Mujeeb R. Malik

Crossflow disturbances in three-dimensional boundary layers : nonlinear development, wave interaction and secondary instability

Nonlinear stability of a model swept-wing boundary layer, subject to crossflow instability, is investigated by numerically solving the governing partial differential equations. The three-dimensional boundary layer is unstable to both stationary and travelling crossflow disturbances. Nonlinear calculations have been carried out for stationary vortices and the computed wall vorticity pattern results in streamwise streaks which resemble quite well the surface oil-flow visualizations in swept-wing experiments. Other features of the stationary vortex development (half-mushroom structure, inflected velocity profiles, vortex doubling, etc.) are also captured in these calculations. Nonlinear interaction of the stationary and travelling waves is also studied. When initial amplitude of the stationary vortex is larger than the travelling mode, the stationary vortex dominates most of the downstream development. When the two modes have the same initial amplitude, the travelling mode dominates the downstream development owing to its higher growth rate. It is also found that, prior to laminar/turbulent transition, the three-dimensional boundary layer is subject to a high-frequency secondary instability, which is in agreement with the experiments of Poll (1985) and Kohama, Saric & Hoos (1991). The frequency of this secondary instability, which resides on top of the stationary crossflow vortex, is an order of magnitude higher than the frequency of the most-amplified travelling crossflow mode.

The neutral curve for stationary disturbances in rotating-disk flow

The neutral curve for stationary vortex disturbances in rotating-disk flow is computed up to a Reynolds number of 10 to the 7th using the sixth-order system of linear stability equations which includes the effects of streamline curvature and Coriolis force. It is found that the neutral curve has two minima: one at R = 285.36 (upper branch) and the other at R = 440.88 (lower branch). At large Reynolds numbers, the upper branch tends to Stuarts asymptotic solution while the lower branch tends to a solution that is associated with the wave angle corresponding to the direction of zero mean wall shear.

Secondary instability of crossflow vortices and swept-wing boundary-layer transition

Crossflow instability of a three-dimensional boundary layer is a common cause of transition in swept-wing flows. The boundary-layer flow modified by the presence of finite-amplitude crossflow modes is susceptible to high-frequency secondary instabilities, which are believed to harbinger the onset of transition. The role of secondary instability in transition prediction is theoretically examined for the recent swept-wing experimental data by Reibert et al . (1996). Exploiting the experimental observation that the underlying three-dimensional boundary layer is convectively unstable, non-linear parabolized stability equations are used to compute a new basic state for the secondary instability analysis based on a two-dimensional eigenvalue approach. The predicted evolution of stationary crossflow vortices is in close agreement with the experimental data. The suppression of naturally dominant crossflow modes by artificial roughness distribution at a subcritical spacing is also confirmed. The analysis reveals a number of secondary instability modes belonging to two basic families which, in some sense, are akin to the ‘horseshoe’ and ‘sinuous’ modes of the Gortler vortex problem. The frequency range of the secondary instability is consistent with that measured in earlier experiments by Kohama et al . (1991), as is the overall growth of the secondary instability mode prior to the onset of transition (e.g. Kohama et al . 1996). Results indicate that the N -factor correlation based on secondary instability growth rates may yield a more robust criterion for transition onset prediction in comparison with an absolute amplitude criterion that is based on primary instability alone.

Prediction and control of transition in supersonic and hypersonic boundary layers

Computations for sharp cones, using the e N method with N=10, show that the first oblique Tollmien-Schlichting mode is responsible for transition at adiabatic wall conditions for freestream Mach numbers up to about 7. For cold walls, the two-dimensional second mode dominates the transition process at lower hypersonic Mach numbers due to the well-known destabilizing effect of cooling on the second mode

On the stability of an infinite swept attachment line boundary layer

A number of numerical schemes were employed in order to gain insight in the stability problem of the infinite swept attachment line boundary layer. The basic flow was taken to be the classical Hiemenz flow. A number of assumptions for the perturbation flow quantities were considered. In all cases a pseudo- spectral approach was used; the chordwise and spanwise directions were treated spectrally, while an implicit Crank-Nicolson scheme was used temporally. Extensive use of the FFT algorithm has been made.

