Numerical simulation of a controlled boundary layer

Abstract

The problem of interest is the boundary layer over a flat plate. The three standard laminar flow control (LFC) techniques are pressure gradient, suction, and heating. The parameters used to describe the amount of control in the context of the boundary layer equations are introduced. The numerical method required to find the mean flow, the linear eigenvalues of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation, and the full, nonlinear, 3-D solution of the Navier-Stokes equations are outlined. A secondary instability exists for the parallel boundary subject to uniform pressure gradient, suction, or heating. Selective control of the spanwise mode reduces the secondary instability in the parallel boundary layer at low Reynolds number.