Branching Instability Research Articles

Quenched disorder and instability control dynamic fracture in three dimensions

Materials failure in 3D still poses basic challenges. We study 3D brittle crack dynamics using a phase-field approach, where Gaussian quenched disorder in the fracture energy is incorporated. Disorder is characterized by a correlation length R and strength σ. We find that the mean crack velocity v is bounded by a limiting velocity, which is smaller than the homogeneous material’s prediction and decreases with σ. It emerges from a dynamic renormalization of the fracture energy with increasing crack driving force G, resembling a critical point, due to an interplay between a 2D branching instability and disorder. At small G, the probability of localized branching on a scale R is super-exponentially small. With increasing G, this probability quickly increases, leading to misty fracture surfaces, yet the associated extra dissipation remains small. As G is further increased, branching-related lengthscales become dynamic and persistently increase, leading to hackle-like structures and a macroscopic contribution to the fracture surface. The latter dynamically renormalizes the actual fracture energy until, eventually, any increase in G is balanced by extra fracture surface, with no accompanying increase in v. Finally, branching width reaches the system’s thickness such that 2D symmetry is statistically restored. Our findings are consistent with a broad range of experimental observations.

Supramolecular Assemblies in Active Motor-Filament Systems: Micelles, Bilayers, and Foams

Active matter systems evade the constraints of thermal equilibrium, leading to the emergence of intriguing collective behavior. A paradigmatic example is given by motor-filament mixtures, where the motion of motor proteins drives alignment and sliding interactions between filaments and their self-organization into macroscopic structures. After defining a microscopic model for these systems, we derive continuum equations, exhibiting the formation of active supramolecular assemblies such as micelles, bilayers, and foams. The transition between these structures is driven by a branching instability, which destabilizes the orientational order within the micelles, leading to the growth of bilayers at high microtubule densities. Additionally, we identify a fingering instability, modulating the shape of the micelle interface at high motor densities. We study the role of various mechanisms in these two instabilities, such as contractility, active splay, and anchoring, allowing for generalization beyond the system considered here. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Zonostrophic instabilities in magnetohydrodynamic Kolmogorov flow

A classic stability problem relevant to many applications in geophysical and astrophysical fluid mechanics is that of Kolmogorov flow, a unidirectional purely sinusoidal velocity field written here as u = ( 0 , sin ⁡ x ) in the infinite ( x , y ) -plane. Near onset, instabilities take the form of large-scale transverse flows, in other words flows in the x-direction with a small wavenumber k in the y-direction. This is similar to the phenomenon known as zonostrophic instability, found in many examples of randomly forced fluid flows modelling geophysical and planetary systems. The present paper studies the effect of incorporating a magnetic field B 0 , in particular a y-directed “vertical” field or an x-directed “horizontal” field. The linear stability problem is truncated to determining the eigenvalues of finite matrices numerically, allowing exploration of the instability growth rate p as a function of the wavenumber k in the y-direction and a Bloch wavenumber ℓ in the x-direction, with − 1 / 2 < ℓ ≤ 1 / 2 . In parallel, asymptotic approximations are developed, valid in the limits k → 0 , ℓ → 0 , using matrix eigenvalue perturbation theory. Results are presented showing the robust suppression of the hydrodynamic Kolmogorov flow instability as the imposed magnetic field B 0 is increased from zero. However with increasing B 0 , further branches of instability become evident. For vertical field there is a strong-field branch of destabilised Alfvén waves present when the magnetic Prandtl number P m < 1 , as found recently by A.E. Fraser, I.G. Cresswell and P. Garaud (J. Fluid Mech. 949, A43, 2022), and a further branch for 1 $ ]]> P m > 1 in the presence of an additional imposed x-directed fluid flow U 0 . For horizontal magnetic field, a branch of field-driven, tearing mode instabilities emerges as B 0 increases. The above instabilities are present for Bloch wavenumber ℓ = 0 ; however allowing ℓ to be non-zero gives rise to a further branch of instabilities in the case of horizontal field. In some circumstances, even when the system is hydrodynamically stable arbitrarily weak magnetic fields can give growing modes, via the instability taking place on large scales in x and y. Detailed comparisons are given between theory for small k and ℓ, and numerical results.

