We utilize resolvent and weakly nonlinear analyses in combination with direct numerical simulations (DNS) to identify mechanisms for oblique transition in a Mach $5$ hypersonic flow over an adiabatic slender double wedge. Even though the laminar separated flow is globally stable, resolvent analysis demonstrates significant amplification of unsteady external disturbances to the linearized flow equations. These disturbances are introduced upstream of the separation zone and they lead to the appearance of oblique waves further downstream. We demonstrate that the large amplification of oblique waves arises from the growth of fluctuation shear stress due to streamline curvature of the laminar base flow in the separated shear layer. This is in contrast to the attached boundary layers, where no such mechanism exists. We also use a weakly nonlinear analysis to show that the resolvent operator associated with linearization around the laminar base flow governs the evolution of steady reattachment streaks that arise from quadratic interactions of unsteady oblique waves. These quadratic interactions generate vortical excitations in the reattaching shear layer which lead to the formation of streaks in the recirculation zone and their subsequent amplification, breakdown and transition to turbulence downstream. Our analysis of the energy budget shows that deceleration of the base flow near reattachment is primarily responsible for amplification of steady streaks. Finally, we employ DNS to examine latter stages of transition to turbulence and demonstrate the predictive power of a weakly nonlinear input–output framework in uncovering triggering mechanisms for oblique transition in separated high-speed boundary layer flows.

Both experiments and direct numerical simulations have been used to demonstrate that riblets can reduce turbulent drag by as much as $10\,\%$, but their systematic design remains an open challenge. In this paper we develop a model-based framework to quantify the effect of streamwise-aligned spanwise-periodic riblets on kinetic energy and skin-friction drag in turbulent channel flow. We model the effect of riblets as a volume penalization in the Navier–Stokes equations and use the statistical response of the eddy-viscosity-enhanced linearized equations to quantify the effect of background turbulence on the mean velocity and skin-friction drag. For triangular riblets, our simulation-free approach reliably predicts drag-reducing trends as well as mechanisms that lead to performance deterioration for large riblets. We investigate the effect of height and spacing on drag reduction and demonstrate a correlation between energy suppression and drag reduction for appropriately sized riblets. We also analyse the effect of riblets on drag-reduction mechanisms and turbulent flow structures including very large-scale motions. Our results demonstrate the utility of our approach in capturing the effect of riblets on turbulent flows using models that are tractable for analysis and optimization.

We employ global input–output analysis to quantify amplification of exogenous disturbances in compressible boundary layer flows. Using the spatial structure of the dominant response to time-periodic inputs, we explain the origin of steady reattachment streaks in a hypersonic flow over a compression ramp. Our analysis of the laminar shock–boundary layer interaction reveals that the streaks arise from a preferential amplification of upstream counter-rotating vortical perturbations with a specific spanwise wavelength. These streaks are associated with heat-flux striations at the wall near flow reattachment and they can trigger transition to turbulence. The streak wavelength predicted by our analysis compares favourably with observations from two different hypersonic compression ramp experiments. Furthermore, our analysis of inviscid transport equations demonstrates that base-flow deceleration contributes to the amplification of streamwise velocity and that the baroclinic effects are responsible for the production of streamwise vorticity. Finally, the appearance of the temperature streaks near reattachment is triggered by the growth of streamwise velocity and streamwise vorticity perturbations as well as by the amplification of upstream temperature perturbations by the reattachment shock.

In this paper, we address the problem of how to account for second-order statistics of turbulent flows using low-complexity stochastic dynamical models based on the linearized Navier–Stokes equations. The complexity is quantified by the number of degrees of freedom in the linearized evolution model that are directly influenced by stochastic excitation sources. For the case where only a subset of velocity correlations are known, we develop a framework to complete unavailable second-order statistics in a way that is consistent with linearization around turbulent mean velocity. In general, white-in-time stochastic forcing is not sufficient to explain turbulent flow statistics. We develop models for coloured-in-time forcing using a maximum entropy formulation together with a regularization that serves as a proxy for rank minimization. We show that coloured-in-time excitation of the Navier–Stokes equations can also be interpreted as a low-rank modification to the generator of the linearized dynamics. Our method provides a data-driven refinement of models that originate from first principles and captures complex dynamics of turbulent flows in a way that is tractable for analysis, optimization and control design.

