Stability of space-periodic flow with separation of a laminar boundary layer

Abstract

An unstable laminar flow over a wavy region of a plate placed parallel to the oncoming air flow is studied. The results have been obtained by the hot-wire method in a low-turbulent wind tunnel at low subsonic velocities. Flow near a wall with transverse undulation, whose amplitude is sufficiently large and can contribute to the formation of local regions of boundary layer separation, is considered. The external harmonic (acoustic) forcing of the periodic flow leads to the suppression of perturbations that dominate in the spectrum of velocity disturbances near the model surface. The results of this work may be useful in developing methods for controlling spatially inhomogeneous flows.