Superharmonic instability of stokes waves

AbstractA stability of nearly limiting Stokes waves to superharmonic perturbations is considered numerically in approximation of an infinite depth. Investigation of the stability properties can give one an insight into the evolution of the Stokes wave. The new, previously inaccessible branches of superharmonic instability were investigated. Our numerical simulations suggest that eigenvalues of linearized dynamical equations, corresponding to the unstable modes, appear as a result of a collision of a pair of purely imaginary eigenvalues at the origin, and a subsequent appearance of a pair of purely real eigenvalues: a positive and a negative one that are symmetric with respect to zero. Complex conjugate pairs of purely imaginary eigenvalues correspond to stable modes, and as the steepness of the underlying Stokes wave grows, the pairs move toward the origin along the imaginary axis. Moreover, when studying the eigenvalues of linearized dynamical equations we find that as the steepness of the Stokes wave grows, the real eigenvalues follow a universal scaling law, that can be approximated by a power law. The asymptotic power law behavior of this dependence for instability of Stokes waves close to the limiting one is proposed. Surface elevation profiles for several unstable eigenmodes are made available through http://stokeswave.org website.

Numerical investigation on stall flutter of an airfoil with split drag rudder

This paper investigates the stall flutter characteristic of a National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 0012 airfoil with a split drag rudder (SDR). The effect of split angle and initial disturbance on stall flutter properties are studied by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD)/computational structure dynamics (CSD) coupling method. The inherent flow mechanism is illustrated with the vorticity and pressure distribution contours. The results show that stall flutter occurs when the pitch motion amplitude of the response exceeds the pitch instability branches of the energy maps. The increase in the split angle leads to an increase in the additional stiffness of the aerodynamic forces so that the amplitude of the pitching motion induced by the initial disturbance decreases and the bifurcation speed increases with the split angle. The trailing edge vortex and the standing vortex between the rudders form affected by the SDR, which reduces the nose-up moment of the airfoil at small angles of attack and increases the nose-down moment after stall occurs. It enables airfoil to obtain more energy from the flow field so that the LCO oscillation amplitude increases. Moreover, it is found that the SDR-induced trailing-edge vortices will excite a large-amplitude stall flutter of an airfoil with a zero initial angle of attack and disturbance.

Local stability analysis of homogeneous and stratified Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices

We perform a three-dimensional short-wavelength linear stability analysis of numerically simulated two-dimensional Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices in homogeneous and stratified environments at a fixed Reynolds number of $Re = 300$ . For the homogeneous case, the elliptic instability at the vortex core dominates at early times, before being taken over by the hyperbolic instability at the vortex edge. For the stratified case of Richardson number $ Ri = 0.08$ , the early-time instabilities comprise a dominant elliptic instability at the core and a hyperbolic instability influenced strongly by stratification at the vortex edge. At intermediate times, the local approach shows a new branch of (convective) instability that emerges at the vortex core and subsequently moves towards the vortex edge. A few more convective instability bands appear at the vortex core and move away, before coalescing to form the most unstable region inside the vortex periphery at large times. In addition, the stagnation point instability is also recovered outside the periphery of the vortex at intermediate times. The dominant instability characteristics from the local approach are shown to be in good qualitative agreement with the results based on global instability studies for both homogeneous and stratified cases. A systematic study of the dependence of the dominant instability characteristics on $ Ri $ is then presented. While $ Ri = 0.1$ is identified as most unstable (with convective instability being dominant), another growth rate maximum at $ Ri = 0.025$ is not far behind (with the hyperbolic instability influenced by stratification being dominant). Finally, the local stability approach is shown to predict the potential orientation of the flow structures that would result from hyperbolic and convective instabilities, which is found to be consistent with three-dimensional numerical simulations reported previously.

Unstable spectra of plane Poiseuille flow with a uniform magnetic field

The unstable spectra of plane Poiseuille flow (PF) in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field are numerically investigated using an eigenvalue solver of incompressible magnetohydrodynamic equations. It is found that the strength of the magnetic field and the dissipative effect of the magnetic perturbation have played different roles in different parameter regions. The magnetic field has a strong suppression effect on the classical plane PF instability with a large Reynolds number in the region with the magnetic Prandtl number or the magnetic Reynolds number . Here, the Reynolds number and the magnetic Reynolds number are defined as and , where a, V 0, ν and η are the typical length, velocity, viscosity and resistivity, respectively. The magnetic Prandtl number is defined as , which is proportional to the ratio of the viscosity and the resistivity of the fluid medium. As the strength of the magnetic field increases, the PF instability can be completely stabilized in the limit of or/and . It is interestingly found that a new instability branch is excited in the small magnetic Prandtl number () or moderate magnetic Reynolds number () and large Reynolds number () regions. This new type of instability is verified to be driven by the magnetic Reynolds stress and modulated by the dissipative effect of the magnetic perturbation. The wavelength of the original PF instability gradually shifts to the long wavelength region, but the wavelength of the new branch is almost unchanged, as increases with fixed . However, the wavelength of the original instability branch is almost unchanged, but the wavelength of the new instability branch shifts to the long wavelength region, as increases with fixed .

