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Excitation and evolution of radiating modes in supersonic boundary layers. Part 1. Fundamental resonance with impinging sound waves
- Fufeng Qin, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 985 / 25 April 2024
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 18 April 2024, A13
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This paper investigates the linear and nonlinear evolution of radiating modes in supersonic boundary layers under the influence of impinging sound waves. It is found that the ensuing boundary-layer response is extraordinarily large for a subset of the sound frequency and incident angle, and the resonant over-reflection, corresponding to the reflection coefficient becoming infinite, occurs at a particular pairing of frequency and incident angle. At this point, the reflected wave coincides with a locally neutral radiating mode, which emits spontaneously sound in the form of Mach waves. A fundamental resonance takes place between the incident wave and the radiating mode. Viewed in a developing boundary layer, the response is rendered finite by introducing non-parallelism and nonlinear effects near the neutral location of the radiating mode, where the sound wave directly excites the radiating mode and/or acts on the pre-existing radiating mode. Inhomogeneous amplitude equations are derived to describe the excitation as well as the nonlinear development of the radiating mode in the two regimes where non-equilibrium and non-parallelism play a leading-order role, respectively. A composite amplitude equation is then constructed to take into account both non-parallelism and non-equilibrium effects. This amplitude equation is, with an appropriate initial condition, solved to quantify the impact of the impinging sound wave on the linear and nonlinear instability characteristics of the radiating mode. The far-field analysis shows that the Mach wave field of the radiating mode is changed significantly due to the incident sound.
Excitation and evolution of radiating modes in supersonic boundary layers. Part 2. Back effect of spontaneously radiated Mach waves
- Fufeng Qin, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 985 / 25 April 2024
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- 18 April 2024, A14
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This paper investigates the linear and nonlinear evolution of radiating modes under the influence of the spontaneously emitted Mach waves in a simple set-up of the supersonic boundary layers that develop in the entry region of a channel formed by two parallel semi-infinite flat plates. Two scenarios are considered. The first occurs in the boundary layers having identical wall conditions, where the Mach wave emitted by a radiating mode in one boundary layer influences the instability in the other. The second scenario takes place when the wall temperatures are different, in which case the spontaneously radiated Mach wave is reflected by the other boundary layer back to act on the radiating mode. Appropriate amplitude equations with the acoustic feedback effect being accounted for are derived. In each case, the effect of the spontaneously emitted sound contributes a linear term of delay type to the respective amplitude equation. For the first scenario, analytical and numerical studies of the amplitude equations show that due to the back action of the spontaneously radiated Mach wave, the amplitude exhibits rapid oscillations, and in the case of enhanced feedback effects, its envelope experiences near extinction followed by resurrection. The study of the coupled equations shows that the two modes with different initial amplitudes either undergo oscillations before attenuating, or terminate a finite-distance singularity at different locations. For the second scenario, the acoustic feedback produces similar effects in a broad range of wall temperature. The effects become pronounced, and the dependence on the wall temperature becomes more sensitive when the latter approaches the value corresponding to the resonance. Estimates suggest that such acoustic feedback is likely to be present in typical wind tunnel experiments and models for scramjet combustors.
Nonlinear dynamics and acoustic radiation of coherent structures consisting of multiple ring–helical modes in the near-nozzle region of a subsonic turbulent circular jet
- Zhongyu Zhang, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 973 / 25 October 2023
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- 11 October 2023, A8
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This paper investigates the nonlinear evolution and acoustic radiation of coherent structures (CS) in the near-nozzle region of a subsonic turbulent circular jet. A CS is taken to be a wavepacket consisting of multiple ring/helical modes, which are considered to be inviscid instability waves supported by the mean-flow profile. As the three-dimensionality of helical modes is weak in the near-nozzle region, the ring and helical modes with the same frequency have nearly the same growth rates and critical levels. They coexist and interact with each other in their common critical layer at high Reynolds numbers. The self and mutual quadratic interactions generate a mean-flow distortion and streaks, which act back on the fundamental components through the cubic interaction. The amplitude of the CS is governed by an integro-partial-differential equation, a significant feature of which is that differentiations with respect to the azimuthal coordinate appear in the history-dependent nonlinear terms. The non-parallelism of the mean flow as well as the impact of fine-scale turbulence on CS are taken into account and found to affect the nonlinear terms. By solving the amplitude equation, the development of the constituting modes, streamwise vortices and streaks are described. For CS consisting of frequency sideband, low-frequency components are excited nonlinearly and amplify to reach a considerable level. By analysing the large-distance asymptote of the perturbation, the low-frequency acoustic waves are found to be emitted by the temporally–spatially varying mean-flow distortion and streaks generated by the nonlinear interactions of the CS, and are thereby determined on the basis of first principles. Interestingly, the energetic part of the streaky structure that contributes to the nonlinear dynamics does not radiate directly, and instead the Reynolds stresses driving the subdominant radiating components represent the true physical sources.
