Search results for "Prandtl number"
showing 10 items of 32 documents
Transition to turbulence in serpentine pipes
2017
Abstract The geometry considered in the present work (serpentine pipe) is a sequence of U-bends of alternate curvature. It is characterized by pipe diameter, d = 2a and bend diameter, D = 2c. The repeated curvature inversion forces the secondary flow pattern, typical of all flows in curved ducts, to switch between two mirror-like configurations. This causes (i) pressure drop and heat or mass transfer characteristics much different from those occurring either in a straight pipe or in a constant-curvature pipe, and (ii) an early loss of stability of the base steady-state flow. In the present work, four values of the curvature δ = a/c (0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5) were considered. For each value of …
Existence and Singularities for the Prandtl Boundary Layer Equations
2000
Prandtl's boundary layer equations, first formulated in 1904, resolve the differences between the viscous and inviscid description of fluid flows. This paper presents a review of mathematical results, both analytic and computational, on the unsteady boundary layer equations. This includes a review of the derivation and basic properties of the equations, singularity formation, well-posedness results, and infinite Reynolds number limits.
Viscous-Inviscid Interactions in a Boundary-Layer Flow Induced by a Vortex Array
2014
In this paper we investigate the asymptotic validity of boundary layer theory. For a flow induced by a periodic row of point-vortices, we compare Prandtl's solution to Navier-Stokes solutions at different $Re$ numbers. We show how Prandtl's solution develops a finite time separation singularity. On the other hand Navier-Stokes solution is characterized by the presence of two kinds of viscous-inviscid interactions between the boundary layer and the outer flow. These interactions can be detected by the analysis of the enstrophy and of the pressure gradient on the wall. Moreover we apply the complex singularity tracking method to Prandtl and Navier-Stokes solutions and analyze the previous int…
Singularity formation for Prandtl’s equations
2009
Abstract We consider Prandtl’s equations for an impulsively started disk and follow the process of the formation of the singularity in the complex plane using the singularity tracking method. We classify Van Dommelen and Shen’s singularity as a cubic root singularity. We introduce a class of initial data, uniformly bounded in H 1 , which have a dipole singularity in the complex plane. These data lead to a solution blow-up whose time can be made arbitrarily short within the class. This is numerical evidence of the ill-posedness of the Prandtl equations in H 1 . The presence of a small viscosity in the streamwise direction changes the behavior of the singularities. They stabilize at a distanc…
High Reynolds number Navier-Stokes solutions and boundary layer separation induced by a rectilinear vortex
2013
Abstract We compute the solutions of Prandtl’s and Navier–Stokes equations for the two dimensional flow induced by a rectilinear vortex interacting with a boundary in the half plane. For this initial datum Prandtl’s equation develops, in a finite time, a separation singularity. We investigate the different stages of unsteady separation for Navier–Stokes solution at different Reynolds numbers Re = 103–105, and we show the presence of a large-scale interaction between the viscous boundary layer and the inviscid outer flow. We also see a subsequent stage, characterized by the presence of a small-scale interaction, which is visible only for moderate-high Re numbers Re = 104–105. We also investi…
Application of a non linear local analysis method for the problem of mixed convection instability
2007
Abstract We consider the problem of laminar mixed convection flow between parallel, vertical and uniformly heated plates where the governing dimensionless parameters are the Prandtl, Rayleigh and Reynolds numbers. Using the method based on the centre manifold theorem which was derived from the general theory of dynamical systems, we reduce a three-dimensional simplified model of ordinary differential amplitude equations emanating from the original Navier-Stokes system of the problem in the vicinity of a trivial stationary solution. We have found that when the forcing parameter, the Rayleigh number, increases beyond the critical value Ra s , the stationary solution is a pitchfork bifurcation…
Singularity tracking for Camassa-Holm and Prandtl's equations
2006
In this paper we consider the phenomenon of singularity formation for the Camassa-Holm equation and for Prandtl's equations. We solve these equations using spectral methods. Then we track the singularity in the complex plane estimating the rate of decay of the Fourier spectrum. This method allows us to follow the process of the singularity formation as the singularity approaches the real axis.
Low-Prandtl Number Natural Convection in Volumetrically Heated Rectangular Enclosures - III. Shallow Cavity, AR=0.25
2001
Abstract Natural convection in a volumetrically heated rectangular enclosure filled with a low-Prandtl number (Pr=0.0321) fluid was studied by direct numerical two-dimensional simulation. The enclosure had isothermal side walls and adiabatic top/bottom walls. The aspect ratio was 4 and the Grashof number Gr, based on conductive maximum temperature and cavity width, ranged from 3.79 × 104 to 1.26 × 109. According to the value of Gr, different flow regimes were obtained: steady-state, periodic, and chaotic. The first instability of the steady-state solution occurred at Gr≈3×105; the resulting time-periodic flow field consisted of a central rising plume and of convection rolls, periodically ge…
MHD free convection in a liquid-metal filled cubic enclosure. II. Internal heating
2002
The buoyancy-driven magnetohydrodynamic flow in a liquid-metal filled cubic enclosure was investigated by three-dimensional numerical simulation. The enclosure was differentially heated at two opposite vertical walls, all other walls being adiabatic, and a uniform magnetic field was applied orthogonal to the temperature gradient and to the gravity vector. The Rayleigh number was 105 and the Prandtl number was 0.0321 (characteristic of Pb–17Li at 573 K). The Hartmann number was made to vary between 102 and 103 and the electrical conductance of the walls between 0 and ∞. The continuity, momentum and enthalpy transport equations, in conjunction with a Poisson equation for the electric potentia…
A study of turbulent heat transfer in curved pipes by numerical simulation
2013
Abstract Turbulent heat transfer in curved pipes was studied by numerical simulation. Two curvatures δ (pipe radius a/curvature radius c) were considered, 0.1 and 0.3; results were also obtained for a straight pipe (δ = 0) for comparison purposes. A tract of pipe 5 diameters in length was chosen as the computational domain and was discretized by finite volume multiblock-structured grids of ∼5.3 × 106 hexahedral cells. Fully developed conditions were assumed; the friction velocity Reynolds number was 500, corresponding to bulk Reynolds numbers between 12 630 and ∼17 350 according to the curvature, while the Prandtl number was 0.86 (representative of saturated liquid water at 58 bar). Simulat…