2 results
Effect of gravity modulation on the stability of a horizontal double-diffusive layer
- YOUMIN YU, CHO LIK CHAN, C. F. CHEN
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 589 / 25 October 2007
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 08 October 2007, pp. 183-213
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The instability characteristics of a horizontal stably stratified fluid layer being heated from below, including its subsequent nonlinear evolution under steady and modulated gravity, have been investigated by experiments and two-dimensional numerical simulations. The critical condition at instability onset is also checked using linear stability analysis. The fluid is contained in a horizontal test tank with an initial stable solute gradient and a constant-temperature gradient imposed by heating from below. Because of the non-diffusive boundaries, the vertical solute gradient slowly decreases and, eventually, the layer becomes unstable. From the time of the onset of instability, the critical solute Rayleigh number is determined. For the experiments with modulated gravity, the tank is fixed onto a platform that oscillates vertically at 1 Hz with an amplitude of 10 cm. The experiment is designed such that no internal wave mode of instability can be excited. The experimental results show that gravity modulation destabilizes the system slightly by increasing the solute Rayleigh number at onset by 8.4% and causes the oscillation frequency at onset to increase by 32.6%. Linear stability analysis and two-dimensional numerical simulations for the steady gravity case yield results that are in good agreement with the experiment. For the gravity modulation case, linear stability results do not show any effect of gravity modulation at the frequency of 1 Hz. Numerical simulation results do show increases in both the onset solute Rayleigh number and the oscillation frequency; however, their values are smaller than those obtained in the experiment. The characteristics of the internal wave mode of instability are explored by numerical simulations of a stably stratified solute fluid layer under gravity modulation. The interference effects between the internal wave mode and double-diffusive mode of instabilities are studied by imposing an adverse temperature gradient on the stratified layer.
Instability of convection of an ethanol–water solution in a vertical tank
- CHO LIK CHAN, YOUMIN YU, C. F. CHEN
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 510 / 10 July 2004
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 23 June 2004, pp. 243-265
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An experimental and numerical investigation has been carried out into the instability characteristics of natural convection of an ethanol–water solution in a vertical tank with aspect ratio (height/width) of 15. The solution contains 39 wt% ethanol with Prandtl number ${\it Pr}\,{=}\,26$. The density anomaly due to the Soret effect may be safely ignored in the present test configuration. Onset of instability, in the form of multicellular convection located in the mid-height of the tank, occurs at Grashof number $\hbox{\it Gr}\,{\cong}\,13\,500$. These convection cells are unsteady even at low supercritical states, similar to earlier observations for higher Pr fluids. The cause of such unsteadiness of the flow has been determined by studying the streak images constructed by superposing individual frames of a digital movie sequence. New cells are generated in the upper and lower portions of the tank and then migrate toward the centre, causing the convection cells in the mid-section to merge. At higher Gr, even the tertiary cells, which rotate in the opposite direction of the secondary cells, participate in the merging process. Numerical simulations of the two-dimensional natural convection of a Boussinesq fluid with constant thermophysical properties, carried out at low supercritical Gr equivalent to the experimental value, show the same process of cell generation and merging as that observed in the experiments. By analysing the substantial time rate of change of the kinetic energy of the fluid using the mechanical energy equation, it is determined that the energy needed for the cell generation process is supplied by the work of the dynamic pressure. The subsequent migration of the cells toward the middle is caused by the pressure gradient in the tank. The total kinetic energy of the fluid attains a relative maximum right after a merging process due to the reduction of dissipation associated with the region of strong shear between the cells.