Spatial–temporal transformation for primary and secondary instabilities in weakly non-parallel shear flows
- Jiakuan Xu, Jianxin Liu, Zhongyu Zhang, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 959 / 25 March 2023
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- 17 March 2023, A21
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When studying instability of weakly non-parallel flows, it is often desirable to convert temporal growth rates of unstable modes, which can readily be computed, to physically more relevant spatial growth rates. This has been performed using the well-known Gaster's transformation for primary instability and Herbert's transformation for the secondary instability of a saturated primary mode. The issue of temporal–spatial transformation is revisited in the present paper to clarify/rectify the ambiguity/misunderstanding that appears to exist in the literature. A temporal mode and its spatial counterpart may be related by sharing either the real frequency or wavenumber, and the respective transformations between their growth rates are obtained by a simpler consistent derivation than the original one. These transformations, which consist of first- and second-order versions, are valid under conditions less restrictive than those for Gaster's and Herbert's transformations, and reduce to the latter under additional conditions, which are not always satisfied in practice. The transformations are applied to inviscid Rayleigh instability of a mixing layer and a jet, secondary instability of a streaky flow as well as general detuned secondary instability (including subharmonic and fundamental resonances) of primary Mack modes in a supersonic boundary layer. Comparison of the transformed growth rates with the directly calculated spatial growth rates shows that the transformations derived in this paper outperform Gaster's and Herbert's transformations consistently. The first-order transformation is accurate when the growth rates are small or moderate, while the second-order transformations are sufficiently accurate across the entire instability bands, and thus stand as a useful tool for obtaining spatial instability characteristics via temporal stability analysis.
Nonlinear evolution and low-frequency acoustic radiation of ring-mode coherent structures on subsonic turbulent circular jets
- Zhongyu Zhang, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 940 / 10 June 2022
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- 12 April 2022, A39
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By adapting the triple decomposition of an instantaneous turbulent flow into a time-averaged mean field, large-scale coherent motion and fine-scale random fluctuations, and treating the coherent motion as instability modes on the mean flow, a mathematical theory is developed to describe the nonlinear spatial–temporal modulation and acoustic radiation of a coherent structure (CS) on a circular jet in the form of a wavepacket consisting of an axisymmetric (ring) mode and its sideband components. The effect of fine-scale turbulence on the CS is characterised via a gradient closure model, and the non-parallelism due to the axial variation and radial velocity of the mean flow is taken into account. By employing the matched asymptotic expansion and multi-scale techniques, a strongly nonlinear system is derived, which governs the envelope of the CS and its vorticity and temperature in the critical layer. Numerical solutions to the evolution system show that the theory captures the nonlinear amplitude attenuation and vorticity roll-up as observed in experiments. The large-distance asymptotic properties of the CS allow us to describe and predict its acoustic radiation on the basis of first principles. The CS is trapped within the jet, but its self-interaction generates a temporally and axially modulated mean-flow distortion, which acts as the emitter to radiate low-frequency sound waves, with the Reynolds stresses driving this mean-flow distortion being identified unambiguously to be the physical source in the present context. An equivalent source in the Lighthill type of acoustic analogy is also identified. For the present ring-mode CS in the fully developed region of a circular jet, the equivalent source can be determined before the acoustic field is, and the intensity of the radiated sound waves is found to be $O(\epsilon ^3)$, where $\epsilon$ measures the magnitude of the CS. The directivity and spectrum of the acoustic far field are calculated for representative parameters, and the predicted features resemble experimental measurements.
Effects of spanwise-periodic surface heating on supersonic boundary-layer instability
- Kaixin Zhu, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 940 / 10 June 2022
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- 08 April 2022, A20
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The effects of streamwise-elongated, spanwise-periodic surface heating on a supersonic boundary-layer instability are investigated under the assumption of high Reynolds number. Our focus is on the lower-branch viscous instability and so the spanwise spacing of the elements is chosen to be of $O({\textit {Re}}^{-3/8}L)$, the wavelength of the latter, where ${\textit {Re}}$ is the Reynolds number based on $L$, the distance from the leading edge to the centre of the elements. The streamwise length is assumed to be much longer in order to simplify the mathematical description. Starting with classical triple-deck theory, the equations governing the heating-induced streaky flow are derived by appropriate rescaling. When Chapman's viscosity law is adopted, a similarity solution is found. The stability of the streaky flow, which is of a bi-global nature, is shown to be governed by a novel triple-deck structure characterised by fully compressible dynamics in the lower deck. Through asymptotic analysis, the bi-global stability is reduced to a one-dimensional eigenvalue problem, which involves only the spanwise-dependent wall temperature and wall shear. The instability modes may be viewed as a continuation of oncoming first Mack modes, but might also be considered as a new kind since they exhibit two distinctive features: strong temperature perturbation near the wall and spontaneous radiation of an acoustic wave to the far field, neither of which is shared by first Mack modes. Numerical calculations, performed for two simple patterns of spanwise-periodic heating elements, demonstrate their stabilising/destabiling effects on modes with different frequencies and spanwise wavelengths.
