Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T05:57:09.637Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Bounds for threshold amplitudes in subcritical shear flows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

Gunilla Kreiss
Affiliation:
Department of Numerical Analysis and Computer Science, Royal Institute of Technology, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Anders Lundbladh
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanics, Royal Institute of Technology, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden and The Aeronautical Research Institute of Sweden (FFA), Box 11021, S-161 11 Bromma, Sweden
Dan S. Henningson
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanics, Royal Institute of Technology, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden and The Aeronautical Research Institute of Sweden (FFA), Box 11021, S-161 11 Bromma, Sweden

Abstract

A general theory which can be used to derive bounds on solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations is presented. The behaviour of the resolvent of the linear operator in the unstable half-plane is used to bound the energy growth of the full nonlinear problem. Plane Couette flow is used as an example. The norm of the resolvent in plane Couette flow in the unstable half-plane is proportional to the square of the Reynolds number (R). This is now used to predict the asymptotic behaviour of the threshold amplitude below which all disturbances eventually decay. A lower bound is found to be R−21/4. Examples, obained through direct numerical simulation, give an upper bound on the threshold curve, and predict a threshold of R−1. The discrepancy is discussed in the light of a model problem.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1994 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.)

References

Butler, K. M. & Farrell, B. F. 1992 Three-dimensional optimal perturbations in viscous shear flow. Phys. Fluids A 4, 16371650.Google Scholar
Cowley, S. J. & Smith, F. T. 1985 On the stability of Poiseuille-Couette flow: a bifurcation from infinity. J. Fluid Mech. 156, 83100.Google Scholar
Davis, S. H. 1969 Buoyancy-surface tension instability by the method of energy. J. Fluid Mech. 39, 347359.Google Scholar
DiPrima, R. C. & Habetler, G. J. 1969 A completeness theorem for non-selfadjoint eigenvalue problems in hydrodynamic stability. Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 32, 218227.Google Scholar
Ehrenstein, U. & Koch, W. 1991 Three-dimensional wavelike equilibrium states in plane Poiseuille flow. J. Fluid Mech. 228, 111148.Google Scholar
Ellingsen, T. & Palm, E. 1975 Stability of linear flow. Phys. Fluids 18, 487488.Google Scholar
Galdi, G. P. & Straughan, B. 1985 Exchange of stabilities, symmetry, and nonlinear stability. Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 89, 211228.Google Scholar
Gor’kov, L. P. 1957 Stationary convection in a plane liquid layer near the critical heat transfer point. Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 33, 402407. (Translated in Sov. Phys. JETP 6, 311–315 (1958).)Google Scholar
Greengard, L. 1991 Spectral integration and two-point boundary value problems. SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 28, 10711080.Google Scholar
Grohne, D. 1969 Die Stabilität der ebenen Kanalströmung gegenüber dreidimensionalen Störungen von endlicher Amplitude. AVA Göttingen Rep. 69 A 30.Google Scholar
Gustavsson, L. H. 1991 Energy growth of three-dimensional disturbances in plane Poiseuille flow. J. Fluid Mech. 224, 241260.Google Scholar
Gustavsson, L. H. & Hultgren, L. S. 1980 A resonance mechanism in plane Couette flow. J. Fluid Mech. 98, 149159.Google Scholar
Henningson, D. S. 1991 An eigenfunction expansion of localized disturbances. In Advances in Turbulence 3 (ed. A. V. Johansson & P. H. Alfredsson), pp 162169. Springer.
Henningson, D. S., Lundbladh, A. & Johansson, A. V. 1993 A mechanism for bypass transition from localized disturbances in wall-bounded shear flows. J. Fluid Mech. 250, 169207.Google Scholar
