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We propose an algorithm to identify numerically periodic solutions of high-dimensional dynamical systems and their local stability properties. One of the most popular approaches is the Harmonic Balance Method (HBM), which expresses the cycle as a sum of Fourier modes and analyses its stability using the Hill's method. A drawback of Hill's method is that the relevant Floquet exponents have to be chosen from all the computed exponents. To overcome this problem the current work discusses the application of Chebyshev polynomials to the description of the time dependence of the periodic dynamics. The stability characteristics of the periodic orbit are directly extracted from the linearisation around the periodic orbit. The method is compared with the HBM with examples from Lorenz and Langford systems. The main advantage of the present method is that, unlike HBM, it allows for an unambiguous determination of the Floquet exponents. The method is applied to natural convection in a differentially heated cavity which demonstrates its potential for large scale problems arising from the discretisation of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations.

Rotor-stator flows are known to exhibit instabilities in the form of circular and spiral rolls. While the spirals are known to emanate from a supercritical Hopf bifurcation, the origin of the circular rolls is still unclear. In the present work we suggest a quantitative scenario for the circular rolls as a response of the system to external forcing. We consider two types of axisymmetric forcing: bulk forcing (based on the resolvent analysis) and boundary forcing using direct numerical simulation. Using the singular value decomposition of the resolvent operator the optimal response is shown to take the form of circular rolls. The linear gain curve shows strong amplification at non-zero frequencies following a pseudo-resonance mechanism. The optimal energy gain is found to grow rapidly with the Reynolds number (based on the rotation rate and interdisc spacing $H$) in connection with huge levels of non-normality. The results for both types of forcing are compared with former experimental works and previous numerical studies. Our findings suggest that the circular rolls observed experimentally are the combined effect of the high forcing gain and the roll-like form of the leading response of the linearised operator. For high enough Reynolds number it is possible to delineate between linear and nonlinear response. For sufficiently strong forcing amplitudes, the nonlinear response is consistent with the self-sustained states found recently for the unforced problem. The onset of such non-trivial dynamics is shown to correspond in state space to a deterministic leaky attractor, as in other subcritical wall-bounded shear flows.

Rotor-stator cavity flows are known to exhibit unsteady flow structures in the form of circular and spiral rolls. While the origin of the spirals is well understood, that of the circular rolls is not. In the present study the axisymmetric flow in an aspect ratio $R/H=10$ cavity is revisited {numerically using recent concepts and tools from bifurcation theory}. It is confirmed that a linear instability takes place at a finite critical Reynolds number $Re=Re_c$, and that there exists a subcritical branch of large amplitude chaotic solutions. This motivates the search for subcritical finite-amplitude solutions. The branch of periodic states born in a Hopf bifurcation at $Re=Re_c$, identified using a Self-Consistent Method (SCM) and arclength continuation, is found to be supercritical. The associated solutions only exist, however, in a very narrow range of $Re$ and do not explain the subcritical chaotic rolls. Another subcritical branch of periodic solutions is found using the Harmonic Balance Method with an initial guess obtained by SCM. In addition, edge states separating the steady laminar and chaotic regimes are identified using a bisection algorithm. These edge states are bi-periodic in time for most values of $Re$, {where} their dynamics is {analysed in detail}. Both solution branches fold around at approximately the same value of $Re$, which is lower than $Re_c$ yet still larger than the values reported in experiments. This suggests that, at least in the absence of external forcing, sustained chaotic rolls have their origin in the bifurcations from these unstable solutions.