Abstract:
Most shear flows are spatially developing, i.e., their velocity profile evolves as the flow
proceeds downstream. Typically, as the Reynolds number increases, the laminar shear
flow undergoes a linear instability, followed by an often complicated, and not completely
understood, route to turbulence. Oftentimes, the flow might not undergo the different
stages of instability, but directly becomes turbulent, through a process called bypass
transition. The route which a flow chooses to become turbulent by depends upon many
parameters like goemetry, free stream disturbances, etc. As with any work on flow stability
and transition, this thesis also starts by referring to the work of Osborne Reynolds
in 1883, which was the first systematic study on the stability of flow through pipes.
The review paper by Jackson & Launder (2007) discusses the two important papers by
Reynolds and his interactions with the referees, that have so greatly influenced the development
of Engineering Fluid Mechanics over the past century.
