $Ta$, whereas squares denote amplitudes reached by decreasing $Ta$.

Figure 10

Figure 11. Direct numerical simulation of the travelling wavepacket for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}=0.85$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=30$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}=65$, at $Ta=275$ (compared with the analytical value $Ta^{crit}=230.0$, the analytical azimuthal wavenumber being $n^{crit}=16$). The isosurface in the three leftmost plots shows the locus where the total azimuthal velocity $V$ is equal to one half of the velocity at the rotating inner cylinder. The isosurface in the fourth plot from left shows, in the upper half of the domain, the locus where the total radial velocity $U$ is equal to $0.2$ times its maximum value. The three cross-sections on the right show the radial velocity contours in sections located at $z/d=70$ (consistent with $n^{crit}=16$), $z/d=80$ and $z/d=90$. The aspect ratio of the numerical domain is $L/d=100$.