Henningson, D. S. & Schmid, P. J. 1992 Vector eigenfunction expansions for plane channel flows. Stud. Appl. Maths 87, 1543.Google Scholar
Herbert, T. 1983 On perturbation methods in nonlinear stability theory. J. Fluid Mech. 126, 167186.Google Scholar
Herron, I. H. 1991 Observations on the role of vorticity in the stability of wall bounded flows. Stud. Appl. Maths 85, 269286.Google Scholar
Joseph, D. D. 1965 On the stability of the Boussinesq equations. Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 20, 5971.Google Scholar
Joseph, D. D. 1966 Nonlinear stability of the Boussinesq equations by the energy method. Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 22, 163184.Google Scholar
Joseph, D. D. 1976 Stability of Fluid Motions I. Springer.
Kato, T. 1976 Perturbation Theory for Linear Operators. Springer.
Kim, J., Moin, P. & Moser, R. 1987 Turbulence statistics in fully developed channel flow. J. Fluid Mech. 177, 133166.Google Scholar
Kreiss, G., Kreiss, H.-O. & Petersson, N. A. 1992 On the convergence to steady state of solutions of nonlinear hyperbolic-parabolic systems. TRITA-NA 9221. Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Kreiss, H.-O. & Lorenz, J. 1989 Initial-Boundary Value Problems and the Navier—Stokes Equations. Academic.
Lundbladh, A., Henningson, D. S. & Johansson, A. V. 1992 An efficient spectral integration method for the solution of the Navier—Stokes equations. FFA-TN 1992-28. Aeronautical Research Institute of Sweden, Bromma.
Lundbladh, A. & Johansson, A. V. 1991 Direct simulation of turbulent spots in plane Couette flow. J. Fluid Mech. 229, 499516.Google Scholar
Malkus, W. V. R. & Veronis, G. 1958 Finite amplitude cellular convection. J. Fluid Mech. 4, 225260.Google Scholar
Meksyn, D. & Stuart, J. T. 1951 Stability of viscous motion between parallel planes for finite disturbances. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 208, 517526.Google Scholar
Nagata, M. 1990 Three-dimensional finite-amplitude solutions in plane Couette flow: bifurcation from infinity. J. Fluid Mech. 217, 519527.Google Scholar
Orr, W. M. F. 1907 The stability or instability of the steady motions of a perfect liquid and of a viscous liquid. Part I: A perfect liquid. Part II: A viscous liquid. Proc. R. Irish Acad. A 27, 9138.Google Scholar
Reddy, S. C. & Henningson, D. S. 1993 Energy growth in viscous channel flows. J. Fluid Mech. 252, 209238.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
Reynolds, O. 1895 On the dynamical theory of incompressible viscous fluids and the determination of the criterion. Phil. Trans. R. Lond. Soc. A 186, 123164.Google Scholar
Romanov, V. A. 1973 Stability and plane-parallel Couette flow. Funkcional Anal. i Proložen. 7(2), 7273. (Translated in Functional Anal. Applics. 7, 137–146 (1973).)Google Scholar
Schmid, P. J. & Henningson, D. S. 1992 A new mechanism for rapid transition involving a pair of oblique waves. Phys. Fluids A 4, 19861989.Google Scholar
Serrin, J. 1959 On the stability of viscous fluid motions. Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 3, 113.Google Scholar
Stuart, J. T. 1960 On the nonlinear mechanics of wave disturbances in stable and unstable parallel flows. Part I. The basic behaviour in plane Poiseuille flow. J. Fluid Mech. 9, 353370.Google Scholar
Tillmark, N. & Alfredsson, P. H. 1992 Experiments on transition in plane Couette flow. J. Fluid Mech. 235, 89102.Google Scholar
Trefethen, L. N., Trefethen, A. E., Reddy, S. C. & Driscoll, T. A. 1993 Hydrodynamic stability without eigenvalues. Science 261, 578584.Google Scholar
Watson, J. 1960 On the nonlinear mechanics of wave disturbances in stable and unstable parallel flows. Part 2. The development of a solution for plane Poiseuille and for plane Couette flow. J. Fluid Mech. 9, 371389.Google Scholar
Willke, L. H. 1967 Stability in time-symmetric flows. J. Math. Phys. 46, 151163.Google Scholar
Yudovich, V. I. 1989 The Linearization Method in Hydrodynamical Stability Theory. American Mathematical Society.
Zahn, J. P., Toomre, J., Spiegel, E. A. & Gough, D. O. 1974 Nonlinear cellular motions in Poiseuille channel flow. J. Fluid Mech. 64, 319345.Google Scholar