arXiv subjects

Yohann Duguet

Publications and source records attributed to Yohann Duguet.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Large-scale streak instabilities of transitional channel flow

The emergence of large-scale spatial modulations of turbulent channel flow, as the Reynolds number is decreased, is addressed numerically using the framework of linear stability analysis. Such modulations are known as the precursors of laminar-turbulent patterns found near the onset of relaminarisation. A synthetic two-dimensional base flow is constructed by adding finite-amplitude streaks to the turbulent mean flow. The streak mode is chosen as the leading resolvent mode from linear response theory. Besides, turbulent fluctuations can be taken into account or not by using a simple Cess eddy viscosity model. The linear stability of the base flow is considered by searching for unstable eigenmodes with wavelengths larger than the base flow streaks. As the streak amplitude is increased in the presence of the turbulent closure, the base flow loses its stability to a large-scale modulation below a critical Reynolds number value. The structure of the corresponding eigenmode, its critical Reynolds number, its critical angle and wavelengths are all fully consistent with the onset of turbulent modulations from the literature. The existence of a threshold value of the Reynolds number is directly related to the presence of an eddy viscosity, and is justified using an energy budget. The values of the critical streak amplitudes are discussed in relation with those relevant to turbulent flows.

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arXiv2025

Computation and stability analysis of periodic orbits using finite differences, Fourier or Chebyshev spectral expansions in time

We analyse and compare several algorithms to compute numerically periodic solutions of high-dimensional dynamical systems and investigate their Floquet stability without building the monodromy matrix. The solution and its perturbation are discretised in time either using finite differences, Fourier-Galerkin or Chebyshev expansions. The resulting nonlinear set of equations describing the periodic orbit is solved using a Newton-Raphson algorithm. The linearised equations determining the stability lead to a generalised eigenvalue problem. Unlike the Fourier-Galerkin method, the use of Chebyshev polynomials or finite differences has the advantage that the relevant Floquet exponents are directly given without the well known issue of having to sort out the eigenvalues. The speed of convergence of these three methods is illustrated with examples from the Lorenz system, the Langford system and a two-dimensional thermal convection flow inside a differentially heated cavity. This last example demonstrates the potential of the newly proposed Chebyshev expansion for large-scale problems arising from the discretisation of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations.

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arXiv2025

From annular cavity to rotor-stator flow: nonlinear dynamics of axisymmetric rolls

Spatio-temporally complex flows are found at the onset of unsteadiness in (axisymmetric) rotor-stator turbulence in the shape of concentric rolls. The emergence of these rolls is rationalised using a homotopy approach, where the original flow configuration is continuously deformed into a simpler, better understood configuration. We deform here rotor-stator flow into an annular flow, thereby controlling curvature effects, and we investigate numerically the transition scenarios as functions of the Reynolds number. Increasing curvature starting from the planar limit reveals a clear path towards a subcritical scenario as a function of the Reynolds number. As the rotor-stator configuration is approached, supercritical branches shift to increasing Reynolds number while a subcritical branch of chaotic states takes over. Modal selection in the supercritical scenario involves the competition between two modal families. It rests on a specific radial localisation property of all eigenmodes, linked to the space-dependent convective radial velocity which intensifies as curvature is increased. A new nonlinear mechanism for the pairing of rolls is proposed based on multiple resonances. The critical point where the original rotor-stator flow loses its stability to axisymmetric perturbations is identified for the first time for the geometry under study.

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arXiv2025

The route to turbulence in magnetohydrodynamic square duct flow

The transition route from laminar to turbulent flow in a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) duct with a square cross-section is investigated in the limit of low magnetic Reynolds number. In the presence of a transverse magnetic field, Hartmann and Shercliff layers are present on the walls orthogonal and parallel to the field direction, respectively. We assume reflection symmetries in both transverse directions, and investigate the competition between transition mechanisms specific to each boundary layer using direct numerical simulations. Independently of which wall turbulence eventually occupies, transition relies exclusively on a tripping of the Shercliff layer by perturbations, while the Hartmann layer plays a passive role. This is explained, using a dynamical systems interpretation, by the spatial localization of the edge states in the Shercliff layer at the expense of the Hartmann layer. The link between these non-linear coherent structures and the linear optimal modes known from non-modal stability and energy stability theory is pointed out.

