M&l Compur.Modelling,Vol.II,pp. 170-174, 1988 0895.7177188$3.00+ 0.

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COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

TWO-DIMENSIONAL MULTIFREQUENCY INSTABILITY SUPPRESSION

VIA SURFACE MASS TRANSFER: LINEAR THEORY AND ITS APPLICATION'

W. W. Bower, A. Pa12, A. B. Cain G. H. Meyer

McDonnell Douglas Corporation School of Mathematics

P. 0. Box 516 Georgia Institute of Technology
St. Louis, MO 63166 Atlanta, GA 30332

ABSTRACT

A mathematical model based on the linearized conservation equations of fluid mechanics is devel-
oped to describe the generation and suppression of two-dimensional instability waves with a
collection of significant frequencies. Numerical results are presented for the case of a thin
Pohlhausen boundary layer in a parallel channel flow.

KEYWORDS

Hydrodynamic stability, boundary layer instability, transition to turbulence, Orr-Sommerfeld

equation, Tollmien-Schlichting waves, active boundary layer control, stiff differential equations.

INTRODUCTION

An area of current research, both experimental and computational, is the application of wave
superposition to delay boundary-layer transition. In this approach, an existing instability wave
is suppressed by introducing downstream (through hydrodynamic, thermal, or mechanical means) a
second wave of appropriate amplitude and phase. Bower, Kegelman, Pal, and Meyer (1987) present a
mathematical model based on linear theory of the suppression of a two-dimensional, Tollmien-
Schlichting-type, single-frequency instability wave in a parallel channel flow by a wave created
through alternating suction and blowing downstream at one boundary. In this paper the analysis is
extended to treat the suppression of a [two-dimensional] incoming disturbance of arbitrary time
dependence over the unstable band of the frequency spectrum. For each frequency, only the
dominant, exponentially growing mode is cancelled downstream by a suppression wave. The total
suppression wave required is obtained by linear superposition.

MATHEMATICAL
MODEL

For an incompressible flow the linearized Navier-Stokes (NS) equations describe the evolution of
small, two-dimensional disturbances, expressed in terms of the components of the perturbation
velocity vector q(x,y,t) = u(x,y,t)ex + v(x,y,t)e .’ When q written in terms of its Laplace-
* Y
Fourier transform q(a,y,w),

q(x,y,t) = & 1
-WI
dw 7”
-m-iC
;(cx,y,w)ei(“x-wt) da , (1)

is substituted into the linearized NS equations and parallel-flow is assumed, the linearized NS
^
equations lead to the transformed continuity equation for u(cr,y),
^ +.
u = (l/a)Dv , (D 3 a/ay s 1) (2)

.
and the Orr-Sommerfeld (OS) equation for v(cr,y),
^ ^ .
LCvl = CD2 - a 2 1’ i - iR(Ua - w) CD2 - cr*) v + iRU”av = 0 , (3)

1
This research was conducted under the McDonnell Douglas Independent Research and Development
program.
2
On leave from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois.

170
 Proc. 6th Int. Conf. on Mathematical Modelling 171

together with the boundary conditions

^ 1
v(cr,O) = v,(a), v’(a,O) = V(er,l) = v’(cr,l) = 0 , (3a)

where v,(x) = v(x,O) is the normal-component perturbation velocity at y = 0, and v,(u) is its
Laplace transform. Equations (2) and (3) have been normalized by introducing characteristic
length and velocity scales such that the normalized channel width and free-stream velocity are
uni ty , and which, together with the kinematic viscosity, define the Reynolds number R. In these
equations U = U(y), the mean velocity profile.
^
For a specified distribution v,(x) and its transform v,(a), it follows, because of the linearity
of the equations, that
I ^ ^

V(cc,Y) = vo(d g(cx,y) (4)

where the function g(cr,y) is the solution of Eq. (3) subject at y = 0 and y = 1 to the boundary
^ ,.
conditions (3a) with g(a,O) = 1. g(x,y) is then the inverse Laplace transform of g, and v(x,y)
then can be obtained as the convolution v,(x)*g(x,y).

