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On the stability of a shear layer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

J. Menkes
Affiliation:
California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Abstract

The effects of density variation in the absence of gravity on the stability of a horizontal shear layer between two streams of uniform velocities is investigated. The density is assumed to decrease exponentially with height and the velocity is represented by U(y) = tanh y.

The method of small disturbances is employed to obtain the neutral stability curve. It is demonstrated that disturbances with wave-numbers larger than the width of the transition layer are attenuated.

Qualitative agreement with experimental evidence is obtained.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1959 Cambridge University Press

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References

Blackshear, P. 1957 NACA TN 3830.
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Goldstein, S. 1931 Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 132, 524.
Lees, L. & Lin, C. C. 1946 NACA TN 1115.
Lin, C. C. 1955 The Theory of Hydrodynamic Stability. Cambridge University Press.
Morse, P. & Feshbach, H. 1953 Methods of Theoretical Physics. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Taylor, G. I. 1931 Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 132, 499.