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arXiv2024

Subcritical axisymmetric solutions in rotor-stator flow

Rotor-stator cavity flows are known to exhibit unsteady flow structures in the form of circular and spiral rolls. While the origin of the spirals is well understood, that of the circular rolls is not. In the present study the axisymmetric flow in an aspect ratio $R/H=10$ cavity is revisited {numerically using recent concepts and tools from bifurcation theory}. It is confirmed that a linear instability takes place at a finite critical Reynolds number $Re=Re_c$, and that there exists a subcritical branch of large amplitude chaotic solutions. This motivates the search for subcritical finite-amplitude solutions. The branch of periodic states born in a Hopf bifurcation at $Re=Re_c$, identified using a Self-Consistent Method (SCM) and arclength continuation, is found to be supercritical. The associated solutions only exist, however, in a very narrow range of $Re$ and do not explain the subcritical chaotic rolls. Another subcritical branch of periodic solutions is found using the Harmonic Balance Method with an initial guess obtained by SCM. In addition, edge states separating the steady laminar and chaotic regimes are identified using a bisection algorithm. These edge states are bi-periodic in time for most values of $Re$, {where} their dynamics is {analysed in detail}. Both solution branches fold around at approximately the same value of $Re$, which is lower than $Re_c$ yet still larger than the values reported in experiments. This suggests that, at least in the absence of external forcing, sustained chaotic rolls have their origin in the bifurcations from these unstable solutions.

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arXiv2024

On the origin of circular rolls in rotor-stator flow

Rotor-stator flows are known to exhibit instabilities in the form of circular and spiral rolls. While the spirals are known to emanate from a supercritical Hopf bifurcation, the origin of the circular rolls is still unclear. In the present work we suggest a quantitative scenario for the circular rolls as a response of the system to external forcing. We consider two types of axisymmetric forcing: bulk forcing (based on the resolvent analysis) and boundary forcing using direct numerical simulation. Using the singular value decomposition of the resolvent operator the optimal response is shown to take the form of circular rolls. The linear gain curve shows strong amplification at non-zero frequencies following a pseudo-resonance mechanism. The optimal energy gain is found to scale exponentially with the Reynolds number $Re$ (for $Re$ based on the rotation rate and interdisc spacing $H$). The results for both types of forcing are compared with former experimental works and previous numerical studies. Our findings suggest that the circular rolls observed experimentally are the effect of the high forcing gain together with the roll-like form of the leading response of the linearised operator. For high enough Reynolds number it is possible to delineate between linear and nonlinear response. For sufficiently strong forcing amplitudes, the nonlinear response is consistent with the self-sustained states found recently for the unforced problem. The onset of such non-trivial dynamics is shown to correspond in state space to a deterministic leaky attractor, as in other subcritical wall-bounded shear flows.

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arXiv2024

Laminar-Turbulent Patterns in Shear Flows : Evasion of Tipping, Saddle-Loop Bifurcation and Log scaling of the Turbulent Fraction

We analyze a one-dimensional two-scalar fields reaction advection diffusion model for the globally subcritical transition to turbulence. In this model, the homogeneous turbulent state is disconnected from the laminar one and disappears in a tipping catastrophe scenario. The model however exhibits a linear instability of the turbulent homogeneous state, mimicking the onset of the laminar-turbulent patterns observed in the transitional regime of wall shear flows. Numerically continuing the solutions obtained at large Reynolds numbers, we construct the Busse balloon associated with the multistability of the nonlinear solutions emerging from the instability. In the core of the balloon, the turbulent fluctuations, encoded into a multiplicative noise, select the pattern wavelength. On the lower Reynolds number side of the balloon, the pattern follows a cascade of destabilizations towards larger and larger, eventually infinite wavelengths. In that limit, the periodic limit cycle associated with the spatial pattern hits the laminar fixed point, resulting in a saddle-loop global bifurcation and the emergence of solitary pulse solutions. This saddle-loop scenario predicts a logarithmic divergence of the wavelength, which captures experimental and numerical data in two representative shear flows.

