A bilateral shear layer between two parallel Couette flows
Abstract
We consider a shear layer of a kind not previously studied to our knowledge. Contrary to the classical free shear layer, the width of the shear zone does not vary in the streamwise direction but rather exhibits a lateral variation. Based on some simplifying assumptions, an analytic solution has been derived for the new shear layer. These assumptions have been justified by a comparison with numerical solutions of the full Navier-Stokes equations, which accord with the analytical solution to better than 1% in the entire domain. An explicit formula is found for the width of the shear zone as a function of wall-normal coordinate. This width is independent of wall velocities in the laminar regime. Preliminary results for a co-current laminar-turbulent shear layer in the same geometry are also presented. Shear-layer instabilities were then developed and resulted in an unsteady mixing zone at the interface between the two co-current streams.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1202.5842,
title = {A bilateral shear layer between two parallel Couette flows},
author = {Vagesh D. Narasimhamurthy and Simen Å. Ellingsen and Helge I. Andersson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1202.5842},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
6 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. E