Asymptotic behavior of solutions of the Orr-Sommerfeld equations in regions adjacent to two branches of the neutral curve

Abstract

The asymptotic behavior of the upper and lower branches of the neutral stability curve of a boundary layer found by Lin [1] was determined more accurately by various authors [2–4], who, on the basis of the linearized Navien-Stokes equations, analyzed the higher approximations in the Reynolds number R. In the limit R → ∞, neutral perturbations have wavelengths that exceed in order of magnitude the boundary layer thickness. The long-wavelength asymptotic behavior of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation is, in particular, of interest because the characteristic solutions of the linearized equations of free interaction (triple-deck theory) [5–7] are a limiting form of Tollmierr-Schlichting waves in an incompressible fluid with critical layers next to the wall [8–9]. At the same time, the dispersion relation, which is identical to the secular equation of the Orr-Sommerfeld problem, contains an entire spectrum of solutions not considered in the earlier studies [2–4]. The first oscillation mode in the spectrum may be either stable or unstable. In the present paper, solutions are constructed for each of the subregions (including the critical layer) into which the perturbed velocity field in the linear stability problem is divided at large Reynolds numbers. Dispersion relations describing the neighborhood of the upper and lower branches of the neutral curve for the boundary layer are derived. These relations, which contain neutral solutions as a special case, go over asymptotically into each other in the unstable region between the two branches.