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arXiv2024

Energy stability of magnetohydrodynamic flow in channels and ducts

We study the energy stability of pressure-driven laminar magnetohydrodynamic flow in a rectangular duct with transverse homogeneous magnetic field and electrically insulating walls. For sufficiently strong fields, the laminar velocity distribution has a uniform core and convex Hartmann and Shercliff boundary layers on the walls perpendicular and parallel to the magnetic field. The problem is discretized by a double expansion in Chebyshev polynomials in the cross-stream coordinates. The linear eigenvalue problem for the critical Reynolds number depends on the streamwise wavenumber, Hartmann number and the aspect ratio. We consider the limits of small and large aspect ratios in order to compare with stability models based on one-dimensional base flows. For large aspect ratios we find good numerical agreement with results based on the quasi-two-dimensional approximation. The lift-up mechanism dominates in the limit of zero streamwise wavenumber and provides a linear dependence between the critical Reynolds and Hartmann number in the duct. The duct results for small aspect ratio converge to Orr's original energy stability result for spanwise uniform perturbations imposed on the plane Poiseuille base flow. We also examine different possible symmetries of eigenmodes as well as the purely hydrodynamic case in the duct geometry.

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arXiv2023

Instability of the optimal edge trajectory in the Blasius boundary layer

In the context of linear stability analysis, considering unsteady base flows is notoriously difficult. A generalisation of modal linear stability analysis, allowing for arbitrarily unsteady base flows over a finite time, is therefore required. The recently developed optimally time-dependent (OTD) modes form a projection basis for the tangent space. They capture the leading amplification directions in state space under the constraint that they form an orthonormal basis at all times. The present numerical study illustrates the possibility to describe a complex flow case using the leading OTD modes. The flow under investigation is an unsteady case of the Blasius boundary layer, featuring streamwise streaks of finite length and relevant to bypass transition. It corresponds to the state space trajectory initiated by the minimal seed; such a trajectory is unsteady, free from any spatial symmetry, and shadows the laminar-turbulent separatrix for a finite time only. The finite-time instability of this unsteady base flow is investigated using the 8 leading OTD modes. The analysis includes the computation of finite-time Lyapunov exponents as well as instantaneous eigenvalues, and of the associated flow structures. The reconstructed instantaneous eigenmodes are all of outer type. They map unambiguously the spatial regions of largest instantaneous growth. Other flow structures, previously reported as secondary, are identified with this method as relevant to streak switching and to streamwise vortical ejections. The dynamics inside the tangent space features both modal and non-modal amplification. Non-normality within the reduced tangent subspace, quantified by the instantaneous numerical abscissa, emerges only as the unsteadiness of the base flow is reduced.

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arXiv2023

Direct path from turbulence to time-periodic solutions

Viscous flows through pipes and channels are steady and ordered until, with increasing velocity, the laminar motion catastrophically breaks down and gives way to turbulence. How this apparently discontinuous change from low- to high-dimensional motion can be rationalized within the framework of the Navier--Stokes equations is not well understood. Exploiting geometrical properties of transitional channel flow we trace turbulence to far lower Reynolds numbers (Re) than previously possible and identify the complete path that reversibly links fully turbulent motion to an invariant solution. This precursor of turbulence destabilizes rapidly with Re, and the accompanying explosive increase in attractor dimension effectively marks the transition between deterministic and de facto stochastic dynamics.

