Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/iii/paper-331/2/b/i/solution

Write , , and . The velocity is linear through all three layers, so and has no jump. Each interface has density drop . The jump conditions for stratified inviscid shear flow become
Between interfaces, the Taylor–Goldstein equation is . A decaying solution can therefore be written
Its derivative jumps are , while its values at the interfaces are . Hence the coefficients satisfy
The determinant must vanish. With , and , one has . Expanding gives the dispersion relation for two density interfaces in uniform shear:

New to topics? Read the docs here!