Linear Instability of Curved Shallow Mixing Layers

Linear stability of slightly curved shallow mixing layers is analyzed in the present paper. Two base flow profiles are used in the analysis. One of the profiles corresponds to stably curved mixing layer while the second profile represents unstably curved mixing layer. Linear stability problem is solved numerically by means of a collocation method based on Chebyshev polynomials. Results of numerical computations show that the curvature has a stabilizing effect on stably curved mixing layer. The critical values of the bed-friction number increase as the curvature increases for the case of unstably curved mixing layer