Induced side-branching in smooth and faceted dendrites: theory and phase-field simulations.

The present work is devoted to the phenomenon of induced side branching stemming from the disruption of free dendrite growth. We postulate that the secondary branching instability can be triggered by the departure of the morphology of the dendrite from its steady state shape. Thence, the instability results from the thermodynamic trade-off between non monotonic variations of interface temperature, surface energy, kinetic anisotropy and interface velocity within the Gibbs-Thomson equation. For the purposes of illustration, the toy model of capillary anisotropy modulation is prospected both analytically and numerically by means of phase-field simulations. It is evidenced that side branching can befall both smooth and faceted dendrites, at a normal angle from the front tip which is specific to the nature of the capillary anisotropy shift applied. This article is part of the theme issue 'Transport phenomena in complex systems (part 2)'.

Modeling ice crystal growth using the lattice Boltzmann method

Given the multitude of growth habits, pronounced sensitivity to ambient conditions and wide range of scales involved, snowflake crystals are particularly challenging systems to simulate. Only a few models are able to reproduce the diversity observed regarding snowflake morphology. It is particularly difficult to perform reliable numerical simulations of snow crystals. Here, we present a modified phase-field model that describes vapor-ice phase transition through anisotropic surface tension, surface diffusion, condensation, and water molecule depletion rate. The present work focuses on the development and validation of such a coupled flow/species/phase solver in two spatial dimensions based on the lattice Boltzmann method. It is first shown that the model is able to correctly capture species and phase growth coupling. Furthermore, through a study of crystal growth subject to ventilation effects, it is shown that the model correctly captures hydrodynamics-induced asymmetrical growth. The validated solver is then used to model snowflake growth under different ambient conditions with respect to humidity and temperature in the plate-growth regime section of the Nakaya diagram. The resulting crystal habits are compared to both numerical and experimental reference data available in the literature. The overall agreement with experimental data shows that the proposed algorithm correctly captures both the crystal shape and the onset of primary and secondary branching instabilities. As a final part of the study, the effects of forced convection on snowflake growth are studied. It is shown, in agreement with observations in the literature, that under such conditions the crystal exhibits nonsymmetrical growth. The non-uniform humidity around the crystal due to forced convection can even result in the coexistence of different growth modes on different sides of the same crystal.

On the Dispersion Mechanism of the Flutter Boundary of the AGARD 445.6 Wing

The variation in the flutter boundary of the AGARD 445.6 wing in transonic and low supersonic states is an unresolved issue in the field of aeroelasticity. This well-known variation phenomenon is mainly reflected in three aspects: 1) the discrepancy between the computational and the experimental results; 2) the large dispersion of the computational results between different solvers; 3) the sensitivity of calculated flutter boundary to many factors, such as computational fluid dynamics discretization scheme and spatial resolution. However, the root cause of this phenomenon is not clear yet. In this paper, the physical mechanism of the dispersion phenomenon is investigated in the case of using the reduced-order model (ROM)–based aeroelastic analysis model. A dominant least stable flow mode, which has an important effect on the flutter characteristic, is captured by the ROM. The variation in the damping of this dominant flow mode significantly affects the flutter boundary or even changes the instability branch of the structural mode. By adjusting the aerodynamic damping of the dominant flow mode, the flutter boundary curve under the aerodynamic damping variation is predicted. When comparing with the available literature results, the scattered literature data fall around the predicted curve, which indicates that the sensitivity of the damping of the dominant flow mode is the root cause for the dispersion phenomenon of the flutter boundary.

