Viscous instability of a sheared liquid-gas interface: Dependence on fluid properties and basic velocity profile

In the framework of linear stability theory, we analyze how a liquid-gas mixing layer is affected by several parameters: viscosity ratio, density ratio, and several length scales. These scales reflect the presence of a velocity defect induced by the wake behind the splitter plate and the presence of boundary layers which develop ahead of the plate trailing edge. Incorporating such effects, we compute the various temporal and spatial instability modes and identify their driving instability mechanism based on their Reynolds number dependence, spatial structure, and energy budget. It is examined how the velocity defect modifies the temporal and the spatial stability properties. In addition, the transition from convective to absolute instability occurs at lower velocity contrast between gas and liquid free streams when a defect is present. This transition is also promoted by surface tension. Compared to inviscid stability computations, our spatial stability analysis displays a better agreement with measured growth rates obtained in two recent air-water experiments. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4792311]