Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:49:31.512Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The development of three-dimensional wave-packets in unbounded parallel flows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

M. Gaster
Affiliation:
National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex
A. Davey
Affiliation:
National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex

Abstract

In this paper we examine the stability of a two-dimensional wake profile of the form u(y) = U(1 – r e-sy2) with respect to a pulsed disturbance at a point in the fluid. The disturbed flow forms an expanding wave packet which is convected downstream. Far downstream, where asymptotic expansions are valid, the motion at any point in the wave packet is described by a particular three-dimensional wave having complex wave-numbers. In the special case of very unstable flows, where viscosity does not have a significant influence, it is possible to evaluate the three-dimensional eigenvalues in terms of two-dimensional ones using the inviscid form of Squire's transformation. In this way each point in the physical plane can be linked to a particular two-dimensional wave growing in both space and time by simple algebraic expressions which are independent of the mean flow velocity profile. Computed eigenvalues for the wake profile are used in these relations to find the behaviour of the wave packet in the physical plane.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1968 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benjamin, T. BROOKE, 1961 J. Fluid Mech. 10, 401.
Criminale, W. O. & Kovasznay, L. S. G. 1962 J. Fluid Mech. 14, 59.
Gaster, M. 1968 J. Fluid Mech. 32, 173.
SATO H. & KURIKI, K. 1961 J. Fluid Mech. 11, 321.
Squire, H. B. 1933 Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 142, 621.
Tollmien, W. 1929 Nachr. Ges. Wiss. Göttingen, 2144.