Hydrodynamic stability and frames of reference (Q912714)

The linear theory of hydrodynamic stability is based upon Eulerian representation of fluid motions in which the frame of reference is chosen a priori. Strictly speaking, such a representation provides criteria of stability for the velocity field rather than the fluid motion. The difference between these two types of stability was illustrated by \textit{V. I. Arnold} [Mathematical methods of classical mechanics (1978; Zbl 0386.70001)], who introduced flows with stable velocity fields and unstable trajectories (Lagrangian turbulence). If the classical (Eulerian) turbulence is associated with the instability of streamlines then it is reasonable to study this instability in a streamline frame of reference in which streamlines form a family of initially unknown Eulerian coordinates, while the remaining two Lagrangian coordinates are found from the compatibility conditions. Such a frame of reference is completely defined by the motion, and therefore, it contains a minimum of arbitrarily chosen parameters.