Short wave instability of core-annular flow

Kang Ping Chen

Citation: Physics of Fluids A: Fluid Dynamics 4, 186 (1992);

View online: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.858496
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/pfa/4/1
Published by the American Institute of Physics

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BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
The purpose of this Brief Communications section is to present important research results of more limited scope than regular
articles appearing in Physics of Fluids A. Submission of material of a peripheral or cursory nature is strongly discouraged. Brief
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an abstract limited to about 100 words.

Short wave instability of core-annular flow

Kang Ping Chen
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Arizona State University,, Tempe,
Arizona 85287-6106

(Received 20 March 1991; accepted 13 September 1991)

An asymptotic expression for the dispersion relation is derived in the short wave limit for core-
annular flow of two fluids when the surface tension parameter is of order one.

Stability problems for core-annular flow of two immis- r4Ulrrr

+ 2?u”‘- (2a23 + 3)&Y - (2a2?-3)ru’
cible Newtonian fluids in a circular pipe have been studied
by Hickox,’ Joseph et aL2 Preziosi et al. ,3 Hu and Joseph,4 + (a4r4 + 2a23-3)u
Chen et al,’ Lin and Ibrahim,6 Chen and Joseph,’ Bai
et al. ,8 Hu et al. ,’ Frenkel et al., lo Frenkel, l1 and Papageor- =iilR(W(r) -c)?[?u” + KU’-- (a23 + l)u] , (1)
giou et al. l2 Although these studies are fairly complete, a where (r, 0, x) is the cylindrical coordinates, a is the wave
short wave asymptotic analysis for core-annular flow is still number, c is the complex wave speed, and primes are the
lacking. Asymptotic results can be used to check numerical derivatives with respect to Y. This equation is valid for both
codes in the stated limit and provide insights into the un- the core (fluid 1) and the annulus (fluid 2), with the Rey-
derlying physics. For plane Couette flow of two fluids, nolds numbers defined as
Hooper and Boydi3,i4 obtained an asymptotic formula for
the dispersion relation in the short wave limit and they R/=p W(0)R,/pl, I= 1,2,
found an instability due to viscosity stratification at order where pl, I= 1,2, are the fluids viscosities and W(0) is the
1/a3, where a is the wave number and a--* CO for short basic flow velocity at the center of the pipe r=O. The di-
waves. In the Hooper and Boyd’3p’4 perturbation scheme, mensionless basic flow velocity W(r) is given by
the variables are expanded in even powers of l/a and the
surface tension parameter S is required to satisfy l-[m2i2/(a2+m2-l)], O<r<l,
W(r) = (2)
a3S=O( 1) in order to have a consistent solution, In the I [(a2-3)/(a2+k2-1)], l<rGa,
above, S= T/pU2d, T is the surface tension, p is the fluid where (ml, m,) = (1, p2/p1) are the viscosity ratios and
density (assumed to be the same for both fluids), and U a = R2/R1 > 1; u and u’ are bounded at the centerline r= 0
and d are some characteristic velocity and length scales, and vanish at the pipe wall r=a. The interface conditions
respectively. In this Brief Communication, we study the at r= 1 are
linear stability of core-annular flow in the limit of short
waves. We find that the Hooper and Boyd’3p’4 perturbation u(l)-(W(l)-c)(aS)=O, (3)
scheme has to be generalized to incorporate all the inverse
powers of a for the problem of core-annular flow and the [[ull=O, (4)
requirement of small surface tension, a3S= 0( 1 >, can be [[u’ll~[[~ll(~~)=O, (5)
relaxed. When solving the problem up to 0( 1/a3), a com-
plicated expression for the eigenvalue c is obtained, which [[m(u”+u’+a2u-u)]]=O, ’ (6)
includes both the stabilization and the destabilization ef-
fects of surface tension and also shows wave speed correc- [ [m( -2.4”’ -224” + (3a2 + 1)~’ + (a2-l)uj]]
tions due to viscosity stratification and surface tension. + iaRiS( 1 -a2> (as) =0 , (7)
Consider the linear stability of perfect core-annular
flow of two fluids with matched densities in a circular pipe where 6 is the deviation of the perturbed interface from its
to axisymmetric disturbances. The pipe has an inner radius perfectly cylindrical position r= 1 and the dimensionless
of R, and the perfectly cylindrical fluid interface for core- surface tension parameter S is here defined as I
annular flow is RI. The dimensionless normal mode equa-
S=T/pW2(0)R1.
tions can be simplified to a single equation containing only
the radial component of perturbation velocity, v (Preziosi The surface tension parameter S is related to the parameter
et aL3): J* used in previous studies3”*‘-’ by

