Abstract
The stability of the decaying laminar flow in a suddenly blocked channel is investigated. The partial differential system governing the stability of the flow is solved using a WKB type of approach. It is shown that the first term of the WKB expansion of the disturbance velocity field is just that obtained by a quasi-steady approach. The flow is found to be unstable at quite small Reynolds numbers. This instability is associated with the inflexional nature of the velocity profiles of the decaying flow.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 305-314 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Fluid Mechanics |
Volume | 75 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 1976 |
Externally published | Yes |