Amplification of deterministic disturbances in inertialess shear-driven channel flows of viscoelastic fluids is examined by analysing the frequency responses from spatio-temporal body forces to the velocity and polymer stress fluctuations. In strongly elastic flows, we show that disturbances with large streamwise length scales may be significantly amplified even in the absence of inertia. For fluctuations without streamwise variations, we derive explicit analytical expressions for the dependence of the worst-case amplification (from different forcing to different velocity and polymer stress components) on the Weissenberg number ($\mathit{We}$), the maximum extensibility of the polymer chains ($L$), the viscosity ratio and the spanwise wavenumber. For the Oldroyd-B model, the amplification of the most energetic components of velocity and polymer stress fields scales as ${\mathit{We}}^{2} $ and ${\mathit{We}}^{4} $. On the other hand, the finite extensibility of polymer molecules limits the largest achievable amplification even in flows with infinitely large Weissenberg numbers: in the presence of wall-normal and spanwise forces, the amplification of the streamwise velocity and polymer stress fluctuations is bounded by quadratic and quartic functions of $L$. This high amplification signals low robustness to modelling imperfections of inertialess channel flows of viscoelastic fluids. The underlying physical mechanism involves interactions of polymer stress fluctuations with a base shear, and it represents a close analogue of the lift-up mechanism that initiates a bypass transition in inertial flows of Newtonian fluids.

Over the last two decades, both experiments and simulations have demonstrated that transverse wall oscillations with properly selected amplitude and frequency can reduce turbulent drag by as much as . In this paper, we develop a model-based approach for designing oscillations that suppress turbulence in a channel flow. We utilize eddy-viscosity-enhanced linearization of the turbulent flow with control in conjunction with turbulence modelling to determine skin-friction drag in a simulation-free manner. The Boussinesq eddy viscosity hypothesis is used to quantify the effect of fluctuations on the mean velocity in flow subject to control. In contrast to the traditional approach that relies on numerical simulations, we determine the turbulent viscosity from the second-order statistics of the linearized model driven by white-in-time stochastic forcing. The spatial power spectrum of the forcing is selected to ensure that the linearized model for uncontrolled flow reproduces the turbulent energy spectrum. The resulting correction to the turbulent mean velocity induced by small-amplitude wall movements is then used to identify the optimal frequency of drag-reducing oscillations. In addition, the control net efficiency and the turbulent flow structures that we obtain agree well with the results of numerical simulations and experiments. This demonstrates the predictive power of our model-based approach to controlling turbulent flows and is expected to pave the way for successful flow control at higher Reynolds numbers than currently possible.

We examine the efficacy of streamwise travelling waves generated by a zero-net-mass-flux surface blowing and suction for controlling the onset of turbulence in a channel flow. For small-amplitude actuation, we utilize a weakly nonlinear analysis to determine base-flow modifications and assess the resulting net power balance. Receptivity analysis of the velocity fluctuations around this base flow is then employed to design the travelling waves. Our simulation-free approach reveals that, relative to the flow with no control, the downstream travelling waves with properly designed speed and frequency can significantly reduce receptivity, which makes them well suited for controlling the onset of turbulence. In contrast, the velocity fluctuations around the upstream travelling waves exhibit larger receptivity to disturbances. Our theoretical predictions, obtained by perturbation analysis (in the wave amplitude) of the linearized Navier–Stokes equations with spatially periodic coefficients, are verified using full-scale simulations of the nonlinear flow dynamics in the companion paper (Lieu et al., J. Fluid Mech., 2010, doi:10.1017/S002211201000340X).