186 Phys. Fluids A 4 (I), January 1992 0899-8213/92/010186-03$04.00 0 1991 American Institute of Physics 186
 S= J*/aRt , &) p) (&3) 1
-W(l) +c(OJ+y+~+‘;;5.+0 2 ,
where J* = plTR2/& is a surface tension parameter in- ( 1
dependent of flow condition and thus is particularly appro-
priate for discussing neutral curves. p 42) 11(3). 1
In the spirit of Hooper and Boyd,13,14the short wave 77=17’0’+~+-;;Z.+~+o ;;;f * (9)
( 1
asymptotic of the problem ( l)-(7) when a-+ CO can be
examined by introducing the following transformations: The necessity of incorporating both even and odd powers
y=a(r- l), q=aS . of l/a was first discussed in Yiantsios and Higgins,”
(8)
where they studied the stability of plane Poiseuille flow of
Since both even and odd derivatives of u with respect to r two superposed fluids. With all the other parameters of
are present in Eqs. (l)-(7), we have to include all the order unity, the substitution of (9) into Eqs. (l)-(7) re-
powers of l/a in the asymptotic expansions of u, c, and 7 sults in a sequential equations at different orders of l/a.
in the limit a+ 03: We have solved these equations up to 0( l/a3) and ob-
tained the following expressions for c(O), c(l), cc2), and cc3):
u”‘(y) UC2)(Y)
u(y , a) =d”‘(y) + ----+
a a2
cc’)= -i[R1S/2( 1 + m2)] , (10)
uC3)
(y) -$ ,
+--2--+o
( 1 dl)= -i[3R$“/8( 1 + m2)3] , (11)

=;i RJ
CC21 (12)
1+ md5[392m2(1+m2)4-(1+74m2+m~)R$‘2]
128md +R$S~(1+m2)12~~~m2-l),

2( 1-m2)2 1 + 17m2 + 572mz + 17mi + ml 9(1--m2)

- R’S4 - RSS3
c’3)=i ( R1(l +m2)(a2+mz-1)” ’ 512mi( 1 + m2)’ ’ 64m2(1 + md4

37 25(1-m2) 19m2( 1-m2)

-t- R;S”
8( 1 + m2)3-R1S 8(1+ m2)’ ) + ( -(l + md”(a’+ m2--1)

ll(l-mz>(l + 18m2+mz) 77 + 13m2

+ R;S’ (13)
64m2( 1+ m2>4(a2 + m2- 1) +R:S16(l+m2)2(a2+m2-l)

The eigenvalue c is given by is absent in the counterpart of the plane case considered by
Hooper and Boyd.‘3V14Phase speed correction also occurs
c(1) cu) c(3) 1 for plane Poiseuille flow of two fluids.15 We also noticed
c=w(l)+C(c)+~+~+~+O 2 2 (14)
i ) that the tedious algebra involved in leading to (lo)-( 13)
can be simplified if one assumes a3S=0( 1) from the very
and instability occurs when Im(c) > 0. Formulas (lO)- beginning when solving problem ( l)-(7).
(13) are obtained under the assumption S=O( 1). Clearly, The general result for short waves given in ( lo)-( 13)
the special cases of small surface tension aS=O( 1 ), indicates that, as in the plane case considered by Hooper
a2S= 0( 1 ), a3S= Q( 1) can be obtained from these formu- and Boyd,13,14the instability due to viscosity stratification
las by writing S= (aS)/a,S= (a2S)/a2, S= (a3S)/a3. arises at order l/a3, i.e., the term
For example, from (lo)-(13), we obtain the following
simple expression for c when assuming a3S=0( 1):
19m2( I-m2)
c=W(l)--: in cc3). Up to order l/a, the effect of surface tension is
a (1 +md2(a2+m2-1) stabilizing, as expected for very short waves [see ( 10) and
( 1 1 )]. At order 1/a2, the destabilizing part of the surface
1 2(1-m2)2 a3S
tension appears and is represented as the first term in
+‘*V ( (1 +m2)(a2+m2-l)2-2(l +m2) 1 Im( cc2)). The first correction to the wave speed c, is also
obtained at this order, and is due to the interaction of
(15) surface tension and viscosity stratification 1 - m2, as can be
seen in Re(cc2)) from (12). The contribution to the insta-
In addition to the instability due to viscosity stratification, bility at order l/a3, Im(cc3)), is a combination of destabi-
Eq. ( 15) ‘also gives a correction to the wave speed c, which lization solely due to viscosity stratification, stabilization

