arXiv subjects

O. Dauchot

Publications and source records attributed to O. Dauchot.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2005

Subcritical turbulent transition in rotating and curved shear flows

The effects of global flow rotation and curvature on the subcritical transition to turbulence in shear flows are examined. The relevant time-scales of the problem are identified by a decomposition of the flow into a laminar and a deviation from laminar parts, which is performed for rotating plane Couette and Taylor-Couette flows. The usefulness and relevance of this procedure are discussed at the same time. By comparing the self-sustaining process time-scale to the time-scales previously identified, an interpretation is brought to light for the behavior of the transition Reynolds number with the rotation number and relative gap width in the whole neighborhood (in parameter space) of the non-rotating plane Couette flow covered by the available data.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2005

Free volume distributions inside a bidimensional granular medium

We investigate experimentally within a two-dimensional cell the distribution of the free volume associated either to single grains or to clusters of grains. Our main result is that the logarithm of the probability to find a free volume per grain v_N^f in a cluster of N grains scales as N^alpha g(v_N^f), with alpha = 0.75. We interpret this non extensive scaling factor N^alpha as an evidence for the onset of long range correlations between the free volumes of individual grains. We also discuss the possible relation between g(v_N^f) and Edwards entropy.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2004

Subdiffusion and cage effect in a sheared granular material

We investigate experimentally the diffusion properties of a bidimensional bidisperse dry granular material under quasistatic cyclic shear.The comparison of these properties with results obtained both in computer simulations of hard spheres systems and Lenard-Jones liquids and experiments on colloidal systems near the glass transition demonstrates a strong analogy between the behaviour of granular matter and these systems. More specifically, we study in detail the cage dynamics responsible for the subdiffusion in the slow relaxation regime, and obtain the values of relevant time and length scales.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2003

"Barchan" dunes in the lab

We demonstrate the feasibility of studying dunes in a laboratory experiment. It is shown that an initial sand pile, under a wind flow carrying sand, flattens and gets a shape recalling barchan dunes. An evolution law is proposed for the profile and the summit of the dune. The dune dynamics is shown to be shape invariant. The invariant shape, the ``dune function'' is isolated.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2003

Jamming transition of a granular pile below the angle of repose

We study experimentally the relaxation towards mechanical equilibrium of a granular pile which has just experienced an avalanche and discuss it in the more general context of the granular jamming transition. Two coexisting dynamics are observed in the surface layer: a short time exponential decay consisting in rapid and independent moves of grains and intermittent bursts consisting in spatially correlated moves lasting for longer time. The competition of both dynamics results in long-lived intermittent transients, the total duration of which can late more than a thousand of seconds. We measure a two-time relaxation function, and relate it via a simple statistical model to a more usual two-time correlation function which exhibits strong similarities with auto-correlation functions found in aging systems. Localized perturbation experiments also allow us to test the pile surface layer receptivity.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2001

A powerful local shear instability in stratified disks

In this paper, we show that astrophysical accretion disks are dynamically unstable to non-axisymmetric disturbances. This instability is present in any stably stratified anticyclonically sheared flow as soon as the angular velocity decreases outwards. In the large Froude number limit, the maximal growth rate is proportional to the angular rotation velocity, and is independent of the stratification. In the low Froude number limit, it decreases like the inverse of the Froude number, thereby vanishing for unstratified, centrigugally stable flows. The instability is not sensitive to disk boundaries. We discuss the possible significance of our result, and its implications on the turbulent state achieved by the disks. We conclude that this linear instability is one of the best candidates for the source of turbulence in geometrically thin disks, and that magnetic fields can be safely ignored when studying their turbulent state. The relevance of the instability for thick disks or nearly neutrally stratified disks remains to be explored.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

"Barber pole turbulence" in large aspect ratio Taylor-Couette flow

Investigations of counter-rotating Taylor-Couette flow (TCF) in the narrow gap limit are conducted in a very large aspect ratio apparatus. The phase diagram is presented and compared to that obtained by Andereck et al. The spiral turbulence regime is studied by varying both internal and external Reynolds numbers. Spiral turbulence is shown to emerge from the fully turbulent regime via a continuous transition appearing first as a modulated turbulent state, which eventually relaxes locally to the laminar flow. The connection with the intermittent regimes of the plane Couette flow (pCf) is discussed.

cond-mat↗