Christophe Eloy

Aeroelastic instability of cantilevered flexible plates in uniform flow

We address the flutter instability of a flexible plate immersed in an axial flow. This instability is similar to flag flutter and results from the competition between destabilizing pressure forces and stabilizing bending stiffness. In previous experimental studies, the plates have always appeared much more stable than the predictions of two-dimensional models. This discrepancy is discussed and clarified in this paper by examining experimentally and theoretically the effect of the plate aspect ratio on the instability threshold. We show that the two-dimensional limit cannot be achieved experimentally because hysteretical behaviour and three-dimensional effects appear for plates of large aspect ratio. The nature of the instability bifurcation (sub- or supercritical) is also discussed in the light of recent numerical results.

Optimal Strouhal number for swimming animals

Abstract To evaluate the swimming performances of aquatic animals, an important dimensionless quantity is the Strouhal number, St = fA / U , with f the tail-beat frequency, A the peak-to-peak tail amplitude, and U the swimming velocity. Experiments with flapping foils have exhibited maximum propulsive efficiency in the interval 0.25 St 0.35 and it has been argued that animals likely evolved to swim in the same narrow interval. Using Lighthills elongated-body theory to address undulatory propulsion, it is demonstrated here that the optimal Strouhal number increases from 0.15 to 0.8 for animals spanning from the largest cetaceans to the smallest tadpoles. To assess the validity of this model, the swimming kinematics of 53 different species of aquatic animals have been compiled from the literature and it shows that their Strouhal numbers are consistently near the predicted optimum.

Three-dimensional instability of Burgers and Lamb–Oseen vortices in a strain field

The linear stability of Burgers and Lamb–Oseen vortices is addressed when the vortex of circulation Γ and radius δ is subjected to an additional strain field of rate s perpendicular to the vorticity axis. The resulting non-axisymmetric vortex is analysed in the limit of large Reynolds number R Γ = Γ / v and small strain s [Lt ] Γ /δ 2 by considering the approximations obtained by Moffatt et al . (1994) and Jimenez et al . (1996) for each case respectively. For both vortices, the TWMS instability (Tsai & Widnall 1976; Moore & Saffman 1975) is shown to be active, i.e. stationary helical Kelvin waves of azimuthal wavenumbers m =1 and m =−1 resonate and are amplified by the external strain in the neighbourhood of critical axial wavenumbers which are computed. The additional effects of diffusion for the Lamb–Oseen vortex and stretching for the Burgers vortex are proved to limit in time the resonance. The transient growth of the helical waves is analysed in detail for the distinguished scaling s ∼ Γ / (δ 2 R 1/2 Γ ). An amplitude equation describing the resonance is obtained and the maximum gain of the wave amplitudes is calculated. The effect of the vorticity profile on the instability characteristic as well as of a time-varying stretching rate are analysed. In particular the stretching rate maximizing the instability is calculated. The results are also discussed in the light of recent observations in experiments and numerical simulations. It is argued that the Kelvin waves resonance mechanism could explain various dynamical behaviours of vortex filaments in turbulence.

Elliptic and triangular instabilities in rotating cylinders

In this article, the multipolar vortex instability of the flow in a finite cylinder is addressed. The experimental study uses a rotating elastic deformable tube filled with water which is elliptically or triangularly deformed by two or three rollers. The experimental control parameters are the cylinder aspect ratio and the Reynolds number based on the angular frequency. For Reynolds numbers close to threshold, different instability modes are visualized using anisotropic particles, according to the value of the aspect ratio. These modes are compared with those predicted by an asymptotic stability theory in the limit of small deformations and large Reynolds numbers. A very good agreement is obtained which confirms the instability mechanism; for both elliptic and triangular configurations, the instability is due to the resonance of two normal modes (Kelvin modes) of the underlying rotating flow with the deformation field. At least four different elliptic instability modes, including combinations of Kelvin modes with azimuthal wavenumbers m = 0 and m = 2 and Kelvin modes m = 1 and m = 3 are visualized. Two different triangular instability modes which are a combination of Kelvin modes m = −1 and m = 2 and a combination of Kelvin modes m = 0 and m = 3 are also evidenced. The nonlinear dynamics of a particular elliptic instability mode, which corresponds to the combination of two stationary Kelvin modes m = −1 and m = 1, is examined in more detail using particle image velocimetry (PIV). The dynamics of the phase and amplitude of the instability mode is shown to be predicted well by the weakly nonlinear analysis for moderate Reynolds numbers. For larger Reynolds number, a secondary instability is observed. Below a Reynolds number threshold, the amplitude of this instability mode saturates and its frequency is shown to agree with the predictions of Kerswell (1999). Above this threshold, a more complex dynamic develops which is only sustained during a finite time. Eventually, the two-dimensional stationary elliptic flow is reestablished and the destabilization process starts again.

