Jose M. Lopez

The Boussinesq approximation in rapidly rotating flows

In commonly used formulations of the Boussinesq approximation centrifugal buoyancy effects related to differential rotation, as well as strong vortices in the flow, are neglected. However, these may play an important role in rapidly rotating flows, such as in astrophysical and geophysical applications, and also in turbulent convection. Here we provide a straightforward approach resulting in a Boussinesq-type approximation that consistently accounts for centrifugal effects. Its application to the accretion-disc problem is discussed. We numerically compare the new approach to the typical one in fluid flows confined between two differentially heated and rotating cylinders. The results justify the need of using the proposed approximation in rapidly rotating flows.

Conductive and convective heat transfer in fluid flows between differentially heated and rotating cylinders

Abstract The flow of fluid confined between a heated rotating cylinder and a cooled stationary cylinder is a canonical experiment for the study of heat transfer in engineering. The theoretical treatment of this system is greatly simplified if the cylinders are assumed to be of infinite length or periodic in the axial direction. In these cases heat transfer in the laminar regime occurs only through conduction as in a solid. We here investigate numerically heat transfer and the onset of turbulence in such flows by using both periodic and no-slip boundary conditions in the axial direction. The influence of the geometric parameters is comprehensively studied by varying the radius ratio ( 0.1 ⩽ η ⩽ 0.99 ) and the length-to-gap aspect ratio ( 5 ⩽ Γ ⩽ 80 ). Similarly, a wide range of Prandtl, Rayleigh, and Reynolds numbers is explored ( 0.01 ⩽ σ ⩽ 100 , Ra ⩽ 30 , 000 , and Re ⩽ 1000 , respectively). We obtain a simple criterion, Ra ≲ a ( η ) Γ , which determines whether the infinite-cylinder assumption can be employed. The coefficient a is well approximated by a cubic fit over the whole η -range. Noteworthy the criterion is independent of the Prandtl number and appears robust with respect to Reynolds number even beyond the laminar regime.

Bifurcations with imperfect SO(2) symmetry and pinning of rotating waves

Rotating waves are periodic solutions in SO(2) equivariant dynamical systems. Their precession frequency changes with parameters and it may change sign, passing through zero. When this happens, the dynamical system is very sensitive to imperfections that break the SO(2) symmetry and the waves may become trapped by the imperfections, resulting in steady solutions that exist in a finite region in parameter space. This is the so-called pinning phenomenon. In this study, we analyse the breaking of the SO(2) symmetry in a dynamical system close to a Hopf bifurcation whose frequency changes sign along a curve in parameter space. The problem is very complex, as it involves the complete unfolding of high codimension. A detailed analysis of different types of imperfections indicates that a pinning region surrounded by infinite-period bifurcation curves appears in all cases. Complex bifurcational processes, strongly dependent on the specifics of the symmetry breaking, appear very close to the intersection of the Hopf bifurcation and the pinning region. Scaling laws of the pinning region width and partial breaking of SO(2) to Zm are also considered. Previous as well as new experimental and numerical studies of pinned rotating waves are reviewed in the light of the new theoretical results.