An amplitude equation modelling the double-crest swirling in orbital-shaken cylindrical containers

Abstract

Container motion along a planar circular trajectory at a constant angular velocity, i.e. orbital shaking, is of interest in several industrial applications, e.g. for fermentation processes or in cultivation of stem cells, where good mixing and efficient gas exchange are the main targets. Under these external forcing conditions, the free surface typically exhibits a primary steady-state motion through a single-crest dynamics, whose wave amplitude, as a function of the external forcing parameters, shows a Duffing-like behaviour. However, previous experiments in laboratory-scale cylindrical containers have revealed that, owing to the excitation of super-harmonics, diverse dynamics are observable in certain driving-frequency ranges. Among these super-harmonics, the double-crest dynamics is particularly relevant, as it displays a notably large amplitude response, which is strongly favoured by the spatial structure of the external forcing. In the inviscid limit and with regards to circular cylindrical containers, we formalize here a weakly nonlinear analysis via a multiple-time-scale method of the full hydrodynamic sloshing system, leading to an amplitude equation suitable for describing such a double-crest swirling motion. The weakly nonlinear prediction is shown to be in fairly good agreement with previous experiments described in the literature. Lastly, we discuss how an analogous amplitude equation can be derived by solving asymptotically for the first super-harmonic of the forced Helmholtz–Duffing equation with small nonlinearities.