This study builds on and confirms the theoretical findings of Part 1 of this paper (Moarref & Jovanović, J. Fluid Mech., 2010, doi:10.1017/S0022112010003393). We use direct numerical simulation of the Navier–Stokes equations to assess the efficacy of blowing and suction in the form of streamwise travelling waves for controlling the onset of turbulence in a channel flow. We highlight the effects of the modified base flow on the dynamics of velocity fluctuations and net power balance. Our simulations verify the theoretical predictions of Part 1 that the upstream travelling waves promote turbulence even when the uncontrolled flow stays laminar. On the other hand, the downstream travelling waves with parameters selected in Part 1 are capable of reducing the fluctuations' kinetic energy, thereby maintaining the laminar flow. In flows driven by a fixed pressure gradient, a positive net efficiency as large as 25 % relative to the uncontrolled turbulent flow can be achieved with downstream waves. Furthermore, we show that these waves can also relaminarize fully developed turbulent flows at low Reynolds numbers. We conclude that the theory developed in Part 1 for the linearized flow equations with uncertainty has considerable ability to predict full-scale phenomena.

Non-modal amplification of disturbances in streamwise-constant channel flows of Oldroyd-B fluids is studied from an input–output point of view by analysing the responses of the velocity components to spatio-temporal body forces. These inputs into the governing equations are assumed to be harmonic in the spanwise direction and stochastic in the wall-normal direction and in time. An explicit Reynolds number (Re) scaling of frequency responses from different forcing to different velocity components is developed, showing the same Re dependence as in Newtonian fluids. It is found that some of the frequency response components peak at non-zero temporal frequencies. This is in contrast to Newtonian fluids, where peaks are always observed at zero frequency, suggesting that viscoelastic effects introduce additional time scales and promote development of flow patterns with smaller time constants than in Newtonian fluids. The temporal frequencies, corresponding to the peaks in the components of frequency response, decrease with an increase in viscosity ratio (ratio of solvent viscosity to total viscosity) and show maxima for non-zero elasticity number. Our analysis of the Reynolds–Orr equation demonstrates that the energy-exchange term involving the streamwise/wall-normal polymer stress component τxy and the wall-normal gradient of the streamwise velocity ∂yu becomes increasingly important relative to the Reynolds-stress term as the elasticity number increases and is thus the main driving force for amplification in flows with strong viscoelastic effects.

Energy amplification in channel flows of Oldroyd-B fluids is studied from an input–output point of view by analysing the ensemble-average energy density associated with the velocity field of the linearized governing equations. The inputs consist of spatially distributed and temporally varying body forces that are harmonic in the streamwise and spanwise directions and stochastic in the wall-normal direction and in time. Such inputs enable the use of powerful tools from linear systems theory that have recently been applied to analyse Newtonian fluid flows. It is found that the energy density increases with a decrease in viscosity ratio (ratio of solvent viscosity to total viscosity) and an increase in Reynolds number and elasticity number. In most of the cases, streamwise-constant perturbations are most amplified and the location of maximum energy density shifts to higher spanwise wavenumbers with an increase in Reynolds number and elasticity number and a decrease in viscosity ratio. For similar parameter values, the maximum in the energy density occurs at a higher spanwise wavenumber for Poiseuille flow, whereas the maximum energy density achieves larger maxima for Couette flow. At low Reynolds numbers, the energy density decreases monotonically when the elasticity number is sufficiently small, but shows a maximum when the elasticity number becomes sufficiently large, suggesting that elasticity can amplify disturbances even when inertial effects are weak.

We study the linearized Navier–Stokes (LNS) equations in channel flows from an input–output point of view by analysing their spatio-temporal frequency responses. Spatially distributed and temporally varying body force fields are considered as inputs, and components of the resulting velocity fields are considered as outputs into these equations. We show how the roles of Tollmien–Schlichting (TS) waves, oblique waves, and streamwise vortices and streaks in subcritical transition can be explained as input–output resonances of the spatio-temporal frequency responses. On the one hand, we demonstrate the effectiveness of input field components, and on the other, the energy content of velocity perturbation components. We establish that wall-normal and spanwise forces have much stronger influence on the velocity field than streamwise force, and that the impact of these forces is most powerful on the streamwise velocity component. We show this using the relative scaling of the different input–output system components with the Reynolds number. We further demonstrate that for the streamwise constant perturbations, the spanwise force localized near the lower wall has, by far, the strongest effect on the evolution of the velocity field.