Orthorhombic-to-monoclinic transition in Ta2NiSe5 due to a zone-center optical phonon instability

I study dynamical instabilities in Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$ using density functional theory based calculations. The calculated phonon dispersions show two unstable optical branches. All the acoustic branches are stable, which shows that an elastic instability is not the primary cause of the experimentally observed orthorhombic-to-monoclinic structural transition in this material. The largest instability of the optical branches occurs at the zone center, consistent with the experimental observation that the size of the unit cell does not multiply across the phase transition. The unstable modes have the irreps $B_{1g}$ and $B_{2g}$. Full structural relaxations minimizing both the forces and stresses find that the monoclinic $C2/c$ structure corresponding to the $B_{2g}$ instability has the lowest energy. Electronic structure calculations show that this low-symmetry structure has a sizable band gap. This suggest that a $B_{2g}$ zone-center optical phonon instability is the primary cause of the phase transition. An observation of a softening of a $B_{2g}$ zone-center phonon mode as the transition is approached from above would confirm the mechanism proposed here. If none of the $B_{2g}$ modes present in the material soften, this would imply that the transition is caused by electronic or elastic instability.

Hill-top branching: Its asymptotically expanded and visually solved bifurcation equations

Hill-top branching (HTB) is an exceptional stability problem in which the bifurcation point (BP) coincides exactly with a limit point (LP). In such cases, snap-through and branching instability occur simultaneously. Then, HTB is often obscured in snap-through behavior and is often overlooked in stability design. The compound instability is in fact not well realized in the community of computational mechanics, when the rank deficiency and number of negative eigenvalues of the stiffness matrix are carelessly examined. No report of the relevant literature has established diagnosis of path branching or proposed a branch-switching procedure. Furthermore, few HTB models are available in the literature.This report proposes a set of asymptotic bifurcation equations to address this academically important and exciting issue. There might be a single or two critical eigenvectors of the singular stiffness matrix. Higher-derivatives of the stiffness matrix with respect to nodal displacements can be computed exactly using hyper-dual numbers (HDNs). The resulting simultaneous equations can be solved visually using graphical tools available in popular mathematical software packages such as MATLAB®. From the locations of existing real roots displayed on a graphic monitor, the crossover situation of path branching is visually clear above and below the hill-top. For the present study, three HTB examples are computed to verify the proposed algorithm strategy using HDNs and graphical tools. The obtained numerical results show excellent agreement with analytical and finite element predictions. The proposed asymptotically expanded and visually solved bifurcation equations reliably diagnose asymmetric and unstable symmetric HTB in structural stability problems and function well in computational engineering problems.

Effects of Schmidt number on the short-wavelength instabilities in stratified vortices

We present a local stability analysis to investigate the effects of differential diffusion between momentum and density (quantified by the Schmidt number $Sc$) on the three-dimensional, short-wavelength instabilities in planar vortices with a uniform stable stratification along the vorticity axis. Assuming small diffusion in both momentum and density, but arbitrary values for $Sc$, we present a detailed analytical/numerical analysis for three different classes of base flows: (i) an axisymmetric vortex, (ii) an elliptical vortex and (iii) the flow in the neighbourhood of a hyperbolic stagnation point. While a centrifugally stable axisymmetric vortex remains stable for any $Sc$, it is shown that $Sc$ can have significant effects in a centrifugally unstable axisymmetric vortex: the range of unstable perturbations increases when $Sc$ is taken away from unity, with the extent of increase being larger for $Sc\ll 1$ than for $Sc\gg 1$. Additionally, for $Sc&gt;1$, we report the possibility of oscillatory instability. In an elliptical vortex with a stable stratification, $Sc\neq 1$ is shown to non-trivially influence the three different inviscid instabilities (subharmonic, fundamental and superharmonic) that have been previously reported, and also introduce a new branch of oscillatory instability that is not present at $Sc=1$. The unstable parameter space for the subharmonic (instability IA) and fundamental (instability IB) inviscid instabilities are shown to be significantly increased for $Sc&lt;1$ and $Sc&gt;1$, respectively. Importantly, for sufficiently small and large $Sc$, respectively, the maximum growth rate for instabilities IA and IB occurs away from the inviscid limit. The new oscillatory instability (instability III) is shown to occur only for sufficiently small $Sc&lt;1$, the signature of which is nevertheless present with zero growth rate in the inviscid limit. The Schmidt number is then shown to play no role in the evolution of transverse perturbations on the flow around a hyperbolic stagnation point with a stable stratification. We conclude by discussing the physical length scales associated with the $Sc\neq 1$ instabilities, and their potential relevance in various realistic settings.

