On the Stability of the Laminar Mixing Region Between Two Parallel Streams in a Gas

Abstract

The stability of the mixing of two streams was studied both for the interest in the problem and for clarifying certain points in the basic stability theory. It is shown that, when the relative speed of the two parallel streams exceeds the sum of their velocities of sound, subsonic oscillations cannot occur and the mixing region may be expected to be stable with respect to small disturbances. It is further shown that, when viscosity and heat conductivity are neglected, if the flow can execute a small neutral subsonic oscillation of finite wave length, it can also execute self-excited oscillations of longer wave lengths and damped oscillations of shorter wave lengths. Rigorous developments of the mathematical theory of asymptotic solutions confirm previous methods of solution of the stability equations in a compressible fluid. This theory also shows that, at high Reynolds numbers, the damped oscillations in a strictly parallel main flow have a structure similar to that of the vorticity field in fully developed turbulent flow. sample calculations are also included exhibiting various quantitative properties of these small oscillations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1953
Accession Number
ADA377062

Entities

People

  • C. C. Lin

Organizations

  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundary Layer
  • Computational Science
  • Differential Equations
  • Equations
  • Flow
  • Flow Fields
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Free Stream
  • Layers
  • Mach Number
  • Mathematical Analysis
  • Molecular Dynamics
  • Relative Motion
  • Reynolds Number
  • Thermal Conductivity
  • Turbulent Flow
  • Turbulent Mixing

Fields of Study

  • Mathematics
  • Physics

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.