The onset of three-dimensionality and time-dependence in Goertler vortices - Neutrally stable wavy modes
Recently Hall and Seddougui (1989) considered the secondary instability of large-amplitude Goertler vortices in a growing boundary layer into a three-dimensional flow with wavy vortex boundaries. A pair of coupled, linear ordinary differential equations was obtained for this instability which constituted an eigenproblem for the wavelength and frequency of this wavy mode. In the course of investigating the nonlinear version of this problem (Seddougui and Bassom 1990), it has been found that the numerical work of Hall and Seddougui (1989) is incomplete; this deficiency is rectified here. In particular, it is found that many neutrally stable modes are possible; the properties of such modes are derived in a high-wavenumber limit, and it is shown that the combination of the results of Hall and Seddougui and the present modifications lead to conclusions which are consistent with the available experimental observations.