Exact Coherent Structures in Pipe Flow: Travelling Wave Solutions

1 Exact Coherent Structures in Pipe Flow: Travelling Wave Solutions H. Wedin & R.R. Kerswell† Department of Mathematics, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TW, England, UK 27 February 2004 ABSTRACT Three-dimensional travelling wave solutions are found for pressure-driven fluid flow through a circular pipe. They consist of three well-defined flow features - streamwise rolls and streaks which dominate and streamwise-dependent wavy structures. The trav- elling waves can be classified by the m-fold rotational symmetry they possess about the pipe axis with m = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 solutions identified.

• steady solution
• continuation approach
• streamwise rolls
• eigenvalue as part of the solution procedure
• rolls
• pipe flow
• r.r. kerswell† department
• streaks
• disturbance