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The control of laminar-turbulent transition driven by Tollmien–Schlichting waves is studied. The control is realized by means of accelerating the boundary layer flow using a dielectric barrier discharge. As distinct from the previous studies based on the solution of the boundary layer equations, the discharge effect on the main flow and unstable disturbances are described by the Navier–Stokes equations.

The problem of freestream-turbulence-generated instability waves in the flat-plate boundary layer is solved on the basis of a nonlinear turbulence model admitting the deviation of the speed of propagation of vortex disturbances from the flow velocity. The solution obtained well describes the experimental dependence of the laminar-turbulent transition Reynolds number on the freestream turbulence degree.

The distinctive features of the formulation of boundary conditions at the outer edge of a boundary layer and near a wall are considered. Approximate wall functions of turbulence parameters are proposed for three turbulence models.

The propagation of an instability wave over the junction region between rigid and compliant panels is studied theoretically. The problem is investigated using three different methods with reference to flow in a plane channel containing sections with elastic walls. Within the framework of the first approach, using the solution of the problem of flow receptivity to local wall vibration, the problem considered is reduced to the solution of an integro-differential equation for the complex wall oscillation amplitude. It is shown that at the junction of rigid and elastic channel walls the instability-wave amplitude changes stepwise. For calculating the step value, another, analytical, method of investigating the perturbation propagation process, based on representing the solution as a superposition of modes of the locally homogeneous problem, is proposed. This method is also applied to calculating the flow stability characteristics in channels containing one or more elastic sections or consisting of periodically alternating rigid and compliant sections. The third method represents the unknown solution as the sum of a local forced solution and a superposition of orthogonal modes of flow in a channel with rigid walls. The latter method can be used for calculating the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the stability problem for flow in a channel with uniformly compliant walls.

The linear problem of generation of perturbations of a flat-plate boundary layer by external turbulence is solved. The turbulence is represented in the form of a set of space- and time-periodic vortex modes. It is shown that the boundary layer is most receptive to low-frequency longitudinal vorticity modes. The mean-square velocity fluctuations in the boundary layer and their spectrum are found for isotropic turbulence with a spectrum satisfying the Kolmogorov-Obukhov law.

The flow stability in a boundary layer with an inhomogeneous spanwise-periodic velocity profile modeling the streaky structure that develops at a high level of turbulence of the incident flow is analyzed in the three-dimensional formulation for perturbations with an arbitrary transverse period. It is shown that in the presence of inhomogeneity the dispersion relation for the Tollmien-Schlichting waves is split into two branches periodic in the transverse wave number, which correspond to symmetric and antisymmetric modes. The solution for the packet of inhomogeneous-flow modes generated by localized time-periodic fluid injection/ejection is found. The shape of this packet corresponds qualitatively to the shape of the Tollmien-Schlichting wave packet, but the fine perturbation structure inside it is sharply different.

The linear stability of a boundary layer flow with a spanwise-periodic nonuniformity in the velocity profile is investigated. This flow can be considered as a model of a streaky structure occurring in the boundary layer at a high freestream turbulence level. It is shown that for a small nonuniformity amplitude symmetric modes similar to Tollmien-Schlichting waves are the most unstable. At higher nonuniformity amplitudes, antisymmetric modes, qualitatively different from Tollmien-Schlichting waves and having a larger phase velocity, are the most amplified.

The development of disturbances in viscous compressible flows caused by centrifugal forces is investigated. On the basis of an asymptotic analysis of the Navier-Stokes equations at high Reynolds and Gortler numbers, mathematical models describing the development of three-dimensional unstable vortex structures are constructed. Various linear boundary-value problems are analytically solved. One type of boundary layer instability is that generated by a centrifugal force field. This kind of instability can manifest itself in the flow past concave surfaces or, in general, in flows with streamlines of positive curvature [1, 2]. Instability-driven Gortler vortices have been the subject of much research which was reviewed, for example, in [2–4].

The infinite plane channel flow arising from the impingement of a plane instability wave of finite amplitude on isolated three-dimensional wall roughness is considered. The problem of the transformation of perturbations developing on the roughness in growing modes of secondary instability is solved. This problem describes the development of perturbations leading to the occurrence of a turbulent wedge. Simple relations describing the flow at large distances from the roughness are obtained. From these relations it follows that the angle at the vertex of the turbulent wedge is determined by the amplitude of the impinging wave, while the value of the perturbations generated is proportional to the roughness volume.

