The Stability of Flow Along a Streamwise Corner

Abstract

Here we consider the stability of the streamwise corner flow formed at the intersection of two semi-infinite perpendicular planes by studying the linear stability of the blending layer formed between the corner layer and the Blasius boundary layer. Both symmetric and antisymmetric (about the corner bisector) disturbances are considered and the critical Reynolds number corresponding to these disturbances decrease as the cornerline is approached. The symmetric disturbance is found to be more unstable than its antisymmetric counterpart and the most unstable symmetric disturbance is three-dimensional with negative spanwise wavenumber.