Spatial stability of incompressible attachment-line flow (Q1892194)

The paper is concerned with the linear stability of incompressible attachment line flow, i.e., a spanwise flow superimposed on a stagnation flow using the Görtler-Hämmerlin assumption (reduction to two- dimensional flow). This basic flow is an exact solution of the Navier- Stokes equations. The spatial stability of the base flow with respect to plane waves travelling in direction of the line of attachment, the frequency being a parameter, is calculated using a Chebyshev collocation method mapping the half space occupied by the fluid onto \([- 1,1]\). Results for the band of unstable modes compare very favorably with results from a previous temporal stability analysis. A long wave mode analogous to that present in the Orr-Sommerfeld system is discussed. The continuous spectrum is obtained and it is shown to merge with the Orr- Sommerfeld spectrum at large Reynolds numbers. The influence of different far field conditions on the spectrum has been investigated.