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arXiv2022

Linear instability of turbulent channel flow

Laminar-turbulent pattern formation is a distinctive feature of the intermittency regime in subcritical plane shear flows. By performing extensive numerical simulations of the plane channel flow, we show that the pattern emerges from a spatial modulation of the turbulent flow, due to a linear instability. We sample over many realizations the linear response of the fluctuating turbulent field to a temporal impulse, in the regime where the turbulent flow is stable, just before the onset of the instability. The dispersion relation is constructed from the ensemble-averaged relaxation rates. As the instability threshold is approached, the relaxation rate of the least damped modes eventually reaches zero. The method allows, despite the presence of turbulent fluctuations and without any closure model, for an accurate estimation of the wavevector of the modulation at onset.

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arXiv2020

Flow Statistics in the Transitional Regime of Plane Channel Flow

The transitional regime of plane channel flow is investigated {above} the transitional point below which turbulence is not sustained, using direct numerical simulation in large domains. Statistics of laminar-turbulent spatio-temporal intermittency are reported. The geometry of the pattern is first characterized, including statistics for the angles of the laminar-turbulent stripes observed in this regime, with a comparison to experiments. High-order statistics of the local and instantaneous bulk velocity, wall shear stress and turbulent kinetic energy are then provided. The distributions of the two former quantities have non-trivial shapes, characterized by a large kurtosis and/or skewness. Interestingly, we observe a strong linear correlation between their kurtosis and their skewness squared, which is usually reported at much higher Reynolds number in the fully turbulent regime.

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arXiv2020

The edge as a Lagrangian Coherent Structure in a high-dimensional state space

Dissipative dynamical systems characterised by two basins of attraction are found in many physical systems, notably in hydrodynamics where laminar and turbulent regimes can coexist. The state space of such systems is structured around a dividing manifold called the edge, which separates trajectories attracted by the laminar state from those reaching the turbulent state. We apply here concepts and tools from Lagrangian data analysis to investigate this edge manifold. This approach is carried out in the state space of automous arbitrarily high-dimensional dissipative systems, in which the edge manifold is re-interpreted as a Lagrangian Coherent Structure (LCS). Two different diagnostics, finite-time Lyapunov exponents and Lagrangian Descriptors, are used and compared with respect to their ability to identify the edge and to their scalability. Their properties are illustrated on several low-order models of subcritical transition of increasing dimension and complexity, as well on well-resolved simulations of the Navier-Stokes equations in the case of plane Couette flow. They allow for a mapping of the global structure of both the state space and the edge manifold based on quantitative information. Both diagnostics can also be used to generate efficient bisection algorithms to approach asymptotic edge states, which outperform classical edge tracking.

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arXiv2020

Far field of turbulent spots

The proliferation of turbulence in subcritical wall-bounded shear flows involves spatially localised coherent structures. Turbulent spots correspond to finite-time nonlinear responses to pointwise disturbances and are regarded as seeds of turbulence during transition. The rapid spatial decay of the turbulent fluctuations away from a spot is accompanied by large-scale flows with a robust structuration. The far field velocity field of these spots is investigated numerically using spectral methods in large domains in four different flow scenarios (plane Couette, plane Poiseuille, Couette-Poiseuille and a sinusoidal shear flow). At odds with former expectations, the planar components of the velocity field decay algebraically. These decay exponents depend only on the symmetries of the system, which here depend on the presence of an applied gradient, and not on the Reynolds number. This suggests an effective two-dimensional multipolar expansion for the far field, dominated by a quadrupolar flow component or, for asymmetric flow fields, by a dipolar flow component.

