Finite-amplitude stability of axisymmetric pipe flow

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Abstract
The stability of pipe flow to axisymmetric disturbances is studied by direct numerical simulation of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. There is no evidence of finite-amplitude equilibria at any of the wavenumber/Reynolds number combinations investigated, with all perturbations decaying on a time scale much shorter than the diffusive (viscous) time scale. In particular, decay is obtained where amplitude-expansion perturbation techniques predict equilibria, indicating that these methods are not valid away from the neutral curve of linear stability theory.
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