Receptivity mechanisms for Görtler vortex modes (Q1911108)

The receptivity problem for Görtler vortices induced by wall roughness or freestress disturbances is reviewed. The roughness and freestream disturbance mechanisms can each play dominant or inconsequential roles as possible routes to transition. Distributed wall-roughness elements tend to be more important in the generation of vortices than isolated roughness patches, whilst variations in the freestream velocity can easily provoke high wave number disturbances on which roughness distributions typically have negligible effect. The imposition of a spanwise component, too, can lead to an increase in the coupling coefficient for modes provoked by wall roughness. For a large class of flows, distributed wall forcing is more important in the provocation of modes than isolated roughness or freestream disturbances.