INVISCID INSTABILITY OF STREAMWISE CORNER FLOW

Linear stability of the incompressible flow along a streamwise corner is studied by solving the two-dimensional eigenvalue problem governed by partial differential equations. It is found that this fully three-d imensional flow is subject to inviscid instability due to the inflecti onal nature of the streamwise velocity profile. The higher growth rate s for the inviscid instability mode, which is symmetric about the corn er bisector, as compared to the viscous Tollmien-Schlichting instabili ty operative away from the corner, is consistent with the experimental findings that the corner flow transitions to turbulence earlier than the two-dimensional Blasius flow away from the corner.