Hydrodynamic stability of the flow in the laminar boundary layer between parallel streams

Abstract

A method is given for determining the stability of small sinusoidal oscillations in the steady laminar flow of a horizontal wind over the surface of a liquid at rest (with particular reference to the flow of air over water), taking into account viscosity, gravity and surface tension. It is shown that there are two fundamental types of oscillation of the system, which may be called ‘water’ waves and ‘air’ waves, and curves showing the conditions for neutral stability of these two types of wave are given for a range of wind speeds from 100 to 300 cm./sec.