The Formation, Structure, and Stability of a Shear Layer in a Fluid with Temperature-Dependent Viscosity

D.J. Estep, S.M. Verduyn Lunel and R.D. Williams (2000) The Formation, Structure, and Stability of a Shear Layer in a Fluid with Temperature-Dependent Viscosity. Technical Report. California Institute of Technology. [CaltechCACR:CACR-2000-187]

Full text available as:

PDF - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader or other PDF viewer.

Abstract

The presence of viscosity normally has a stabilizing effect on the flow of a fluid. However, experiments show that the flow of a fluid might form shear bands or shear layers, narrow bands in which the velocity of the fluid changes sharply. In general, adiabatic shear layers are observed not only in fluids but also in thermo-plastic materials subject to shear at a high-strain rate and in combustion. Therefore there is widespread interest in modeling the formation of shear layers. In this paper we investigate the basic system of conservation laws for a one-dimensional flow with temperature-dependent viscosity using a combination of analytical and numerical tools. We present results to substantiate the claim that the formation of shear layers is due to teh fact that viscosity decreases sufficiently quickly as temperature increases and analyze the structure and stability properties of the layers.

EPrint Type:	Monograph (Technical Report)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	a posteriori error estimates, adaptive error control, blow-up, conservation laws, finite element methods, fluid flow, invariant rectangles, plane Couette flow, reaction-diffusion equations, residual errors, shear layers, temperature-dependent viscosity, thermal diffusion
Subjects:	All Records
ID Code:	18
Deposited By:	Sarah M. Emery
Deposited On:	24 March 2004
Record Number:	CaltechCACR:CACR-2000-187
Official Persistent URL:	http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechCACR:CACR-2000-187
Usage Policy:	You are granted permission for individual, educational, research and non-commercial reproduction, distribution, display and performance of this work in any format.

Archive Staff Only: edit this record