Comparison of six simulation codes for positive streamers in air

We present and compare six simulation codes for positive streamer discharges from six different research groups. Four groups use a fully self-implemented code and two make use of COMSOL Multiphysics®. Three test cases are considered, in which axisymmetric positive streamers are simulated in dry air at 1 bar and 300 K in an undervolted gap. All groups use the same fluid model with the same transport coefficients. The first test case includes a relatively high background density of electrons and ions without photoionization. When each group uses their standard grid resolution, results show considerable variation, particularly in the prediction of streamer velocities and maximal electric fields. However, for sufficiently fine grids good agreement is reached between several codes. The second test includes a lower background ionization density, and oscillations in the streamer properties, branching and numerical instabilities are observed. By using a finer grid spacing some groups were able to reach reasonable agreement in their results, without oscillations. The third test case includes photoionization, using both Luque’s and Bourdon’s Helmholtz approximation. The results agree reasonably well, and the numerical differences appear to be more significant than the type of Helmholtz approximation. Computing times, used hardware and numerical parameters are described for each code and test case. We provide detailed output in the supplementary data, so that other streamer codes can be compared to the results presented here.

Numerical studies on thermal shock crack branching instability in brittle solids

The new weakly coupled thermal mechanical bond-based peridynamic model enriched with shear deformation is developed to study crack propagation and branching instability in brittle solids subjected to thermal shocks. First, the proposed numerical model is validated via comparisons with the classical finite element method (FEM) results. Next, thermal shock crack branching instability in brittle ceramic disks under infrared radiation heating is investigated using the proposed numerical model. Three different types of thermal shock cracking patterns, including no crack branching, crack branching inside heating region and crack branching outside heating region, can be captured by using the proposed numerical model, which are consistent with the previous experimental and numerical results. Effects of heat flux density, heating size, pre-existing notch length, horizon size and nonlocal ratio on thermal shock cracking patterns, crack propagation speed, strain energy distributions around crack tips and crack branching angle are also systematically investigated. The mechanism of thermal shock crack branching instability is revealed. Finally, some characteristics of thermal shock crack branching instability in brittle solids are discussed and summarized.

Clarifying the solar wind heat flux instabilities

In the solar wind electron velocity distributions reveal two counter-moving populations which may induce electromagnetic (EM) beaming instabilities known as heat flux instabilities. Depending on plasma parameters two distinct branches of whistler and firehose instabilities can be excited. These instabilities are invoked in many scenarios, but their interplay is still poorly understood. An exact numerical analysis is performed to resolve the linear Vlasov-Maxwell dispersion and characterize these two instabilities, e.g., growth rates, wave frequencies and thresholds, enabling to identify their dominance for conditions typically experienced in space plasmas. Of particular interest are the effects of suprathermal Kappa-distributed electrons which are ubiquitous in these environments. The dominance of whistler or firehose instability is highly conditioned by the beam-core relative velocity, core plasma beta and the abundance of suprathermal electrons. Derived in terms of relative drift velocity the instability thresholds show an inverse correlation with the core plasma beta for the whistler modes, and a direct correlation with the core plasma beta for the firehose instability. Suprathermal electrons reduce the effective (beaming) anisotropy inhibiting the firehose modes while the whistler instability is stimulated.

Analysis of Alfven eigenmode destabilization in DIII-D high poloidal β discharges using a Landau closure model

Alfvén eigenmodes are destabilized at the DIII-D pedestal during transient beta drops in high poloidal β discharges with internal transport barriers (ITBs), driven by n = 1 external kink modes, leading to energetic particle losses. There are two different scenarios in the thermal β recovery phase: with bifurcation (two instability branches with different frequencies) or without bifurcation (single instability branch). We use the reduced MHD equations in a full 3D system, coupled with equations of density and parallel velocity moments for the energetic particles as well as the geodesic acoustic wave dynamics, to study the properties of the instabilities observed in the DIII-D high poloidal β discharges and identify the conditions to trigger the bifurcation. The simulations suggest that instabilities with lower frequency in the bifurcation case are ballooning modes driven at the plasma pedestal, while the instability branch with higher frequencies are low n (n < 4) toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes nearby the pedestal. The reverse shear region between the middle and plasma periphery in the non-bifurcated case avoids the excitation of ballooning modes at the pedestal, although toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes and reverse shear Alfvén eigenmodes are unstable in the reverse shear region. The n = 1 and n = 2 Alfvén eigenmode activity can be suppressed or minimized if the neutral beam injector (NBI) intensity is lower than the experimental value (). In addition, if the beam energy or neutral beam injector voltage is lower than in the experiment (), the resonance between beam and thermal plasma is weaker. The and 6 AE activity can not be fully suppressed, although the growth rate and frequency is smaller for an optimized neutral beam injector operation regime. In conclusion, AE activity in high poloidal β discharges can be minimized for optimized NBI operation regimes.