Elevated low-frequency free-stream vortical disturbances eliminate boundary-layer separation
- Dongdong Xu, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 920 / 10 August 2021
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- 08 June 2021, A14
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A steady two-dimensional boundary layer subject to an adverse streamwise pressure gradient usually separates. In this paper, we investigate how free-stream vortical disturbances (FSVD) of moderate level prevent the separation in such a boundary layer over a plate or concave wall. The focus is on physically realisable FSVD with sufficiently long wavelength (low frequency) as they have the most significant impact on the boundary layer. The FSVD intensity $\epsilon$ is taken to be small but nevertheless strong enough that the streaks or Görtler vortices generated in the boundary layer are fully nonlinear and can alter the mean-flow profile by an order-one amount. The excitation and evolution of streaks and Görtler vortices are governed by the nonlinear unsteady boundary-region equations supplemented by appropriate initial (upstream) and boundary (far-field) conditions, which describe appropriately the action of FSVD on the boundary layer. The flow variables are decomposed into two parts: the steady spanwise-averaged and the unsteady or spanwise-varying components. These two parts are coupled and are computed simultaneously. Numerical results show that the separation is eliminated when the FSVD level exceeds a critical intensity $\epsilon _c$. It is inferred that the strong nonlinear mean-flow distortion associated with the nonlinear streaks or Görtler vortices prevents the separation. The critical FSVD intensity $\epsilon _c$ depends on the streamwise curvature, the pressure gradient and the frequency of FSVD. The value of $\epsilon _c$ decreases significantly with the Görtler number, indicating that concave curvature inhibits separation. A higher $\epsilon _c$ is required to prevent the separation in the case of stronger adverse pressure gradient. Interestingly, unsteady FSVD with low frequencies are found to be more effective than steady ones in suppressing the separation.
Görtler vortices and streaks in boundary layer subject to pressure gradient: excitation by free stream vortical disturbances, nonlinear evolution and secondary instability
- Dongdong Xu, Jianxin Liu, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 900 / 10 October 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 06 August 2020, A15
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This paper investigates streaks and Görtler vortices in a boundary layer over a flat or concave wall in a contracting or expanding stream, which provides a favourable or adverse pressure gradient, respectively. We consider first the excitation of streaks and Görtler vortices by free stream vortical disturbances (FSVD), and their nonlinear evolution. The focus is on FSVD with sufficiently long wavelength, to which the boundary layer is most receptive. The formulation is directed at the general case where the Görtler number $G_{\Lambda }$ (based on the spanwise length scale $\Lambda$ of FSVD) is of order one, and the FSVD is strong enough that the induced vortices acquire an $O(1)$ streamwise velocity in the region where the boundary layer thickness becomes comparable with $\Lambda,$ and the vortices are governed by the nonlinear boundary region equations (NBRE). An important effect of a pressure gradient is that the oncoming FSVD are distorted by the non-uniform inviscid flow outside the boundary layer through convection and stretching. This process is accounted for by using the rapid distortion theory. The impact of the distorting FSVD is analysed to provide the appropriate initial and boundary conditions, which form, along with the NBRE, the appropriate initial boundary value problem describing the excitation and nonlinear evolution of the vortices. Numerical results show that an adverse/favourable pressure gradient cause the Görtler vortices to saturate earlier/later, but at a lower/higher amplitude than that in the case of zero-pressure-gradient. On the other hand, for the same pressure gradient and at low levels of FSVD, the vortices saturate earlier and at a higher amplitude as $G_{\Lambda }$ increases. Raising FSVD intensity reduces the effects of the pressure gradient and curvature. At a high FSVD level of 14 %, the curvature has no impact on the vortices, while the pressure gradient only influences the saturation intensity. The unsteadiness of FSVD is found to reduce the boundary layer response significantly at FSVD levels, but that effect weakens as the turbulence level increases. A secondary instability analysis of the vortices is performed for moderate adverse and favourable pressure gradients. Three families of unstable modes have been identified, which may become dominant depending on the frequency and streamwise location. In the presence of an adverse pressure gradient, the secondary instability occurs earlier, but the unstable modes appear in a smaller band of frequency, and have smaller growth rates. The opposite is true for a favourable pressure gradient. The present theoretical framework, which accounts for the influence of the curvature, turbulence level and pressure gradient, allows for a detailed and integrated description of the key transition processes, and represents a useful step towards predicting the pretransitional flow and transition itself of the boundary layer over a blade in turbomachinery.
