In this paper we consider the spectrum and stability properties of small-amplitude waves in three-dimensional inviscid compressible swirling flow with non-zero mean vorticity, contained in an infinitely long annular circular cylinder. The mean flow has swirl and sheared axial components which are general functions of radius. We describe the form of the spectrum, in particular the three distinct types of disturbance: sonic (or acoustic) modes; nearly-convected modes; and the non-modal continuous spectrum. The phenomenon of accumulation of infinitely many eigenvalues of the nearly-convected type in the complex wavenumber-plane is classified carefully: we find two different regimes of accumulating neutral modes and one regime of accumulating instability modes, and analytic conditions for the occurrence of each type of behaviour are given. We also discuss the Green's function for the unsteady field, and in particular the contribution made by the continuous spectrum. We show that this contribution can grow algebraically downstream, and is responsible for a new type of convective instability. The algebraic growth rate of this instability is a complicated function of the mean flow parameters, and can be arbitrarily large as a function of radius in cases in which the local convected wavenumber has a local extremum. The algebraic instability we describe is additional to any conventional modal instability which may be present, and indeed we exhibit cases which are convectively stable to modes, but which nevertheless grow algebraically downstream.

We investigate transient growth in high-Reynolds-number vortices with axial flow. Manycases of vortex instability are not fully explained by strong exponential instability modes, and transient growth could offer an alternative route to breakdown in such cases. Strong transient growth is found, in agreement with previous studies. We first discuss the problem by reference to ducted vortices which model aeroengine flow. The transient growth is inviscid in character, and in this paper we specifically interpret it as an effect of the inviscid continuous spectrum. The relevant inviscid theory explains new scalings which we find for the transient growth, which are generalizations of the quadratic scaling seen previously in two-dimensional flows and non-swirling pipe flows. We then turn to a second case, of interest for vortex breakdown, the Batchelor vortex, and present calculations of the transient growth. Large growth is possible, especially for the helical modes (with azimuthal wavenumber |m| = 1). The general trends are complicated by a number ofissues, including a long-wavelength effect and a resonance effect, both of which were recently discovered for a vortex without axial flow and are found here to be present in the Batchelor vortex also. Overall, the results suggest that strong transient effects are present in the moderate- to high-swirl regime of practical interest (swirl number q ≳ 2). Foraxisymmetric (m = 0) and higher (|m| > 1) modes, however, transient effects are not found to be significant.

In this paper we consider the diffraction of waves by a sharp edge in three-dimensional flow with non-zero mean vorticity. This is an extension of the famous Sommerfeld problem of the diffraction of waves by a sharp edge in quiescent conditions. The precise problem concerns an infinitely long annular circular cylinder, which contains a concentric semi-infinite circular cylinder which acts as a splitter. The mean flow has both axial and swirl components, and cases in which the splitter is arranged with either a leading edge or a trailing edge relative to the axial flow are considered. This is a model of a number of practical situations in the aeroengine context. We treat both sonic and nearly-convected incident disturbances, and two regimes are considered; one in which the azimuthal order, $m$, of the incident waves is $O(1)$, and a second in which $m\,{\gg}\,1$. A solution for $m\,{=}\,O(1)$ in the case of rigid-body swirl is found using the Wiener–Hopf technique, and special care is needed to handle the infinite accumulation of scattered nearly-convected modes which results from the presence of the mean vorticity. Simplification in the limit $m\,{\gg}\,1$ then allows us to consider more general swirl distributions. A number of effects arise due to the presence of mean vorticity. This includes the generation of sound at a trailing edge due to the scattering of a nearly-convected disturbance, which is to be contrasted with the way in which a convected gust passes a trailing edge silently in uniform mean flow.

We identify a family of centre-mode disturbances to inviscid swirling flows such as jets, wakes and other vortices. The centre modes form an infinite family of modes, increasingly concentrated near to the symmetry axis of the mean flow, and whose frequencies accumulate to a single point in the complex plane. This asymptotic accumulation allows analytical progress to be made, including a theoretical stability boundary, inO(1) parameter regimes. The modes are located close to the continuous spectrum of the linearized Euler equations, and the theory is closely related to that of the continuous spectrum. We illustrate our analysis with the inviscid Batchelor vortex, defined by swirl parameterq. We show that the inviscid instabilities found in previous numerical studies are in fact the first members of an infinite set of centre modes of the type we describe. We investigate the inviscid neutral curve, and find good agreement of the neutral curve predicted by the analysis with the results of numerical computations. We find that the unstable region is larger than previously reported. In particular, the value ofqabove which the inviscid vortex stabilizes is significantly larger than previously reported and in agreement with a long-standing theoretical prediction.

International audienceLinear stability of the non-parallel Batchelor vortex is studied using global modes. This family of swirling wakes and jets has been extensively studied under the parallel-flow approximation, and in this paper we extend to more realistic non-parallel base flows. Our base flow is obtained as an exact steady solution of the Navier-Stokes equations by direct numerical simulation (with imposed axisymmetry to damp all instabilities). Global stability modes are computed by numerical simulation of the linearized equations, using the implicitly restarted Arnoldi method, and we discuss fully the numerical and convergence issues encountered. Emphasis is placed on exploring the general structure of the global spectrum, and in particular the correspondence between global modes and local absolute modes which is anticipated by weakly non-parallel asymptotic theory. We believe that our computed global modes for a weakly non-parallel vortex are the first to display this correspondence with local absolute modes. Superpositions of global modes are also studied, allowing an investigation of the amplifier dynamics of this unstable flow. For an illustrative case we find global non-modal transient growth via a convective mechanism. Generally amplifier dynamics, via convective growth, are prevalent over short time intervals, and resonator dynamics, via global mode growth, become prevalent at later times. © 2009 Cambridge University Press