"Present understanding of transition to turbulence has now been studied over one hundred and fifty years. The path the studies have taken posed it as a modal eigenvalue problem. Some researchers have suggested alternative models without being specific. First-principle based approach of receptivity is the route to build bridges among ideas for solving the Navier-Stokes equation for specific canonical problems. This book highlights the mathematical physics, scientific computing, and new ideas and theories for nonlinear analyses of fluid flows, for which vorticity dynamics remain central. This book is a blend of classic with distinctly new ideas, which establish different dynamics of flows, from genesis to evolution of disturbance fields with rigorously developed methods to tracing coherent structures amidst the seemingly random and chaotic fluid dynamics of transitional and turbulent flows"--

Addressing classical material as well as new perspectives, Instabilities of Flows and Transition to Turbulence presents a concise, up-to-date treatment of theory and applications of viscous flow instability. It covers materials from classical instability to contemporary research areas including bluff body flow instability, mixed convection flows, and application areas of aerospace and other branches of engineering. Transforms and perturbation techniques are used to link linear instability with receptivity of flows, as developed by the author. The book: Provides complete coverage of transition concepts, including receptivity and flow instability Introduces linear receptivity using bi-lateral Fourier-Laplace transform techniques Presents natural laminar flow (NLF) airfoil analysis and design as a practical application of classical and bypass transition Distinguishes strictly between instability and receptivity, which leads to identification of wall- and free stream-modes Describes energy-based receptivity theory for the description of bypass transitions Instabilities of Flows and Transition to Turbulence has evolved into an account of the personal research interests of the author over the years. A conscious effort has been made to keep the treatment at an elementary level requiring rudimentary knowledge of calculus, the Fourier-Laplace transform, and complex analysis. The book is equally amenable to undergraduate students, as well as researchers in the field.

This book is a complete revision of the part of Monin & Yaglom's famous two-volume work "Statistical Fluid Mechanics: Mechanics of Turbulence" that deals with the theory of laminar-flow instability and transition to turbulence. It includes the considerable advances in the subject that have been made in the last 15 years or so. It is intended as a textbook for advanced graduate courses and as a reference for research students and professional research workers. The first two Chapters are an introduction to the mathematics, and the experimental results, for the instability of laminar (or inviscid) flows to infinitesimal (in practice "small") disturbances. The third Chapter develops this linear theory in more detail and describes its application to particular problems. Chapters 4 and 5 deal with instability to finite-amplitude disturbances: much of the material has previously been available only in research papers.

Starting from fundamentals of classical stability theory, an overview is given of the transition phenomena in subsonic, wall-bounded shear flows. At first, the consideration focuses on elementary small-amplitude velocity perturbations of laminar shear layers, i.e. instability waves, in the simplest canonical configurations of a plane channel flow and a flat-plate boundary layer. Then the linear stability problem is expanded to include the effects of pressure gradients, flow curvature, boundary-layer separation, wall compliance, etc. related to applications. Beyond the amplification of instability waves is the non-modal growth of local stationary and non-stationary shear flow perturbations which are discussed as well. The volume continues with the key aspect of the transition process, that is, receptivity of convectively unstable shear layers to external perturbations, summarizing main paths of the excitation of laminar flow disturbances. The remainder of the book addresses the instability phenomena found at late stages of transition. These include secondary instabilities and nonlinear features of boundary-layer perturbations that lead to the final breakdown to turbulence. Thus, the reader is provided with a step-by-step approach that covers the milestones and recent advances in the laminar-turbulent transition. Special aspects of instability and transition are discussed through the book and are intended for research scientists, while the main target of the book is the student in the fundamentals of fluid mechanics. Computational guides, recommended exercises, and PowerPoint multimedia notes based on results of real scientific experiments supplement the monograph. These are especially helpful for the neophyte to obtain a solid foundation in hydrodynamic stability. To access the supplementary material go to extras.springer.com and type in the ISBN for this volume.

A detailed look at some of the more modern issues of hydrodynamic stability, including transient growth, eigenvalue spectra, secondary instability. It presents analytical results and numerical simulations, linear and selected nonlinear stability methods. By including classical results as well as recent developments in the field of hydrodynamic stability and transition, the book can be used as a textbook for an introductory, graduate-level course in stability theory or for a special-topics fluids course. It is equally of value as a reference for researchers in the field of hydrodynamic stability theory or with an interest in recent developments in fluid dynamics. Stability theory has seen a rapid development over the past decade, this book includes such new developments as direct numerical simulations of transition to turbulence and linear analysis based on the initial-value problem.