EFFECT OF BULK VISCOSITY ON KELVIN-HELMHOLTZ INSTABILITY

摘要

An energy functional leading to a resolvable variational problem for determining the critical Reynolds number of laminar-turbulent transition Re_(cr) is constructed within the framework of the nonlinear energy stability theory of compressible flows. Asymptotic estimates containing the characteristic dependence Re_(cr) ～ (α+4/3)~(1/2) (α = η_b/η) in the main order are obtained for the stability of various modes of Couette compressible gas flow. The asymptotics considered are long-wave approximations. This suggests that the obtained dependence describes the effect of bulk viscosity on the large-scale vortex structures characteristic of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.