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arXiv2020

A model for the collapse of the edge when two transitions routes compete

The transition to turbulence in many shear flows proceeds along two competing routes, one linked with finite-amplitude disturbances and the other one originating from a linear instability, as in e.g. boundary layer flows. The dynamical systems concept of edge manifold has been suggested in the subcritical case to explain the partition of the state space of the system. This investigation is devoted to the evolution of the edge manifold when a linear stability is added in such subcritical systems, a situation poorly studied despite its prevalence in realistic fluid flows. In particular the fate of the edge state as a mediator of transition is unclear. A deterministic three-dimensional model is suggested, parametrised by the linear instability growth rate. The edge manifold evolves topologically, via a global saddle-loop bifurcation, from the separatrix between two attraction basins to the mediator between two transition routes. For larger instability rates, the stable manifold of the saddle point increases in codimension from 1 to 2 after an additional local saddle node bifurcation, causing the collapse of the edge manifold. As the growth rate is increased, three different regimes of this model are identified, each one associated with a flow case from the recent hydrodynamic literature. A simple nonautonomous generalisation of the model is also suggested in order to capture the complexity of spatially developing flows.

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arXiv2019

Laminar-turbulent coexistence in annular Couette flow

Annular Couette flow is the flow between two coaxial cylinders driven by the axial translation of the inner cylinder. It is investigated using direct numerical simulation in long domains, with an emphasis on the laminar-turbulent coexistence regime found for marginally low values of the Reynolds number. Three distinct flow regimes are demonstrated as the radius ratio $η$ is decreased from 0.8 to 0.5 and finally to 0.1. The high-$η$ regime features helically-shaped turbulent patches coexisting with laminar flow, as in planar shear flows. The moderate-$η$ regime does not feature any marked laminar-turbulent coexistence. In an effort to discard confinement effects, proper patterning is however recovered by artificially extending the azimuthal span beyond 2$π$. Eventually, the low-$η$ regime features localised turbulent structures different from the puffs commonly encountered in transitional pipe flow. In this new coexistence regime, turbulent fluctuations are surprisingly short-ranged. Implications are discussed in terms of phase transition and critical scaling.

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arXiv2019

Edge tracking in spatially developing boundary layer flows

Recent progress in understanding subcritical transition to turbulence is based on the concept of the edge, the manifold separating the basins of attraction of the laminar and the turbulent state. Originally developed in numerical studies of parallel shear flows with a linearly stable base flow, this concept is adapted here to the case of a spatially developing Blasius boundary layer. Longer time horizons fundamentally change the nature of the problem due to the loss of stability of the base flow due to Tollmien--Schlichting (TS) waves. We demonstrate, using a moving box technique, that efficient long-time tracking of edge trajectories is possible for the parameter range relevant to bypass transition, even if the asymptotic state itself remains out of reach. The flow along the edge trajectory features streak switching observed for the first time in the Blasius boundary layer. At long enough times, TS waves co-exist with the coherent structure characteristic of edge trajectories. In this situation we suggest a reinterpretation of the edge as a manifold dividing the state space between the two main types of boundary layer transition, i.e. bypass transition and classical transition.

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arXiv2017

Surfing the edge: using feedback control to find nonlinear solutions

Many transitional wall-bounded shear flows are characterised by the coexistence in state-space of laminar and turbulent regimes. Probing the edge boundary between the two attractors has led in the last decade to the numerical discovery of new (unstable) solutions to the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. However, the iterative bisection method used to achieve this can become prohibitively costly for large systems. Here we suggest a simple feedback control strategy to stabilise edge states, hence accelerating their numerical identification by several orders of magnitude. The method is illustrated for several configurations of cylindrical pipe flow. Travelling waves solutions are identified as edge states, and can be isolated rapidly in only one short numerical run. A new branch of solutions is also identified. When the edge state is a periodic orbit or chaotic state, the feedback control does not converge precisely to solutions of the uncontrolled system, but nevertheless brings the dynamics very close to the original edge manifold in a single run. We discuss the opportunities offered by the speed and simplicity of this new method to probe the structure of both state space and parameter space.

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