In the analysis by Bower and colleagues (1987) for the suppression of a single-frequency instabil-
ity wave, Eqs. (2) and (3) were solved for a range (512 discrete values) of the wave number u..
The inverse Laplace transform required for the evaluation of the single-frequency variant of (1)
was approximated by the fast-Fourier-transformation technique.

This technique, however, is impractical in the general, not time-harmonic (multifrequency) case.
Instead, in the present case, the decomposition
^
g(cr,y) = $-+ f(Y) + P*(U,Y), (5)

^
will be used, where g, is the resultant of spatially decaying modes only, and al is the “dominant”
eigenvalue characterized by.%z a, < 0 of the OS Eq. (3) with the homogeneous boundary conditions

Q(O) = 0, Q’(O) = 0, Q(1) = 0, Q'(1) = 0 (6)

for the eigenfunction g(u,y) = Q(y). The first right-hand term of Eq. (4) representing a pole of
^
g(u,y) at a1 is solely responsible for the exponentially growing part

gdm(x,y) = iJ2n T(y) exp(ialx) (7)

Of g(x,y). A concept related to this dominant mode method was applied in another context by
Caster (1975).

With reference to Eq. (5)) I(y) is then the residue of g(cr,y) at the pole al. With the details of
the analysis omitted, f(y) can be obtained from solutions of two boundary-value problems related
to the OS equation, and in particular,

Q1 (Y)
I(Y) = s(o) * (8)

Here, Q1(y) is the eigenfunction with eigenvalue al of the OS equation subject to the boundary
conditions (6). The function S(y) 3 (aQ/aa) satisfies the following inhomogeneous differen-
Ci=a
1
tial equation derived from the OS equation by differentiation with respect to a:

LCS(y)I = -iR+i[Q,(y)l , (9)

with the boundary conditions

S’(0) = S”(0) = S(1) = S’(1) = 0. (10)

In Eq. (9), M is the linear operator:

M 3 Ci(4/R)a, - U(y)l(D2 - CZ,~) + 2crlCU(Y)crl - WI + U”(Y) . (11)

172 Proc. c’2h Int. Conf. on Mathematical Model&

With Eqs. (4) and (7) used to compute vdom(x,y) s vdom(x,y,w) for a range of frequencies, inverse

Fourier transformation is used to compute vdom(x,y,t). With the dominant-mode technique, for each

frequency w, the OS equation needs to be solved for only a single wave number (I,(W) rather than
for a range of wave numbers. From (11, (II), (6) and (7), the perturbation velocity is, for
(moderately) large x,

w2
vdom(x’Y’t) = i j vOla, (w) ,wlrCa, (w) ,yl expCia, Cm)-iwtl dw (12)
J2n w1

where, for the given Reynolds number, [w ,,w21 includes the region of instability.

In the present work, all boundary value problems were solved using the method of continuous
orthonormalization, cf. Meyer (1986)) and eigenvalues were determined using the technique of
Reynolds (1969)

NUMERICALSOLUTION

In the application of this mathematical model, the configuration considered is the developing
laminar flow in a channel, Fig. 1. The velocity distribution in the boundary layers is approxi-
mately described by the Pohlhausen profile, cf. Schlichting (1960).

*1 x2 x3x4
Fig. 1. Definition of coordinate system for
two-dimensional parallel channel flow.

TO demonstrate the validity of the residue formulas (9)-(12), the perturbation velocity computed
in Ref. 2 for Fieh = 1.28x105, w = 3.83 and for 512 values of the wave number (x was recomputed,
based on the eigenvalue for this frequency (u, = 12.666-i0.243). Figure 2 illustrates the compar-
ison between the two solutions for y = 0.01; the discrepancy can be produced by making a 1% varia-
tion in the magnitude of the imaginary part of al.

.r& v(x, y,) “S x; yl =0.03

0.020 - FFT method

---- Dominant-modemethod

Fig. 2. Comparison of the instability wave evolution

for the FFT and dominant-mode methods.

For the same Reynolds number, Fig. 3 illustrates the variation of the eigenvalue a, = b(w) for
frequencies within and slightly outside the neutral stability curve. The function r(y) was
computed for each frequency with its corresponding eigenvalue al and was used in Eq. (6) to obtain
 Proc. 6th Int. Conf. on Mathematical Modding 173

Fig. 3. Dispersion diagram at (CO).

