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Curvature- and rotation-induced instabilities in channel flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

O. John E. Matsson  and
P. Henrik Alfredsson
O. John E. Matsson
Affiliation:
Department of Gas Dynamics, Royal Institute of Technology, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
P. Henrik Alfredsson
Affiliation:
Department of Gas Dynamics, Royal Institute of Technology, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
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Abstract

In a curved channel streamwise vortices, often called Dean vortices, may develop above a critical Reynolds number owing to centrifugal effects. Similar vortices can occur in a rotating plane channel due to Coriolis effects if the axis of rotation is normal to the mean flow velocity and parallel to the walls. In this paper the flow in a curved rotating channel is considered. It is shown from linear stability theory that there is a region for which centrifugal effects and Coriolis effects almost cancel each other, which increases the critical Reynolds number substantially. The flow visualization experiments carried out show that a complete cancellation of Dean vortices can be obtained for low Reynolds number. The rotation rate for which this occurs is in close agreement with predictions from linear stability theory. For curved channel flow a secondary instability of travelling wave type is found at a Reynolds number about three times higher than the critical one for the primary instability. It is shown that rotation can completely cancel the secondary instability.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 210 , January 1990 , pp. 537 - 563
Copyright
© 1990 Cambridge University Press

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