Nonlinear evolution of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of supersonic tangential velocity discontinuities

A nonlinear stability analysis using a multiple-scales perturbation procedure is performed for the instability of two layers of immiscible, inviscid, arbitrarily compressible fluids in relative motion. Such configurations are of relevance in a variety of astrophysical and space configurations. For modes of all wavenumbers on, or in the stable neighborhood of, the linear neutral curve, the nonlinear evolution of the amplitude of the linear fields on the slow first-order scales is shown to be governed by a complicated nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation. Both the spatially dependent and space-independent versions of this equation are considered to obtain the regimes of physical parameter space where the linearly unstable solutions either evolve to final permanent envelope wave patterns resembling the ensembles of interacting vortices observed empirically, or are disrupted via nonlinear modulation instability. © 1997 Academic Press