A. K. Majumdar

Bio: A. K. Majumdar is an academic researcher from Imperial College London. The author has contributed to research in topics: Taylor–Couette flow & Dissipation. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 5 publications receiving 59 citations.

Numerical Computation of Flow in Rotating Ducts

Abstract: A finite-difference procedure is employed to predict the turbulent flaw in ducts of rectangular cross-section, rotating about an axis normal to the longitudinal direction. The flows were treated as “parabolic”; and the turbulence model used involved the solution of two differential equations, one for the kinetic energy of the turbulence and the other for its dissipation rate. Agreement with experimental data is good for a constant-area duct at low rotation, but less satisfactory for a divergent duct at larger rotation. It is argued that a “partially-parabolic” procedure will be needed to predict the latter flow correctly.

Numerical computation of Taylor vortices

Abstract: A finite-difference procedure for three-dimensional parabolic flows is used to predict the development of Taylor vortices in the flow between concentric rotating cylinders, resulting from the growth of small disturbances of a Couette flow. Predictions of such flows are presented in the developing and fully developed region. A precise calculation of the wavelength of the vortices has been possible by employing a periodic boundary condition on the pressure field. The predicted torque coefficient compares well with experimental data. The critical Taylor number has also been predicted with good accuracy.

PAPER 18 – Numerical Computation of Flow in Rotating Ducts

Abstract: A finite-difference procedure is employed to predict the turbulent flaw in ducts of rectangular cross-section, rotating about an axis normal to the longitudinal direction. The flows were treated as “parabolic”; and the turbulence model used involved the solution of two differential equations, one for the kinetic energy of the turbulence and the other for its dissipation rate. Agreement with experimental data is good for a constant-area duct at low rotation, but less satisfactory for a divergent duct at larger rotation. It is argued that a “partially-parabolic” procedure will be needed to predict the latter flow correctly.

PAPER 17 – Numerical computation of Taylor vortices

Abstract: A finite-difference procedure for three-dimensional parabolic flows is used to predict the development of Taylor vortices in the flow between concentric rotating cylinders, resulting from the growth of small disturbances of a Couette flow. Predictions of such flows are presented in the developing and fully developed region. A precise calculation of the wavelength of the vortices has been possible by employing a periodic boundary condition on the pressure field. The predicted torque coefficient compares well with experimental data. The critical Taylor number has also been predicted with good accuracy.

Direct numerical simulation of turbulent Taylor–Couette flow

Abstract: We investigate the dynamical and statistical features of turbulent Taylor–Couette flow (for a radius ratio 0.5) through three-dimensional direct numerical simulations (DNS) at Reynolds numbers ranging from 1000 to 8000. We show that in three-dimensional space the Gortler vortices are randomly distributed in banded regions on the wall, concentrating at the outflow boundaries of Taylor vortex cells, which spread over the entirecylinder surface with increasing Reynolds number. Gortler vortices cause streaky structures that form herringbone-like patterns near the wall. For the Reynolds numbers studied here, the average axial spacing of the streaks is approximately 100 viscous wall units, and the average tilting angle ranges from 16° to 20°. Simulationresults have been compared to the experimental data in the literature, and the flow dynamics and statistics are discussed in detail.

Spatio-temporal character of non-wavy and wavy Taylor–Couette flow

Abstract: The stability of supercritical Couette flow has been studied extensively, but few measurements of the velocity field of flow have been made. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure the axial and radial velocities in a meridional plane for non-wavy and wavy Taylor–Couette flow in the annulus between a rotating inner cylinder and a fixed outer cylinder with fixed end conditions. The experimental results for the Taylor vortex flow indicate that as the inner cylinder Reynolds number increases, the vortices become stronger and the outflow between pairs of vortices becomes increasingly jet-like. Wavy vortex flow is characterized by azimuthally wavy deformation of the vortices both axially and radially. The axial motion of the vortex centres decreases monotonically with increasing Reynolds number, but the radial motion of the vortex centres has a maximum at a moderate Reynolds number above that required for transition. Significant transfer of fluid between neighbouring vortices occurs in a cyclic fashion at certain points along an azimuthal wave, so that while one vortex grows in size, the two adjacent vortices become smaller, and vice versa. At other points in the azimuthal wave, there is an azimuthally local net axial flow in which fluid winds around the vortices with a sense corresponding to the axial deformation of the wavy vortex tube. These measurements also confirm that the shift-and-reflect symmetry used in computational studies of wavy vortex flow is a valid approach.

Numerical study of viscous flow in rotating rectangular ducts

Abstract: A numerical study of the laminar flow of an incompressible viscous fluid in rotating ducts of rectangular cross-section is conducted. The full time-dependent nonlinear equations of motion are solved by finite-difference techniques for moderate to relatively rapid rotation rates where both the convective and viscous terms play an important role. At weak to moderate rotation rates, a double-vortex secondary flow appears in the transverse planes of the duct whose structure is relatively independent of the aspect ratio of the duct. For Rossby numbers Ro c 100 this secondary flow is shown to lead to substantial distortions of the axial velocity profiles. For more rapid rotations (Ro c l), the Secondary flow (in a duct with an aspect ratio of two) is shown to split into an asymmetric configuration of four counter-rotating vortices similar to that which appears in curved ducts. It is demonstrated mathematically that this effect could result from a disparity in the symmetry of the convective and Coriolis terms in the equations of motion. If the rotation rates are increased further, the secondary flow restabilizes to a slightly asymmetric double-vortex configuration and the axial velocity wumes a Taylor-Proudman configuration in the interior of the duct. Comparisons with existing experimental results are quite favourable.

Turbulence Modeling in Noninertial Frames of Reference

Abstract: The effect of an arbitrary change of frame on the structure of turbulence models is examined from a theoretical standpoint It is proven, as a rigorous consequence of the Navier-Stokes equations, that turbulence models must be form invariant under arbitrary translational accelerations of the reference frame and should only be affected by rotations through the intrinsic mean vorticity A direct application of this invariance property along with the Taylor-Proudman theorem, material frame-indifference in the limit of two-dimensional turbulence, and Rapid Distortion Theory is shown to yield powerful constraints on the allowable form of turbulence models Most of the commonly used turbulence models are demonstrated to be in violation of these constraints and consequently are inconsistent with the Navier-Stokes equations in noninertial frames Alternative models with improved noninertial properties are developed and some simple applications to rotating turbulent flows are considered