The evolution of Tollmien–Sclichting waves near a leading edge

Abstract

The method of matched asymptotic expansions is used to study the generation of Tollmien-Schlichting waves by free-stream disturbances incident on a flat-plate boundary layer. Near the leading edge, the motion is governed by the unsteady boundary-layer equation, while farther downstream it is governed (to lowest order) by the Orr-Sommerfeld equation with slowly varying coefficients. It is shown that there is an overlap domain where the Tollmien-Schlichting wave solutions to the Orr-Sommerfeld equation and appropriate asymptotic solutions of the unsteady boundary-layer equation match, in the matched-asymptotic-expansion sense. The analysis explains how long-wavelength free-stream disturbances can generate Tollmien-Schlichting waves of much shorter wavelength. It also leads to a set of scaling laws for the asymptotic structure of the unsteady boundary layer.