Linear stability analysis of laminar flow near a stagnation point in the slip flow regime

Abstract

The aim of the present contribution is to analyze the effect of slip parameter on the stability of a laminar incompressible flow near a stagnation point in the slip flow regime. The analysis is based on the traditional normal mode approach and assumes parallel flow approximation. The Orr-Sommerfeld equation that governs the infinitesimal disturbance of stream function imposed to the steady main flow, which is an exact solution of the Navier-Stokes equation satisfying slip boundary conditions, is obtained by using the powerful spectral Chebyshev collocation method. The results of the effect of slip parameter K on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the base flow, namely the velocity profile, the shear stress profile, the boundary layer, displacement and momentum thicknesses are illustrated and discussed. The numerical data for these characteristics, as well as those of the eigenvalues and the corresponding wave numbers recover the results of the special case of no-slip boundary conditions. They are found to be in good agreement with previous numerical calculations. The effects of slip parameter on the neutral curves of stability, for two-dimensional disturbances in the Reynolds-wave number plane, are then obtained for the first time in the slip flow regime for stagnation point flow. Furthermore, the evolution of the critical Reynolds number against the slip parameter is established. The results show that the critical Reynolds number for instability is significantly increased with the slip parameter and the flow turn out to be more stable when the effect of rarefaction becomes important.