The characteristics of the transition mechanism in the boundary layer on a wing section are experimentally investigated for moderate free-stream turbulence. It is shown that the frequency and wavelength of the instability depend on the thickness of the boundary layer in the region of the point of inflection on the average velocity profile.

A new type of Tollmien-Schlichting wave excitation, experimentally detected in [6] in investigating the unsteady perturbation field downstream from roughness on the surface of a vibrating wing, is studied. It is shown that the generation mechanism consists in the nonlinear interaction between the unsteady disturbance produced by the vibrations of the smooth wall and the steady nonuniformity of the boundary layer above the roughness.

The excitation of instability of the boundary layer on a curved surface in the limit R → ∞ (R is the Reynolds number) is analyzed.

Transition in the boundary layer on a flat plate in a turbulent flow is investigated experimentally and theoretically. It is established that over a broad range of flow conditions (variation of the intensity and scale of the external turbulence, the angle of attack, the shape of the leading edge, etc.) transition takes place without the formation of Tollmien-Schlichting waves, and its initial stages, including the amplification of disturbances, are described by the linearized unsteady three-dimensional boundary layer equations without a pressure gradient.

The results of an experimental investigation of boundary layer stability in a gradient flow with a high degree of free-stream turbulence are presented. The question of the possible artificial generation, the further development and the effect on laminar-turbulent transition of instability waves (Tollmien-Schlichting waves) in the boundary layer on a wing profile is considered for a level of free-stream turbulence e=1.75% of the free-stream velocity; the sensitivity of the flow to the disturbances and their control by means of boundary layer suction are investigated.

The present study may be regarded as an investigation of the stability of the Stokes layer generated by a sound wave at high Reynolds numbers. The problem is described by the linearized equations of [i]. The linearization is realized with respect to the Blasius profile deformed by the acoustic disturbances. It is established that by an appropriate choice of acoustic wave parameters it is possible to suppress a Tollmien--Schlichting wave that would grow in the absence of sound [3].

For a flow of the boundary-layer type, the method of a phase plane is used to investigate the joint evolution of a pair of Tollmien–Schlichting waves as a function of the R numbers and the frequencies.

An expression is obtained for the effective (reduced to the neutral surface) intensity of Tollmien-Schlichting waves induced by thermal motion in a boundary layer with Blasius velocity profile. On this basis, an expression is found for the amplitude of a quasisinusoidal wave at Reynolds numbers corresponding to the stabilization of the transition point in Wells's study [7].

In the context of the problem of describing the transition of a laminar boundary layer to a turbulent, great interest attaches to the study of susceptibility, i.e., of the reaction of the flow to various external influences, such as acoustic perturbations, surface roughness, vibration of the wall, turbulence of the unperturbed flow, etc. A general property of the effect of the factors mentioned above on the flow in a laminar boundary layer was discovered in experimental and numerical studies and is noted in [1]: in all cases an external forcing perturbation leads to the excitation of normal modes of oscillation in the boundary layer which propagate downstream, namely, Tollmien-Schlichting waves. There is an analytical calculation in [2, 3] of the amplitude of a wave excited by harmonic oscillations of a narrow band on the surface of a plane plate, the Reynolds number having been assumed to be infinitely large, and the frequency of the vibrator corresponding to the neighborhood of the lower branch of the neutral cuirve [4], In [5] the amplitude of the wave of instability generated is calculated by the method of expansion of the solution in a biorthogonal system of eigenfunctions. The amplitudes of the Tollmien-Schlichting waves are calculated below by means of a generalization of the method of [2] for the whole range of Reynolds numbers and frequencies of the vibrator corresponding to the region of instability: for moderate Reynolds numbers the problem is solved numerically, while for large Reynolds numbers an asymptotic solution is constructed.

The effect of a wave traveling over the surface and suction-blowing in the form of a traveling wave on boundary layer stability and laminarturbulent transition is investigated. The perturbation parameters are assumed not to be related to the parameters of the Tollmien-Schlichting wave. The parameters corresponding to an increase in the critical Reynolds number by a factor of 2–2.5 are determined.