^
v(x,y,w). The surface velocity perturbation used to generate the instability wave is v,(x,O,t)
= vA(t)[H(x - x,) - H(x - x211, where v,(t) is a specified function of time and H(x) is the
-l/2 ^
Heaviside function. The Fourier transform of this function is (Za) (l/a)v*(w)Cexp(-iax,) -
exp(-iax2)], used in Eq. (12) to evaluate v(x,y,t). The function v,(t) could be, in principle,
obtained from measurements. In the present model, it was assumed that this function has a con-
stant power spectrum, but the phase of its Fourier transform is random. Thus, v,(t) was evaluated
from the relation

50
1
v,(t) = E I, IvAlexpC-i(wnt + ZnBn)l; JVJ = constant; arbitrary scale (13)

where wn is uniformly distributed over an interval covering the region of instability. The phase
6, was determined using a uniform (O,l) randan-number generator.

To suppress the generated wave, a second perturbation of the normal velocity component is intro-
duced over the interval (x3,x4): v2(x,0,t) = vB(t)[H(x - x3) - H(x - x4)1, and v,(t) is an

unknown function to be determined. The argument given by Bower and colleagues (1987) for the
single-frequency problem retains its validity in the present context, and thus the dominant,
exponentially growing mode generated by the primary wall perturbation is suppressed by the
secondary wave if

expi-ia, (w)x, 1 - expLia,(w)x21 .

v,(w) = - v,(w) . (14)
expC-ia, (w)x31 - expC-ia, (w)x,l

v,(t) is then the inverse Fourier transform of vB(w). Figure 4 illustrates the primary distur-
bance vA and the control disturbance v B calculated to suppress the resultant instability wave

20

--- v,(t) (random-phase

10 primaryperturbation)
- v,(t)
“A
b 0

-20
0 IO 20 30 40
Time 8712 410
Fig. 4. Surface normal velocity components for the
primary (v,) and control (v,) disturbances.
114 Proc. 6th Int. Cmf. on Mathematical Modeling

downstream as functions of dimensionless time t = tU,,/h. The amplitudes of the instability wave
without and with suppression are shown in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively, drawn on the same scale.
Use of the multimode technique leads to precise suppression of the exponentially growing mode of
the wave. Figure 7 shows the constant-phase lines of the wave without suppression. This plot
indicates a surprisingly constant phase-velocity value of approximately 0.303. On the other hand,
the relative smoothness of the amplitude and phase functions can be readily understood since,
despite of the randomness of the phase of the input, the perturbation velocity, the Fourier
transform of a function of finite support [w,,w,l, is band-limited.

Note that the

scale of Fig. 5 has U-
si *22-Jll
been retained.

Fig. 5. Scaled amplitude of the normal velocity Fig. 6. Scaled amplitude of the normal velocity
component for the generated wave. component for the suppressed wave.

Phase velocity = 0.304

87.212
d,l
Fig. 7. Phase in multiples of 360° of the normal
velocity component for the generated wave.

SUMMARY

Within the range of linear theory, the present technique offers a computationally simple method
for the generation and suppression of a wave packet through localized perturbations at a wall
resulting from suction and blowing. An exact relation is derived which defines the control dis-
turbance necessary to stop the downstream continuation of a multifrequency instability wave
arising from an arbitrary surface perturbation of the normal velocity component.

REFERENCES

1. Bower, W. W., Kegelman, J. T., Pal, A., and Meyer, G. H. (1987). A numerical study of two-
dimensional instability-wave control based on the Orr-Sommerfeld equation. Phys. Fluids, 30,
998-l 004.
2. Caster, M. (1975). A theoretical model of a wave packet in the boundary layer of a flat
plate. Proc. R. Sot. (London) Am, 271-289.
3. Meyer, G. H. (1986). Continuous orthonormalization for boundary-value problems. J. Ccmput.
Phys., 62, 248-262.
4. Reynolds, W. C. (1969). Technical Rpt. FM-4, Dept. of Mech. Eng., Stanford University.
5. Schlichting, H. (1960). Boundary-Layer Theory, 4th ed. (McGraw-Hill, New York) 243-247.