Transition to turbulence from plane Couette flow

Authors

  • Larry K. Forbes School of Mathematics and Physics University of Tasmania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21914/anziamj.v57i0.8756

Keywords:

Couette flow, instability, nonNewtonian effects, turbulence

Abstract

Modelling fluid turbulence is perhaps one of the hardest problems in Applied Mathematics. In a recent paper, the author argued that the classical Navier–Stokes equation is not sufficient to describe the transition to turbulence, but that a Reiner–Rivlin type equation is needed instead. This is explored here for the simplest of all viscous fluid flows, the Couette flow, which is a simple shear between two moving plates. It is found that at high wavenumbers, the transition to unstable flow at the critical Reynolds number is characterized by a large number of eigenvalues of the Orr–Sommerfeld equation moving into the unstable zone essentially simultaneously. This would generate high-dimensional chaos almost immediately, and is a suggested mechanism for the transition to turbulence. Stability zones are illustrated for the flow, and a simple asymptotic solution confirms some of the features of these numerical results. doi:10.1017/S1446181115000176

Author Biography

Larry K. Forbes, School of Mathematics and Physics University of Tasmania

School of Mathematics and Physics Professor of Mathematics

Published

2016-02-07

Issue

Section

Articles for Printed Issues