The instability to long waves of unbounded parallel inviscid flow

Abstract

Formulas for the determination of the instability characteristics of unbounded parallel flow are obtained for the case of long waves, and applied, together with some general results, to give a qualitative description of the different modes of instability of such flows. It is found that there is a finite number of different modes unstable to long waves, essentially one for each relative maximum and minimum of the velocity profile. These modes appear to become stable when the wavelength is sufficiently small, reducing to neutral solutions associated with inflexion points as stability is approached. The formulas are also useful for quantitative calculation of instability characteristics.