Vortex separation and breakdown are an important source of unsteady heat release rate fluctuations in thermoacoustic systems. The coupling between the acoustic field and the energy released by vortex breakdown can cause combustion instability. The objective of this work is to perform linear stability analyses and to quantify the stability of thermoacoustic interactions where vortex breakdown is the dominant cause of heat release rate fluctuations. The dynamics of the system is modelled as a kicked oscillator, where the energy released by vortex breakdown is represented as the kick. Assuming small fluctuations, periodic and low values of kick, a Poincaré map is derived analytically. The stability of the system is determined from the eigenvalues associated with the Poincaré map. The results allow us to identify the region where vortex shedding or the acoustic mode is dominant. Previous experimental investigations report the transition between the two modes for variation in the flow Mach number. Similar transitions are observed in the present study.

Entropic lattice Boltzmann methods were introduced to overcome the stability issues of lattice Boltzmann models for high Reynolds number turbulent flows. However, to date their validity has been investigated only for simple flows due to the lack of appropriate boundary conditions. We present here an extension of these models to complex flows involving curved and moving boundaries in three dimensions. Apart from a thorough investigation of resolved and under-resolved simulations for periodic flow and turbulent flow in a round pipe, we study in detail the set-up of a simplified internal combustion engine with a valve/piston arrangement. This arrangement allows us to probe the non-trivial interactions between various flow features such as jet breakup, jet–wall interaction, and formation and breakup of large vortical structures, among others. Besides an order of magnitude reduction in computational costs, when compared to state-of-the-art direct numerical simulations (DNS), these methods come with the additional advantage of using static Cartesian meshes also for moving objects, which reduces the complexity of the scheme. Going beyond first-order statistics, a detailed comparison of mean and root-mean-square velocity profiles with high-order spectral element DNS simulations and experimental data shows excellent agreement, highlighting the accuracy and reliability of the method for resolved simulations. Moreover, we show that the implicit subgrid features of the entropic lattice Boltzmann method can be utilized to further reduce the grid sizes and the computational costs, providing an alternative to modern modelling approaches such as large-eddy simulations for complex flows.

The interactions and synchronization of two parallel and slender flags in a uniform axial flow are studied in the present paper by generalizing Lighthill’s elongated body theory (EBT) and Lighthill’s large-amplitude elongated body theory (LAEBT) to account for the hydrodynamic coupling between flags. The proposed method consists of two successive steps, namely the reconstruction of the flow created by a flapping flag within the LAEBT framework and the computation of the fluid force generated by this non-uniform flow on the second flag. In the limit of slender flags in close proximity, we show that the effect of the wakes has little influence on the long-time coupled dynamics and can be neglected in the modelling. This provides a simplified framework extending LAEBT to the coupled dynamics of two flags. Using this simplified model, both linear and large-amplitude results are reported to explore the selection of the flapping regime as well as the dynamical properties of two side-by-side slender flags. Hydrodynamic coupling of the two flags is observed to destabilize the flags for most parameters, and to induce a long-term synchronization of the flags, either in-phase or out-of-phase.

Digital holographic microscopy is used for characterizing the profiles of mean velocity, viscous and Reynolds shear stresses, as well as turbulence level in the inner part of turbulent boundary layers over several super-hydrophobic surfaces (SHSs) with varying roughness/texture characteristics. The friction Reynolds numbers vary from 693 to 4496, and the normalized root mean square values of roughness $(k_{rms}^{+})$ vary from 0.43 to 3.28. The wall shear stress is estimated from the sum of the viscous and Reynolds shear stress at the top of roughness elements and the slip velocity is obtained from the mean profile at the same elevation. For flow over SHSs with $k_{rms}^{+}<1$, drag reduction and an upward shift of the mean velocity profile occur, along with a mild increase in turbulence in the inner part of the boundary layer. As the roughness increases above $k_{rms}^{+}\sim 1$, the flow over the SHSs transitions from drag reduction, where the viscous stress dominates, to drag increase where the Reynolds shear stress becomes the primary contributor. For the present maximum value of $k_{rms}^{+}=3.28$, the inner region exhibits the characteristics of a rough wall boundary layer, including elevated wall friction and turbulence as well as a downward shift in the mean velocity profile. Increasing the pressure in the test facility to a level that compresses the air layer on the SHSs and exposes the protruding roughness elements reduces the extent of drag reduction. Aligning the roughness elements in the streamwise direction increases the drag reduction. For SHSs where the roughness effect is not dominant ($k_{rms}^{+}<1$), the present measurements confirm previous theoretical predictions of the relationships between drag reduction and slip velocity, allowing for both spanwise and streamwise slip contributions.

The mechanism of trailing vortex wandering has long been debated and is often attributed to either wind-tunnel effects or an instability. Using particle image velocimetry data obtained in the wake of a NACA0012 airfoil, we remove the effect of wandering from the measured velocity field and, through a triple decomposition, recover the coherent wandering motion. Based on this wandering motion, the most energetic structures are computed using the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and exhibit a helical mode with an azimuthal wavenumber of $|m|=1$ whose kinetic energy grows monotonically in the downstream direction. To investigate the nature of the vortex wandering, we perform a spatial stability analysis of a matched Batchelor vortex. The primary stability mode is found to be marginally stable and nearly identical in both size and structure to the leading POD mode. The strikingly similar structure, coupled with the measured energy growth, supports the proposition that the vortex wandering is the result of an instability. We conclude that the cause of the wandering is the non-zero radial velocity of the $|m|=1$ mode on the vortex centreline, which acts to transversely displace the trailing vortex, as observed in experiments. However, the marginal nature of the stability mode prevents a definitive conclusion regarding the specific type of instability.

The concept of edge states is investigated in the asymptotic suction boundary layer in relation to the receptivity process to noisy perturbations and the nucleation of turbulent spots. Edge tracking is first performed numerically, without imposing any discrete symmetry, in a large computational domain allowing for full spatial localisation of the perturbation velocity. The edge state is a three-dimensional localised structure recurrently characterised by a single low-speed streak that experiences erratic bursts and planar shifts. This recurrent streaky structure is then compared with predecessors of individual spot nucleation events, triggered by non-localised initial noise. The present results suggest a nonlinear picture, rooted in dynamical systems theory, of the nucleation process of turbulent spots in boundary-layer flows, in which the localised edge state plays the role of state-space mediator.