An asymptotic investigation of the stationary modes of instability of the boundary layer on a rotating disc

Abstract

The paper investigates high-Reynolds-number stationary instabilities in the boundary layer on a rotating disc. The investigation demonstrates that, in addition to the inviscid mode found by Gregory, Stuart & Walker ( Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 248, 155 (1955)) at high Reynolds numbers, there is a stationary short-wavelength mode. This mode has its structure fixed by a balance between viscous and Coriolis forces and cannot be described by an inviscid theory. The asymptotic structure of the wave-number and orientation of this mode is obtained, and a similar analysis is given for the inviscid mode. The expansion procedure provides the capacity of taking non-parallel effects into account in a self-consistent manner. The inviscid solution of Gregory et al . is modified to take account of viscous effects. The expansion procedure used is again capable of taking non-parallel effects into account. The results obtained suggest why the inviscid approach of Gregory et al . should give a good approximation to the experimentally measured orientation of the vortices. The results also explain partly why the inviscid analysis should not give such a good approximation to the wavenumber of the vortices. The asymptotic analysis of both modes provides a starting point for the corresponding nonlinear problems.