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Finite-amplitude stability of a parallel flow with a free surface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

S. P. Lin
S. P. Lin
Affiliation:
Mechanical Engineering Department, Clarkson College of Technology, Potsdam, New York
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Abstract

The linearized problem of the instability of a layer of liquid flowing down an inclined plane was formulated by Yih (1954) and was solved by Benjamin (1957). It was found that the instability of such a film flow is initially due to long surface waves of infinitesimally small amplitudes. In the present study, a closed-form expression for the non-linear development of these long surface waves is obtained. It is shown that in the neighbourhood of the neutral curve an exponentially growing infinitesimal disturbance may develop into supercritically stable wave motion of small but finite amplitude if the surface tension of the liquid is sufficiently large. Theoretically obtained amplitudes of such waves are consistent with Kapitza's (1949) observation. The approach used in this analysis is a modification of the method used by Reynolds & Potter (1967), who extended the method of Stuart (1960) and Watson (1960) in their study of the non-linear instability of plane Poiseuille and Poiseuille-Couette flow.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , 27 March 1969 , pp. 113 - 126
Copyright
© 1969 Cambridge University Press

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References

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