Propagation of Perturbations in Plane Poiseuille Flow between Walls of Nonuniform Compliance

The evolution of small perturbations in longitudinally nonuniform flows is studied with reference to the problem of the propagation of flow perturbations in a plane channel with walls of variable elasticity. Using the solution of the problem of the receptivity of the flow to local vibrations of the walls, the problem considered can be reduced to the solution of an integral equation for a single function, namely, the complex vibration amplitude of the walls. A numerical method for solving this equation on the basis of a piecewise-linear approximation of the unknown function is proposed. It is shown that the instability wave amplitude changes discontinuously at the junction of the rigid and elastic channel sections. A second method of investigating the process of propagation of perturbations in the flow considered is proposed. This method is based on laws of evolution of perturbations in nonuniform flows and an analytic solution of the problem of perturbation scattering on the junction of walls with different compliance. On the basis of this method the classical stability theory is generalized to include the case of nonuniform flows.