Effects of streamwise-elongated and spanwise-periodic surface roughness elements on boundary-layer instability
- Csaba B. Kátai, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 899 / 25 September 2020
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- 27 July 2020, A34
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We investigate the impact on the boundary-layer stability of spanwise-periodic, streamwise-elongated surface roughness elements. Our interest is in their effects on the so-called lower-branch Tollmien–Schlichting modes, and so the spanwise spacing of the elements is taken to be comparable with the spanwise wavelength of the latter, which is of $O(R^{-3/8} L)$, where $L$ is the dimensional length from the leading edge of the flat plate to the surface roughness, and $R$ is the Reynolds number based on $L$. The streamwise length is much longer, consistent with experimental set-ups. The roughness height is chosen such that the wall shear is altered by $O(1)$. From the generic triple-deck theory for three-dimensional roughness elements with both the streamwise and spanwise length scales being of $O(R^{-3/8 }L)$, we derived the relevant governing equations by appropriate rescaling. The resulting equations are nonlinear but parabolic because the pressure gradient in the streamwise direction is negligible while in the spanwise direction it is completely determined by the roughness shape. Appropriate upstream, boundary and matching conditions are derived for the problem. Owing to the parabolicity, the equations are solved efficiently using a marching method to obtain the streaky flow. The instability of the streaky flow is shown to be controlled by the spanwise-dependent (periodic) wall shear. Two- and weakly three-dimensional lower-frequency modes are found to be stabilised by the streaks, confirming previous experimental findings, while stronger three-dimensional and higher-frequency modes are destabilised. Among the three roughness shapes considered, the roughness elements in the form of hemispherical caps are found to be most effective for a given height. A resonant subharmonic interaction was found to occur for modes with spanwise wavelength twice that of the roughness elements.
Receptivity of inviscid modes in supersonic boundary layers due to scattering of free-stream sound by localised wall roughness
- Ming Dong, Yinhui Liu, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 896 / 10 August 2020
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- 04 June 2020, A23
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The present paper investigates the receptivity of inviscid first and second modes in super/hypersonic boundary layers due to the interaction between a weak free-stream acoustic wave and a small isolated surface roughness element. The large-Reynolds-number asymptotic analysis reveals the detailed processes of the excitation. The distortion of the acoustic signature by the curved wall contributes to the leading-order receptivity, producing an eigenmode of $O({\mathcal{E}}h)$ amplitude, where ${\mathcal{E}}\ll 1$ is the magnitude of the acoustic wave and $h\ll 1$ the roughness height normalised by the local boundary-layer thickness $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}$. The interactions between the roughness-induced mean-flow distortion and the acoustic signature contribute to the second-order receptivity, which is of $O({\mathcal{E}}hR^{-1/3})$ with $R\gg 1$ being the Reynolds number based on $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}$. Interestingly, the leading-order receptivity is equivalent to a canonic receptivity problem, the excitation by time-periodic blowing and suction through a local slot on the wall, and the effective periodic outflux velocity forced from the underneath Stokes layer can be determined explicitly in terms of the roughness shape function. This equivalence holds when $h=O(R^{-1/3})$, for which the roughness-induced mean-flow distortion becomes nonlinear. A systematic parametric study is carried out for the excitation of the first and second modes by both fast and slow free-stream acoustic waves, and the dependence of the receptivity efficiency on the relevant parameters is provided. Interestingly, the second-order receptivity could become dominant (e.g. in the case of slow acoustic waves with low frequencies and small incident angles), but the present mathematical theory remains valid. In order to check the accuracy of the asymptotic predictions, we have carried out direct numerical simulations (DNS) and also extended the existing finite-Reynolds-number theory to the supersonic regime. The asymptotic solutions agree with the results given by the finite-Reynolds-number calculations and DNS when $R$ is sufficiently large (typically $R=O(10^{5})$). An improved large-Reynolds-number approach is developed by replacing the non-penetration boundary condition by an unsteady outflux, which accounts for the $O(R^{-1/2})$ viscous correction by the Stokes layer. With this modification, the accuracy of the receptivity calculation at moderate Reynolds numbers (approximately a few thousands) is improved remarkably.
Generation of first Mack modes in supersonic boundary layers by slow acoustic waves interacting with streamwise isolated wall roughness
- Yinhui Liu, Ming Dong, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 888 / 10 April 2020
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- 06 February 2020, A10
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This paper investigates the receptivity of a supersonic boundary layer to slow acoustic waves whose characteristic frequency and wavelength are on the triple-deck scales, and the phase speed is thus asymptotically small. Acoustic waves on these scales are of special importance as they have the interesting property that a perturbation with a magnitude of $O(\unicode[STIX]{x1D716}_{u})$ in the free stream generates much larger, $O(\unicode[STIX]{x1D700}_{u}R^{1/8})$, velocity fluctuations inside the boundary layer, where $R$ is the Reynolds number based on the distance to the leading edge. Their interaction with streamwise localized roughness elements, leading to stronger receptivity, is studied using triple-deck theory and direct numerical simulations (DNS). The receptivity coefficient, defined as the ratio of the streamwise-velocity amplitude of the instability mode excited to that of the incident free-stream acoustic wave, serves to characterize receptivity efficiency. Its dependence on the roughness width, the Reynolds number $R$, the free-stream Mach number $M$ and the incident angle of the acoustic wave is examined. The theoretical predictions, obtained assuming $R\gg 1$, are found to be in quantitative agreement with the DNS results at moderate values of $R$ when the roughness elements are located near the lower branch of the instability. The receptivity is sensitive to the incident angle (or the phase speed) of the acoustic wave, being highly effective within a small range of angles close to $\cos ^{-1}(1/M)$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x03C0}+\cos ^{-1}(1/M)$ for downstream and upstream propagating sound waves, respectively. The amplitude of the instability mode excited is proportional to the streamwise-velocity amplitude of the acoustic signature inside the boundary layer, and scales with the roughness height $h^{\ast }$ as $(h^{\ast }/\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}^{\ast })R^{1/4}$, where $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}^{\ast }$ is the boundary-layer thickness.