A spectral collocation method for the Navier-Stokes equations

Abstract A Fourier-Chebyshev spectral method for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is described. It is applicable to a variety of problems including some with fluid properties which vary strongly both in the normal direction and in time. In this fully spectral algorithm, a preconditioned iterative technique is used for solving the implicit equations arising from semi-implicit treatment of pressure, mean advection, and vertical diffusion terms. The algorithm is tested by applying it to hydrodynamic stability problems in channel flow and in external boundary layers with both constant and variable viscosity.

Fundamental and subharmonic secondary instabilities of Görtler vortices

The nonlinear development of stationary Gortler vortices leads to a highly distorted mean flow field where the streamwise velocity depends strongly not only on the wall-normal but also on the spanwise coordinates. In this paper, the inviscid instability of this flow field is analysed by solving the two-dimensional eigenvalue problem associated with the governing partial differential equation. It is found that the flow field is subject to the fundamental odd and even (with respect to the Gortler vortex) unstable modes. The odd mode, which was also found by Hall & Horseman (1991), is initially more unstable. However, there exists an even mode which has higher growth rate further downstream. It is shown that the relative significance of these two modes depends upon the Gortler vortex wavelength such that the even mode is stronger for large wavelengths while the odd mode is stronger for short wavelengths. Our analysis also shows the existence of new subharmonic (both odd and even) modes of secondary instability. The nonlinear development of the fundamental secondary instability modes is studied by solving the (viscous) partial differential equations under a parabolizing approximation. The odd mode leads to the well-known sinuous mode of break down while the even mode leads to the horseshoe-type vortex structure. This helps explain experimental observations that Gortler vortices break down sometimes by sinuous motion and sometimes by developing a horseshoe vortex structure. The details of these break down mechanisms are presented.

Oblique-mode breakdown and secondary instability in supersonic boundary layers

Laminar–turbulent transition mechanisms for a supersonic boundary layer are examined by numerically solving the governing partial differential equations. It is shown that the dominant mechanism for transition at low supersonic Mach numbers is associated with the breakdown of oblique first-mode waves. The first stage in this breakdown process involves nonlinear interaction of a pair of oblique waves with equal but opposite angles resulting in the evolution of a streamwise vortex. This stage can be described by a wave–vortex triad consisting of the oblique waves and a streamwise vortex whereby the oblique waves grow linearly while nonlinear forcing results in the rapid growth of the vortex mode. In the second stage, the mutual and self-interaction of the streamwise vortex and the oblique modes results in the rapid growth of other harmonic waves and transition soon follows. Our calculations are carried all the way into the transition region which is characterized by rapid spectrum broadening, localized (unsteady) flow separation and the emergence of small-scale streamwise structures. The r.m.s. amplitude of the streamwise velocity component is found to be on the order of 4–5 % at the transition onset location marked by the rise in mean wall shear. When the boundary-layer flow is initially forced with multiple (frequency) oblique modes, transition occurs earlier than for a single (frequency) pair of oblique modes. Depending upon the disturbance frequencies, the oblique mode breakdown can occur for very low initial disturbance amplitudes (on the order of 0.001% or even lower) near the lower branch. In contrast, the subharmonic secondary instability mechanism for a two-dimensional primary disturbance requires an initial amplitude on the order of about 0.5% for the primary wave. An in-depth discussion of the oblique-mode breakdown as well as the secondary instability mechanism (both subharmonic and fundamental) is given for a Mach 1.6 flat-plate boundary layer.

On the stability of attachment-line boundary layers. Part 1. The incompressible swept Hiemenz flow

The stability of the incompressible attachment-line boundary layer is studied by solving a partial-differential eigenvalue problem. The basic flow near the leading edge is taken to be the swept Hiemenz flow which represents an exact solution of the Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations. Previous theoretical investigations considered a special class of two-dimensional disturbances in which the chordwise variation of disturbance velocities mimics the basic flow and renders a system of ordinary-differential equations of the Orr-Sommerfeld type. The solution of this sixth-order system by Hall, Malik & Poll (1984) showed that the two-dimensional disturbance is stable provided that the Reynolds number

On the instability of a three-dimensional attachment-line boundary layer: weakly nonlinear theory and a numerical approach

\overline{R} . In the present study, the restrictive assumptions on the disturbance field are relaxed to allow for more general solutions. Results of the present analysis indicate that unstable perturbations other than the special symmetric two-dimensional mode referred to above do exist in the attachment-line boundary layer provided