Instability of plane compressible gas sheets (Q1384731)

The temporal as well as spatio-temporal instability of a plane compressible gas sheet in a quiescent viscous liquid has been studied in view of applications in bubble formation and gas dissolution processes. Sinuous as well as varicose unstable modes exist, and the effects of various physical parameters, such as surface tension, gas density, liquid viscosity and gas compressibility on these instability modes are shown. The varicose mode dominates the instability process, although at large gas Weber numbers both modes become of equal importance. Strikingly opposite to the plane liquid sheet case, the spatio-temporal evolution of disturbances is always absolute in nature for plane gas sheets, and convective instability does not exist at all.