187 Phys. Fluids A, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1992 Brief Communications 187

a (9), together with an asymptotic expansion for the Rey-
FIG. 1. Comparison of asymptotic results with numerical computation;
(I = 1.05, mr = 0.5, R, = 1, S = 1 and 0.1. The numbers above each curve
are the values of S;, ‘A” and “N” stand for “asymptotic” and “numeri-
cal,” respectively. The asymptotes are - S/3 for each S value.
and destabilization of surface tension, and stabilization or
destabilization ( m2 < 1 or m2 > 1) due to the interaction of
the surface tension effect and viscosity stratification. These
effects also contribute to a wave speed correction at order
1/a3, as indicated by Re( c3) in ( 13 ) .
The asymptotic results for the imaginary part of c,
Im(c), given above are compared with those obtained
numerically3-5 in Fig. 1, with a = 1.05, m2 = 0.5, R, = 1,
and S = l,O. 1. The numerical results approach asymptotic
ones when the wave number a is large. The asymptotes are
-S/3 for m2 = 0.5, as given by c(O). It can be seen from
Fig. 1 that the values of Im(c) given by the numerical code
are consistently larger than those obtained from the as-
ymptotic formula when a is finite. This shows that for
short, but not infinitely short waves, the stabilization by
surface tension is not as strong as indicated by the asymp-
totic results obtained assuming a -, 00.
The formulas (lo)-(13) are derived under the as-
sumption that the parameters a, m2, R,, and S (or J*) are
all fixed and of order one, as a -+ CO.They give an explicit
asymptotic expression for the complex wave speed c in the
stated limit. The instability caused by viscosity stratifica-
tion persists no matter whether the core-annular flow is
lubricated or not, m2 < 1 or m2 > 1, and has an infinitesi-
mally small growth rate
Ri(1/a2)[2(1 -m212/(1 +m2)(u2+m2- 1)2]
as a--t CO.Thus the shortest waves will be always stabilized
by surface tension action even when it is small. For not too
short waves, the instability due to viscosity stratification
can overcome the stabilizing effect of the surface tension if
the wave number a is smaller than a cutoff wave number
ac. An estimate of the cutoff wave number a, can be ob-
tained by balancing the leading-order surface tension term,
which appears in c(O), and the destabilizing term due to
viscosity stratification in cc3):
a,={[4(1 -m2)2/(a2+m2- 1)2](1/S))1’3.
188 Phys. Fluids A, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1992
To be consistent with the assumption a>l, we have to
require S = JY/aRi g 1 in ( 16). Since Ri is of order one,
this means that the surface tension effect is weak, Pg 1.
Thus ( 16 ) gives an approximate neutral curve equation for
the portion Ri = O( 1) in the short wave region for the
1. In particular, a, behaves like R:‘” for the range
Ri = O( 1) with J*( 1 and a, m2 of order one.
In general, the behavior of-the short wave branch of
the neutral curve can be obtained asymptotically. In this
situation, the Reynolds number is a function of the wave
number a, R1 = Ri (a). Numerical calculations indicate
that, in many cases, along the short wave branch of the
neutral curve, Ri (a) -+ COas a+ 00. Perturbation scheme
nolds number R,(a) when a is large, will enable us to
construct the solution in this case.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is supported by the National Science Foun-
dation, Grant No. CTS-9 157063.
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Brief Communications 188