Nonlinear evolution and acoustic radiation of coherent structures in subsonic turbulent free shear layers
- Zhongyu Zhang, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 884 / 10 February 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 05 December 2019, A10
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Large-scale coherent structures are present in compressible free shear flows, where they are known to be a main source of aerodynamic noise. Previous studies showed that these structures may be treated as instability waves or wavepackets supported by the underlying turbulent mean flow. By adopting this viewpoint in the framework of triple decomposition of the instantaneous flow into the mean field, coherent motion and small-scale turbulence, a strongly nonlinear dynamical model was constructed to describe the formation and development of coherent structures in incompressible turbulent free shear layers (Wu & Zhuang, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 787, 2016, pp. 396–439). That model is now extended to compressible flows, for which the coherent structures are extracted through a density-weighted (Favre) phase average. The nonlinear non-equilibrium critical-layer theory for instability waves in a laminar compressible mixing layer is adapted to analyse coherent structures in its turbulent counterpart. The strong non-parallelism associated with the fast spreading of the turbulent mean flow is taken into account and found to be significant. The model also accounts for the effect of fine-scale turbulence on coherent structures via a gradient type of closure model which now allows for a phase lag between the phase-averaged small-scale Reynolds stresses and the strain rates of coherent structures. The analysis results in an evolution system comprising of an amplitude equation, the critical-layer temperature and vorticity equations along with the appropriate initial and boundary conditions. The physical processes of acoustic radiation from the coherent structures are described by examining the far-field asymptote of the hydrodynamic fluctuations. We demonstrate that the nonlinearly generated slowly breathing mean-flow distortion radiates low-frequency sound waves. The true physical sources are identified. Equivalent sources in a Lighthill type of acoustic analogy context also arise, but they cannot be fully determined before the acoustic field is calculated, in which sense the radiated sound waves act back on the source. The numerical solutions to the evolution system show that coherent structures attenuate nonlinearly and their vorticity field rolls up to form the characteristic rollers. A study is also made of coherent structures represented by modulated wavetrains consisting of sideband modes, in which case nonlinear interactions generate components with frequencies that are combinations of those of the dominant modes. These components, especially the difference-frequency one, acquire significant amplitudes. Finally, the directivity and spectrum of the emitted acoustic field are calculated for both cases where the coherent structures consist of discrete, and a continuum of, sideband modes.
Receptivity of supersonic boundary layers over smooth and wavy surfaces to impinging slow acoustic waves
- Carlos G. Hernández, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 872 / 10 August 2019
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- 14 June 2019, pp. 849-888
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In this paper, we investigate the receptivity of a supersonic boundary layer to impinging acoustic waves. Unlike previous studies of acoustic receptivity, where the sound waves have phase speeds comparable with or larger than the free-stream velocity $U_{\infty }$, the acoustic waves here have much slower ($O(R^{-1/8}U_{\infty })$) phase velocity, and their characteristic wavelength and frequency are of $O(R^{-3/8}L)$ and $O(R^{1/4}U_{\infty }/L)$ respectively, compatible with the triple-deck structure, where $L$ is the distance to the leading edge and $R$ the Reynolds number based on $L$ and $U_{\infty }$. A significant feature of a sound wave on the triple-deck scale is that an $O(\unicode[STIX]{x1D700}_{s})$ perturbation in the free stream generates much stronger ($O(\unicode[STIX]{x1D700}_{s}R^{1/8})$) velocity fluctuations in the boundary layer. Two receptivity mechanisms are considered. The first is new, involving the interaction of two such acoustic waves and operating in a boundary layer over a smooth wall. The second involves the interaction between an acoustic wave and the steady perturbation induced by a wavy wall. The sound–sound, or sound–roughness, interactions generate a forcing in resonance with a neutral Tollmien–Schlichting (T–S) wave. The latter is thus excited near the lower branch of the neutral curve, and subsequently undergoes exponential amplification. The excitation through sound–sound interaction may offer a possible explanation for the appearance of instability modes downstream of their neutral locations as was observed in a supersonic boundary layer over a smooth wall. The triple-deck formalism is adopted to describe impingement and reflection of the acoustic waves, and ensuing receptivity, allowing the coupling coefficient to be calculated. The two receptivity processes with the acoustic waves on the triple-deck scale are much more effective compared with those involving usual sound waves, with the coupling coefficient being greater by a factor of $O(R^{1/4})$ and $O(R^{1/8})$ in the sound–sound and sound–roughness interactions, respectively. A parametric study for both the reflection and coupling coefficients is conducted for representative T–S waves, to assess the influence of the streamwise and spanwise wavenumbers, and the phase speed (or frequency) of the acoustic wave.
