TY - JOUR T1 - Instability Investigation of Newtonian Flow in a Planar Gradual Expansion TT - بررسی ناپایداری جریان نیوتنی در تبدیل تدریجی واگرای صفحه ای JF - mdrsjrns JO - mdrsjrns VL - 13 IS - 3 UR - http://mme.modares.ac.ir/article-15-11535-en.html Y1 - 2013 SP - 28 EP - 36 KW - Instability KW - Critical Reynolds number KW - Expansion angle KW - Symmetric vortex KW - Asymmetric vortex N2 - The main object of current study is investigation of instability threshold of flow in a gradual expansion from symmetric to asymmetric situations. The expansion ratio is 1:3 and expansion angles are 30, 45, 60 and 90 degree. Discretization of governing equations is performed using finite volume method based on PISO algorithm on a staggered mesh. The CFD code is validated based on the results of sudden expansion reported in previous works. Here, the effects of expansion angle and Reynolds number on flow instability in transition from symmetric situation to two and three asymmetric vortices are investigated and the first and second critical Reynolds numbers are obtained. The bifurcation diagrams of vortices and velocity profile in centerline are plotted for each case and the effects of instability on flow field are discussed based on them. Unlike the previous studies which have been focused on the planar flow in sudden expansions, the flow instability in gradual expansions with different expansion angles is investigated which is the main innovation of current study. M3 ER -