Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T03:15:38.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An inviscid modal interpretation of the ‘lift-up’ effect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2014

Anubhab Roy
Affiliation:
Engineering Mechanics Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bangalore 560064, India
Ganesh Subramanian*
Affiliation:
Engineering Mechanics Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bangalore 560064, India
*
Email address for correspondence: sganesh@jncasr.ac.in

Abstract

In this paper, we give a modal interpretation of the lift-up effect, one of two well-known mechanisms that lead to an algebraic instability in parallel shearing flows, the other being the Orr mechanism. To this end, we first obtain the two families of continuous spectrum modes that make up the complete spectrum for a non-inflectional velocity profile. One of these families consists of modified versions of the vortex-sheet eigenmodes originally found by Case (Phys. Fluids, vol. 3, 1960, pp. 143–148) for plane Couette flow, while the second family consists of singular jet modes first found by Sazonov (Izv. Acad. Nauk SSSR Atmos. Ocean. Phys., vol. 32, 1996, pp. 21–28), again for Couette flow. The two families are used to construct the modal superposition for an arbitrary three-dimensional distribution of vorticity at the initial instant. The so-called non-modal growth that underlies the lift-up effect is associated with an initial condition consisting of rolls, aligned with the streamwise direction, and with a spanwise modulation (that is, a modulation along the vorticity direction of the base-state shearing flow). This growth is shown to arise from an appropriate superposition of the aforementioned continuous spectrum mode families. The modal superposition is then generalized to an inflectional velocity profile by including additional discrete modes associated with the inflection points. Finally, the non-trivial connection between an inviscid eigenmode and the viscous eigenmodes for large but finite Reynolds number, and the relation between the corresponding modal superpositions, is highlighted.

Type
Papers
Copyright
© 2014 Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Present address: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

