The stability of Falkner-Skan flows with several inflection points

Non-unique solutions to the Falkner-Skan equation with multiple inflection points have been investigated with respect to stability properties. A tempo ral stability analysis based on the Orr-Sommerfeld equation has been perfor med. Attention has been paid to the effect of the number of inflection poin ts in these solutions on the stability properties. While the standard Falkn er-Skan how does not have any inflection points in a favourable pressure gr adient, the first non-unique solution branch has two such points. The prese nce of these two inflection points implies a dramatic reduction of the crit ical Reynolds number by four orders of magnitude. Moreover, in base flows w ith more than two inflection points additional neutral waves occur with the same Reynolds number but with different wave numbers.