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Shear layer instability of an inviscid compressible fluid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

William Blumen
Affiliation:
Department of Astro-Geophysics, University of Colorado, Boulder

Abstract

The stability of parallel shear flow of an inviscid compressible fluid is investigated by a linear analysis. The extension of the Rayleigh stability criterion and Howard's semi-circle theorem to compressible flows, obtained by Lees & Lin (1946) and Eckart (1963) respectively, are each rederived by a different approach. It is then shown that a subsonic neutral solution of the stability equation may be found when the basic flow is represented by the hyperbolic-tangent velocity profile. With the aid of this solution, the unstable eigenvalues, eigenfunctions and Reynolds stress are determined by numerical methods. A brief discussion of the results follows.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1970 Cambridge University Press

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