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Discrete linear local eigenmodes in a separating laminar boundary layer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2012

Olaf Marxen ,
Matthias Lang  and
Ulrich Rist
Olaf Marxen*
Affiliation:
Institut für Aerodynamik und Gasdynamik, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 21, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany
Matthias Lang
Affiliation:
Institut für Aerodynamik und Gasdynamik, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 21, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany
Ulrich Rist
Affiliation:
Institut für Aerodynamik und Gasdynamik, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 21, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany
*
†Present address: Aeronautics and Aerospace Department, von Kármán Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Chaussée de Waterloo, 72, B-1640 Rhode-St-Genèse, Belgium. Email address for correspondence: olaf.marxen@vki.ac.be
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Abstract

The evolution of two- and three-dimensional small-amplitude disturbances in the laminar part of a laminar separation bubble is investigated in detail. We apply a combination of local linear stability theory, results from different experimental measurement campaigns and direct numerical simulations to identify two different discrete eigenmodes in the laminar part of the bubble. A stable eigenmode, the outer mode, governs unsteady oscillations in the upstream part of the bubble. However, this perturbation is quickly overtaken by an unstable eigenmode, the inner mode, which eventually leads to transition of the detached shear layer. Such a behaviour is observed due to an acceleration region with a favourable pressure gradient preceding the adverse-pressure-gradient region. The flow is stable in the acceleration region, in which the outer mode is only moderately damped, while the inner mode is strongly damped. At the onset of instability for the unstable eigenmode upstream of separation, both viscous Tollmien–Schlichting and inviscid Kelvin–Helmholtz instability mechanisms contribute to amplification, while deeper inside the bubble only the inviscid mechanism is active. If the explicit forcing is moved to a region downstream of the favourable pressure gradient, only the unstable eigenmode appears. The same behaviour is found for two-dimensional and weakly oblique waves.

JFM classification

Boundary Layers: Boundary layer separation Boundary Layers: Boundary layer stability Instability: Transition to turbulence
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 711 , 25 November 2012 , pp. 1 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

‡

Present address: GE Global Research, Freisinger Landstrasse 50, 85748 Garching b. München, Germany.

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