Spatially localised growth within global instabilities of flexible channel flows
Stewart PS., Waters SL., Billingham J., Jensen OE.
We investigate the localised spatial growth of two-dimensional disturbances governed by the long-wavelength Orr-Sommerfeld operator in a rigid channel at sub-transition Reynolds numbers. We discuss the link between this growth and vorticity waves, a striking feature of the self-excited oscillations that arise when flow is driven through a finite-length channel, one wall of which contains a segment of flexible membrane. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.