Effects of distributed roughness on crossflow instability through generalized resonance mechanisms
- Jiyang He, Adam Butler, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 858 / 10 January 2019
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- 12 November 2018, pp. 787-831
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Experiments have shown that micron-sized distributed surface roughness can significantly promote transition in a three-dimensional boundary layer dominated by crossflow instability. This sensitive effect has not yet been fully explained physically and mathematically. Past studies focused on surface roughness exciting crossflow vortices and/or changing the local stability characteristics. The present paper seeks possible additional mechanisms by investigating the effects of distributed surface roughness on crossflow instability through resonant interactions with eigenmodes. A key observation is that the perturbation induced by roughness with specific wavenumbers can interact with two eigenmodes (travelling and stationary vortices) through triadic resonance, or interact with one eigenmode (stationary vortices) through Bragg scattering. Unlike the usual triadic resonance of neutral, or nearly neutral, eigenmodes, the present triadic resonance can take place among modes with $O(1)$ growth rates, provided that these are equal; unlike the usual Bragg scattering involving neutral waves, crossflow stationary vortices can also be unstable. For these amplifying waves, the generalized triadic resonance and Bragg scattering are put forward, and the resulting corrections to the growth rates are derived by a multiple-scale method. The analysis is extended to the case where up to four crossflow vortices interact with each other in the presence of suitable roughness components. The numerical results for Falkner–Skan–Cooke boundary layers show that roughness with a small height (a few percent of the local boundary-layer thickness) can change growth rates substantially (by a more-or-less $O(1)$ amount). This sensitive effect is attributed to two facts: (i) the resonant nature of the triadic interaction and Bragg scattering, which makes the correction to the growth rate proportional to the roughness height, and (ii) the wavenumbers of the roughness component required for the resonance are close to those of the neutral stationary crossflow modes, as a result of which a small roughness can generate a large response. Another important effect of roughness is that its presence renders the participating eigenmodes, which are otherwise independent, fully coupled. Our theoretical results suggest that micron-sized distributed surface roughness influences significantly both the amplification and spectral composition of crossflow vortices.
Assessing the impact of antibiotic stewardship program elements on antibiotic use across acute-care hospitals: an observational study
- Bradley J. Langford, Julie Hui-Chih Wu, Kevin A. Brown, Xuesong Wang, Valerie Leung, Charlie Tan, Gary Garber, Nick Daneman
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- Journal:
- Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology / Volume 39 / Issue 8 / August 2018
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 12 June 2018, pp. 941-946
- Print publication:
- August 2018
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Objectives
Antibiotic use varies widely between hospitals, but the influence of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) on this variability is not known. We aimed to determine the key structural and strategic aspects of ASPs associated with differences in risk-adjusted antibiotic utilization across facilities.
DesignObservational study of acute-care hospitals in Ontario, Canada
MethodsA survey was sent to hospitals asking about both structural (8 elements) and strategic (32 elements) components of their ASP. Antibiotic use from hospital purchasing data was acquired for January 1 to December 31, 2014. Crude and adjusted defined daily doses per 1,000 patient days, accounting for hospital and aggregate patient characteristics, were calculated across facilities. Rate ratios (RR) of defined daily doses per 1,000 patient days were compared for hospitals with and without each antimicrobial stewardship element of interest.
ResultsOf 127 eligible hospitals, 73 (57%) participated in the study. There was a 7-fold range in antibiotic use across these facilities (min, 253 defined daily doses per 1,000 patient days; max, 1,872 defined daily doses per 1,000 patient days). The presence of designated funding or resources for the ASP (RRadjusted, 0·87; 95% CI, 0·75–0·99), prospective audit and feedback (RRadjusted, 0·80; 95% CI, 0·67–0·96), and intravenous-to-oral conversion policies (RRadjusted, 0·79; 95% CI, 0·64–0·99) were associated with lower risk-adjusted antibiotic use.
ConclusionsWide variability in antibiotic use across hospitals may be partially explained by both structural and strategic ASP elements. The presence of funding and resources, prospective audit and feedback, and intravenous-to-oral conversion should be considered priority elements of a robust ASP.
