TY - JOUR
T1 - Receptivity and transition in a solitary wave boundary layer over random bottom topography
AU - Önder, Asim
AU - Liu, Philip L.F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s).
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Direct numerical simulations are conducted to study the receptivity and transition mechanisms in a solitary wave boundary layer developing over randomly organized wave-like bottom topography. The boundary layer flow shows a selective response to broadband perturbations from the bottom, and develops streamwise-elongated streaks. When the streaks reach high amplitudes, they indirectly amplify streamwise-elongated vortices through modulating small-scale fluctuations and pressure fields. These stronger vortices in turn stir the boundary layer more effectively and further intensify streaks via the lift-up mechanism. This nonlinear feedback loop increases the sensitivity of the boundary layer to the roughness level and yields dramatic variations among cases sharing the same Reynolds number with differing roughness height. Three different local breakdown scenarios are observed depending on the amplitude of the streaks: (i) two-dimensional wave instabilities in the regions with weak streaks; (ii) inner shear-layer instabilities in the regions with moderate-amplitude streaks; and (iii) rapidly growing outer shear-layer instabilities in the regions with highly elevated high-amplitude streaks. Inner instabilities have the slowest growth rate among all transition paths, which confirms the previous predictions on the stabilising role of moderate-amplitude streaks (Önder & Liu, J. Fluid. Mech., vol. 896, 2020, A20).
AB - Direct numerical simulations are conducted to study the receptivity and transition mechanisms in a solitary wave boundary layer developing over randomly organized wave-like bottom topography. The boundary layer flow shows a selective response to broadband perturbations from the bottom, and develops streamwise-elongated streaks. When the streaks reach high amplitudes, they indirectly amplify streamwise-elongated vortices through modulating small-scale fluctuations and pressure fields. These stronger vortices in turn stir the boundary layer more effectively and further intensify streaks via the lift-up mechanism. This nonlinear feedback loop increases the sensitivity of the boundary layer to the roughness level and yields dramatic variations among cases sharing the same Reynolds number with differing roughness height. Three different local breakdown scenarios are observed depending on the amplitude of the streaks: (i) two-dimensional wave instabilities in the regions with weak streaks; (ii) inner shear-layer instabilities in the regions with moderate-amplitude streaks; and (iii) rapidly growing outer shear-layer instabilities in the regions with highly elevated high-amplitude streaks. Inner instabilities have the slowest growth rate among all transition paths, which confirms the previous predictions on the stabilising role of moderate-amplitude streaks (Önder & Liu, J. Fluid. Mech., vol. 896, 2020, A20).
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U2 - 10.1017/jfm.2020.1141
DO - 10.1017/jfm.2020.1141
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85101018807
SN - 0022-1120
VL - 912
JO - Journal of Fluid Mechanics
JF - Journal of Fluid Mechanics
M1 - A21
ER -