References

Abramowitz, M. & Stegun, I. A. 1965 Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs and Mathematical Tables. Dover.Google Scholar
Andersson, P., Berggren, M. & Henningson, D. S. 1999 Optimal disturbances and bypass transition in boundary layers. Phys. Fluids 11, 134150.Google Scholar
Antkowiak, A. & Brancher, P. 2004 Transient growth for the Lamb–Oseen vortex. Phys. Fluids 16, L1L4.Google Scholar
Arnol’d, V. I. 1972 Notes on the three-dimensional flow pattern of a perfect fluid in the presence of a small perturbation of the initial velocity field. Z. Angew. Math. Mech. 36, 236242.Google Scholar
Baines, P. G., Majumdar, S. J. & Mitsudera, H. 1996 The mechanics of the Tollmien–Schlichting wave. J. Fluid Mech. 312, 107124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balmforth, N. J. & Morrison, P. J.1995 Singular eigenfunctions for shearing fluids I. Report No. 692, Institute for Fusion Studies, University of Texas, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benney, D. J. & Lin, C. C. 1960 On the secondary motion induced by oscillations in a shear flow. Phys. Fluids 3, 656657.Google Scholar
Case, K. M. 1959 Plasma oscillations. Ann. Phys. (NY) 7, 349364.Google Scholar
Case, K. M. 1960 Stability of inviscid plane Couette flow. Phys. Fluids 3, 143148.Google Scholar
Dickinson, R. E. 1970 Development of a Rossby wave critical level. J. Atmos. Sci. 27, 627633.Google Scholar
Drazin, P. G. & Reid, W. H. 1981 Hydrodynamic Stability. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ellingsen, T. & Palm, E. 1975 Stability of linear flow. Phys. Fluids 18, 487488.Google Scholar
Fadeev, L. D. 1971 On the theory of the stability of stationary plane-parallel flows of an ideal fluid. Zap. Nauch. Semin. Leningrad. Otdel. Mat. Inst. Akad. Nauk SSSR 21, 164172.Google Scholar
Farrell, B. F. 1987 Developing disturbances in shear. J. Atmos. Sci. 45, 21912199.Google Scholar
Farrell, B. F. & Ioannou, P. J. 1993 Optimal excitation of three-dimensional perturbations in viscous constant shear flow. Phys. Fluids A 5, 13901400.Google Scholar
Friedman, B. 1990 Principles and Techniques of Applied Mathematics. Dover.Google Scholar
Gakhov, F. D. 1990 Boundary Value Problems. Dover.Google Scholar
Grosch, C. E. & Salwen, H. 1978 The continuous spectrum of the Orr–Sommerfeld equation. Part 1. The spectrum and the eigenfunctions. J. Fluid Mech. 87, 3354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosch, C. E. & Salwen, H. 1981 The continuous spectrum of the Orr–Sommerfeld equation. Part 2. Eigenfunction expansions. J. Fluid Mech. 104, 445465.Google Scholar
Jimenez, J. & Pinelli, A. 1999 The autonomous cycle of near wall turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 389, 335359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelbert, M. & Sazonov, I. 1996 Pulses and Other Wave Processes in Fluids. Kluwer.Google Scholar
Landahl, M. T. 1980 A note on an algebraic instability of inviscid parallel shear flows. J. Fluid Mech. 98, 243251.Google Scholar
Lee, M. J., Kim, J. & Moin, P. 1990 Structure of turbulence at high shear rate. J. Fluid Mech. 216, 561583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lighthill, M. J. 1958 An Introduction to Fourier Analysis and Generalized Functions. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lin, C. C. 1955 The Theory of Hydrodynamic Stability. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lindzen, R. S. 1988 Instability of plane parallel shear flow (toward a mechanistic picture of how it works). Pure Appl. Geophys. 126, 103121.Google Scholar
Mack, L. M. 1976 A numerical study of the temporal eigenvalue spectrum of the Blasius boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 73, 497520.Google Scholar
Marcus, P. S. & Press, W. H. 1977 On Green’s functions for small disturbances of plane Couette flow. J. Fluid Mech. 79, 525534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moffatt, H. K.1965 The interaction of turbulence with rapid uniform shear. Report No. SUDAER-242, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University, CA.Google Scholar
Murdock, J. W. & Stewartson, K. 1977 Spectra of the Orr–Sommerfeld equation. Phys. Fluids 20, 14041411.Google Scholar
Pradeep, D. S. & Hussain, F. 2006 Transient growth of perturbations in a vortex column. J. Fluid Mech. 550, 251288.Google Scholar
Reddy, S. C., Schmid, P. J. & Henningson, D. S. 1993 Pseudospectra of the Orr–Sommerfeld operator. SIAM J. Appl. Maths 53, 1547.Google Scholar
Reshotko, E. 2001 Transient growth: a factor in bypass transition. Phys. Fluids 13, 10671075.Google Scholar
Rogers, M. M. & Moin, P. 1987 The structure of the vorticity field in homogeneous turbulent flows. J. Fluid Mech. 176, 3366.Google Scholar
Roy, A.2013 Singular eigenfunctions in hydrodynamic stability: the roles of rotation, stratification and elasticity. PhD thesis, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.Google Scholar
Roy, A. & Subramanian, G. 2014 Linearized oscillations of a vortex column: the singular eigenfunctions. J. Fluid Mech. 741, 404460.Google Scholar
Sazonov, I. A. 1989 Interaction of continuous spectrum waves with each other and discrete spectrum waves. Fluid Dyn. Res. 4, 586592.Google Scholar
Sazonov, I. A. 1996 Evolution of three-dimensional wavepackets in the Couette flow. Izv. Acad. Nauk SSSR Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 32, 2128.Google Scholar
Schmid, P. J. & Henningson, D. S. 2001 Stability and Transition in Fluid Flows. Springer.Google Scholar
Stakgold, I. 1968 Boundary Value Problems of Mathematical Physics. Macmillan.Google Scholar
Stewartson, K. 1981 Marginally stable inviscid flows with critical layers. IMA J. Appl. Maths 27, 133175.Google Scholar
Tumin, A. & Reshotko, E. 2001 Spatial theory of optimal disturbances in boundary layers. Phys. Fluids 13, 20972104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tung, K. K. 1983 Initial-value problems for Rossby waves in a shear flow with critical level. J. Fluid Mech. 133, 443469.Google Scholar