Stationary crossflow vortices near the leading edge of three-dimensional boundary layers: the role of non-parallelism and excitation by surface roughness
- Adam Butler, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 845 / 25 June 2018
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- 20 April 2018, pp. 93-140
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Non-parallelism, i.e. the effect of the slow variation of the boundary-layer flow in the chordwise and spanwise directions, in general produces a higher-order correction to the growth rate of instability modes. Here we investigate stationary crossflow vortices, which arise due to the instability of the three-dimensional boundary layer over a swept wing, focusing on a region near the leading edge where non-parallelism plays a leading-order role in their development. In this regime, the vortices align themselves with the local wall shear at leading order, and so have a marginally separated triple-deck structure, consisting of the inviscid main boundary layer, an upper deck and a viscous sublayer. We find that the streamwise (and spanwise) variations of both the base flow and the modal shape must be accounted for. An explicit expression for the growth rate is derived that shows a neutral point occurs in this regime, downstream of which non-parallelism has a stabilising effect. Stationary crossflow vortices thus have a viscous and non-parallel genesis near the leading edge. If an ‘effective pressure minimum’ occurs within this region then the growth rate becomes unbounded, and so the previous analysis is regularised within a localised region around it. A new instability is identified. The mode maintains its three-tiered structure, but the pressure perturbation now plays a passive role. Downstream, the instability evolves into a Cowley, Hocking & Tutty (Phys. Fluids, vol. 28, 1985, pp. 441–443) instability associated with a critical layer located in the lower deck. Finally, we consider the receptivity of the flow in the non-parallel regime: generation of stationary crossflow modes by arrays of chordwise-localised, spanwise-periodic surface roughness elements. The flow responds differently to different Fourier spectral content of the roughness, giving the lower deck a two-part structure. We find that roughness elements with sharper edges generate stronger modes. For roughness elements of fairly moderate height, the resulting nonlinear forcing leads to the so-called super-linearity of receptivity, namely, the amplitude of the generated crossflow mode deviates from the linear dependence on the roughness height even though the perturbation in the boundary layer remains linear.
Nonlinear evolution and secondary instability of steady and unsteady Görtler vortices induced by free-stream vortical disturbances
- Dongdong Xu, Yongming Zhang, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 829 / 25 October 2017
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 25 September 2017, pp. 681-730
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We study the nonlinear development and secondary instability of steady and unsteady Görtler vortices which are excited by free-stream vortical disturbances (FSVD) in a boundary layer over a concave wall. The focus is on low-frequency (long-wavelength) components of FSVD, to which the boundary layer is most receptive. For simplification, FSVD are modelled by a pair of oblique modes with opposite spanwise wavenumbers $\pm k_{3}$, and their intensity is strong enough (but still of low level) that the excitation and evolution of Görtler vortices are nonlinear. For the general case that the Görtler number $G_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC}}$ (based on the spanwise wavelength $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC}$ of the disturbances) is $O(1)$, the formation and evolution of Görtler vortices are governed by the nonlinear unsteady boundary-region equations, supplemented by appropriate upstream and far-field boundary conditions, which characterize the impact of FSVD on the boundary layer. This initial-boundary-value problem is solved numerically. FSVD excite steady and unsteady Görtler vortices, which undergo non-modal growth, modal growth and nonlinear saturation for FSVD of moderate intensity. However, for sufficiently strong FSVD the modal stage is bypassed. Nonlinear interactions cause Görtler vortices to saturate, with the saturated amplitude being independent of FSVD intensity when $G_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC}}\neq 0$. The predicted modified mean-flow profiles and structure of Görtler vortices are in excellent agreement with several steady experimental measurements. As the frequency increases, the nonlinearly generated harmonic component $(0,2)$ (which has zero frequency and wavenumber $2k_{3}$) becomes larger, and as a result the Görtler vortices appear almost steady. The secondary instability analysis indicates that Görtler vortices become inviscidly unstable in the presence of FSVD with a high enough intensity. Three types of inviscid unstable modes, referred to as sinuous (odd) modes I, II and varicose (even) modes I, are identified, and their relevance is delineated. The characteristics of dominant unstable modes, including their frequency ranges and eigenfunctions, are in good agreement with experiments. The secondary instability is intermittent when FSVD are unsteady and of low frequency. However, the intermittence diminishes as the frequency increases. The present theoretical framework, which allows for a detailed and integrated description of the key transition processes, from generation, through linear and nonlinear evolution, to the onset of secondary instability, represents a useful step towards predicting the pre-transitional flow and transition itself of the boundary layer over a blade in turbomachinery.
A local scattering approach for the effects of abrupt changes on boundary-layer instability and transition: a finite-Reynolds-number formulation for isolated distortions
- Zhangfeng Huang, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 822 / 10 July 2017
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 06 June 2017, pp. 444-483
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We investigate the influence of abrupt changes on boundary-layer instability and transition. Such changes can take different forms including a local porous wall, suction/injection and surface roughness as well as junctions between rigid and porous walls. They may modify the boundary conditions and/or the mean flow, and their effects on transition have usually been assessed by performing stability analysis for the modified base flow and/or boundary conditions. However, such a conventional local linear stability theory (LST) becomes invalid if the change occurs over a relatively short scale comparable with, or even shorter than, the characteristic wavelength of the instability. In this case, the influence on transition is through scattering with the abrupt change acting as a local scatter, that is, an instability mode propagating through the region of abrupt change is scattered by the strong streamwise inhomogeneity to acquire a different amplitude. A local scattering approach (LSA) should be formulated instead, in which a transmission coefficient, defined as the ratio of the amplitude of the instability wave after the scatter to that before, is introduced to characterize the effect on instability and transition. In the present study, we present a finite-Reynolds-number formulation of LSA for isolated changes including a rigid plate interspersed by a local porous panel and a wall suction through a narrow slot. When the weak non-parallelism of the unperturbed base flow is ignored, the local scattering problem can be cast as an eigenvalue problem, in which the transmission coefficient appears as the eigenvalue. We also improved the method to take into account the non-parallelism of the unperturbed base flow, where it is found that the weak non-parallelism has a rather minor effect. The general formulation is specialized to two-dimensional Tollmien–Schlichting (T–S) waves. The resulting eigenvalue problem is solved, and full direct numerical simulations (DNS) are performed to verify some of the predictions by LSA. A parametric study indicates that conventional LST is valid only when the change is sufficiently gradual, and becomes either inaccurate or invalid when the scale of the local distortion is short. A local porous panel enhances T–S waves, while a local suction with a moderate mass flux significantly inhibits T–S waves. In the latter case, a comprehensive comparison is made between the theoretical predictions and experimental data, and a satisfactory quantitative agreement was observed.