Leonardo's rule, self-similarity, and wind-induced stresses in trees.

Examining botanical trees, Leonardo da Vinci noted that the total cross section of branches is conserved across branching nodes. In this Letter, it is proposed that this rule is a consequence of the tree skeleton having a self-similar structure and the branch diameters being adjusted to resist wind-induced loads.

Stability of the Rankine vortex in a multipolar strain field

In this paper, the linear stability of a Rankine vortex in an n-fold multipolar strain field is addressed. The flow geometry is characterized by two parameters: the degree of azimuthal symmetry n which is an integer and the strain strength e which is assumed to be small. For n=2, 3 and 4 (dipolar, tripolar and quadrupolar strain fields, respectively), it is shown that the flow is subject to a three-dimensional instability which can be described by the resonance mechanism of Moore and Saffman [Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 346, 413 (1975)]. In each case, two normal modes (Kelvin modes), with the azimuthal wave numbers separated by n, resonate and interact with the multipolar strain field when their axial wave numbers and frequencies are identical. The inviscid growth rate of each resonant Kelvin mode combination is computed and compared to the asymptotic values obtained in the large wave numbers limits. The instability is also interpreted as a vorticity stretching mechanism. It is shown that the inviscid gr...

The origin of hysteresis in the flag instability

The flapping flag instability occurs when a flexible cantilevered plate is immersed in a uniform airflow. To this day, the nonlinear aspects of this aeroelastic instability are largely unknown. In particular, experiments in the literature all report a large hysteresis loop, while the bifurcation in numerical simulations is either supercritical or subcritical with a small hysteresis loop. In this paper, the discrepancy is addressed. First, weakly nonlinear stability analyses are conducted in the slender-body and two-dimensional limits, and, second, new experiments are performed with flat and curved plates. The discrepancy is attributed to inevitable planeity defects of the plates in the experiments.

A rotating fluid cylinder subject to weak precession

In this paper, we report experimental and theoretical results on the flow inside a precessing and rotating cylinder. Particle image velocimetry measurements have revealed the instantaneous structure of the flow and confirmed that it is the sum of forced inertial (Kelvin) modes, as predicted by the classical linear inviscid theory. But this theory predicts also that the amplitude of a mode diverges when its natural frequency equals the precession frequency. A viscous and weakly nonlinear theory has therefore been developed at the resonance. This theory has been compared to experimental results and shows a good quantitative agreement. For low Reynolds numbers, the mode amplitude scales as the square root of the Reynolds number owing to the presence of Ekman layers on the cylinder walls. When the Reynolds number is increased, the amplitude saturates at a value which scales as the precession angle to the power one-third for a given resonance. The nonlinear theory also predicts the forcing of a geostrophic (axisymmetric) mode which has been observed and measured in the experiments. These results allow the flow inside a precessing cylinder to be fully characterized in all regimes as long as there is no instability.

Coupled flutter of parallel plates

Experimental visualizations of the coupled flutter of an assembly of two, three, and four flexible parallel cantilevered plates immersed in an axial uniform flow are presented. Depending on the flow velocity, on the interplate distance, and on the plate length, different coupled modes are observed. Selected modes and the associated thresholds and frequencies are compared with the results of a linear stability analysis.

Kinematics of the most efficient cilium.

In a variety of biological processes, eukaryotic cells use cilia to transport flow. Although cilia have a remarkably conserved internal molecular structure, experimental observations report very diverse kinematics. To address this diversity, we determine numerically the kinematics and energetics of the most efficient cilium. Specifically, we compute the time-periodic deformation of a wall-bound elastic filament leading to transport of a surrounding fluid at minimum energetic cost, where the cost is taken to be the positive work done by all internal molecular motors. The optimal kinematics are found to strongly depend on the cilium bending rigidity through a single dimensionless number, the Sperm number, and closely resemble the two-stroke ciliary beating pattern observed experimentally.