Investigation of compliancy effects on the inviscid instability in fluid flow over a flat plate with heat transfer

Abstract

Purpose

A detailed investigation of the effects of surface flexibility on the inviscid instability of boundary‐layer flow over a horizontal flat plate with heat transfer when the fluid buoyancy is large is undertaken. The aim of this study is to determine whether the inviscid disturbances that arise at this limit are stabilized or destabilized by surface compliancy.

Design/methodology/approach

For large positive buoyancy numbers, the motion of the disturbances is governed by the Taylor‐Goldstein (TG) equation. Using the Chebyshev collocation spectral method, the eigen‐solutions of the TG equation are obtained and compared with known results from boundary‐layer flow over rigid flat plates.

Findings

The numerical results show that the effects of surface compliancy are important for small wave numbers and that for the inviscid modes, increasing surface parameters has the effect of destabilizing the flow. For large compliancy parameters the flow structure is indistinguishable from that which obtains in boundary layer flow over rigid surfaces.

Research limitations/implications

The multiplicity of the compliant wall parameters makes a full parametric study that should show the effect of varying the compliance of the boundary surface on the stability of the flow mathematically intractable. In this study only a brief parametric study, for selected parameters is presented.

Originality/value

It is believed that this paper would be of immense value to applied mathematicians and engineers working in the areas of boundary layer stability and natural convection flows. In the last four decades there has been overwhelming interest shown by researchers in convective boundary‐layer flow. This has largely stemmed from the numerous applications of such flows in geophysics and engineering problems. Many of these applications, for example, polymer and food processing involve the flow of a fluid over a flexible surface. This research aims to bring the dynamics of the surface as a possible mechanism to stabilize convective boundary layer flows and prevent separation.

Citation

Motsa, S.S. and Sibanda, P. (2005), "Investigation of compliancy effects on the inviscid instability in fluid flow over a flat plate with heat transfer", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 504-516. https://doi.org/10.1108/09615530510601431