Eckhaus instability in the Lugiato-Lefever model

We study theoretically the primary and secondary instabilities undergone by the stationary periodic patterns in the Lugiato-Lefever equation in the focusing regime. Direct numerical simulations in a one-dimensional periodic domain show discrete changes of the periodicity of the patterns emerging from unstable homogeneous steady states. Through continuation methods of the steady states we reveal that the system exhibits a set of wave instability branches. The organisation of these branches suggests the existence of an Eckhaus scenario, which is characterized in detail by means of the derivation of their amplitude equation in the weakly nonlinear regime. The continuation in the highly nonlinear regime shows that the furthest branches become unstable through a Hopf bifurcation.

Influence of heterogeneities on crack propagation

The influence of material heterogeneities is studied in the context of dynamic failure. We consider a pre-strained plate problem, the homogeneous case of which has been widely studied both experimentally and numerically. This setup is used to isolate the effects of the elastic field resulting from pre-straining and stress wave interactions throughout the crack propagation by adding stiffer and denser regions in the plate. While the crack tip is pushed away by stiffer inclusions, it is attracted to the denser ones. With the presence of denser media, only a portion of the total elastic energy in the system is effectively used to drive crack propagation, leading to a drop in the velocity of its tip in comparison to the homogeneous case. Crack branching is then observed at velocities much lower than the limiting velocity of the material, questioning the validity of crack velocity to be a criterion for crack branching. Instead, we introduce an effective stored energy to analyze the crack velocity and the emergence of crack branching instabilities.

Asymptotic stability and transient growth in pulsatile Poiseuille flow through a compliant channel

The time-asymptotic linear stability of pulsatile flow in a channel with compliant walls is studied together with the evaluation of modal transient growth within the pulsation period of the basic flow as well as non-modal transient growth. Both one (vertical-displacement) and two (vertical and axial) degrees-of-freedom compliant-wall models are implemented. Two approaches are developed to study the dynamics of the coupled fluid–structure system, the first being a Floquet analysis in which disturbances are decomposed into a product of exponential growth and a sum of harmonics, while the second is a time-stepping technique for the evolution of the fundamental solution (monodromy) matrix. A parametric study of stability in the non-dimensional parameter space, principally defined by Reynolds number ($Re$), Womersley number ($Wo$) and amplitude of the applied pressure modulation ($\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC}$), is then conducted for compliant walls of fixed geometric and material properties. The flow through a rigid channel is shown to be destabilized by pulsation for low $Wo$, stabilized due to Stokes-layer effects at intermediate $Wo$, while the critical $Re$ approaches the steady Poiseuille-flow result at high $Wo$, and that these effects are made more pronounced by increasing $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC}$. Wall flexibility is shown to be stabilizing throughout the $Wo$ range but, for the relatively stiff wall used, is more effective at high $Wo$. Axial displacements are shown to have negligible effect on the results based upon only vertical deformation of the compliant wall. The effect of structural damping in the compliant-wall dynamics is destabilizing, thereby suggesting that the dominant inflectional (Rayleigh) instability is of the Class A (negative-energy) type. It is shown that very high levels of modal transient growth can occur at low $Wo$, and this mechanism could therefore be more important than asymptotic amplification in causing transition to turbulent flow for two-dimensional disturbances. Wall flexibility is shown to ameliorate mildly this phenomenon. As $Wo$ is increased, modal transient growth becomes progressively less important and the non-modal mechanism can cause similar levels of transient growth. We also show that oblique waves having non-zero transverse wavenumbers are stable to higher values of critical $Re$ than their two-dimensional counterparts. Finally, we identify an additional instability branch at high $Re$ that corresponds to wall-based travelling-wave flutter. We show that this is stabilized by the inclusion of structural damping, thereby confirming that it is of the Class B (positive-energy) instability type.