Nonlinear unsteady streaks engendered by the interaction of free-stream vorticity with a compressible boundary layer
- Elena Marensi, Pierre Ricco, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 817 / 25 April 2017
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 15 March 2017, pp. 80-121
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The nonlinear response of a compressible boundary layer to unsteady free-stream vortical fluctuations of the convected-gust type is investigated theoretically and numerically. The free-stream Mach number is assumed to be of $O(1)$ and the effects of compressibility, including aerodynamic heating and heat transfer at the wall, are taken into account. Attention is focused on low-frequency perturbations, which induce strong streamwise-elongated components of the boundary-layer disturbances, known as streaks or Klebanoff modes. The amplitude of the disturbances is intense enough for nonlinear interactions to occur within the boundary layer. The generation and nonlinear evolution of the streaks, which acquire an $O(1)$ magnitude, are described on a self-consistent and first-principle basis using the mathematical framework of the nonlinear unsteady compressible boundary-region equations, which are derived herein for the first time. The free-stream flow is studied by including the boundary-layer displacement effect and the solution is matched asymptotically with the boundary-layer flow. The nonlinear interactions inside the boundary layer drive an unsteady two-dimensional flow of acoustic nature in the outer inviscid region through the displacement effect. A close analogy with the flow over a thin oscillating airfoil is exploited to find analytical solutions. This analogy has been widely employed to investigate steady flows over boundary layers, but is considered herein for the first time for unsteady boundary layers. In the subsonic regime the perturbation is felt from the plate in all directions, while at supersonic speeds the disturbance only propagates within the dihedron defined by the Mach line. Numerical computations are performed for carefully chosen parameters that characterize three practical applications: turbomachinery systems, supersonic flight conditions and wind tunnel experiments. The results show that nonlinearity plays a marked stabilizing role on the velocity and temperature streaks, and this is found to be the case for low-disturbance environments such as flight conditions. Increasing the free-stream Mach number inhibits the kinematic fluctuations but enhances the thermal streaks, relative to the free-stream velocity and temperature respectively, and the overall effect of nonlinearity becomes weaker. An abrupt deviation of the nonlinear solution from the linear one is observed in the case pertaining to a supersonic wind tunnel. Large-amplitude thermal streaks and the strong abrupt stabilizing effect of nonlinearity are two new features of supersonic flows. The present study provides an accurate signature of nonlinear streaks in compressible boundary layers, which is indispensable for the secondary instability analysis of unsteady streaky boundary-layer flows.
Response and receptivity of the hypersonic boundary layer past a wedge to free-stream acoustic, vortical and entropy disturbances
- Fufeng Qin, Xuesong Wu
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 797 / 25 June 2016
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 May 2016, pp. 874-915
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This paper analyses the response and receptivity of the hypersonic boundary layer over a wedge to free-stream disturbances including acoustic, vortical and entropy fluctuations. Due to the presence of an attached oblique shock, the boundary layer is known to support viscous instability modes whose eigenfunctions are oscillatory in the far field. These modes acquire a triple-deck structure. Any of three elementary types of disturbance with frequency and wavelength on the triple-deck scales interacts with the shock to generate a slow acoustic perturbation, which is reflected between the shock and the wall. Through this induced acoustic perturbation, vortical and entropy free-stream disturbances drive significant velocity and temperature fluctuations within the boundary layer, which is impossible when the shock is absent. A quasi-resonance was identified, due to which the boundary layer exhibits a strong response to a continuum of high-frequency disturbances within a narrow band of streamwise wavenumbers. Most importantly, in the vicinity of the lower-branch neutral curve the slow acoustic perturbation induced by a disturbance of suitable frequency and wavenumbers is in exact resonance with a neutral eigenmode. As a result, the latter can be generated directly by each of three types of free-stream disturbance without involving any surface roughness element. The amplitude of the instability mode is determined by analysing the disturbance evolution through the resonant region. The fluctuation associated with the eigenmode turns out to be much stronger than the free-stream disturbances due to the resonant nature of excitation, and in the case of acoustic disturbances, to the well-known amplification effect of a strong shock. Moreover, excitation at the neutral position means that the instability mode grows immediately without undergoing any decay, or missing any portion of the unstable region. All these indicate that this new mechanism is particularly efficient. The boundary-layer response and coupling coefficients are calculated for typical values of parameters.