Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-mechanics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2009/a/1/b/solution

For , incompressibility is automatic and the nonlinear advection term is zero. With no pressure gradient the streamwise momentum equation is . Seek its periodic response as . The amplitude satisfies with . Since for , even symmetry gives
Odd components vanish because the two boundary amplitudes are equal. This is the unique periodic solution. Without a specified initial profile, decaying zero-wall diffusion transients may be added, so the formula should not be read as a claim that every transient is absent.
As , the wall motions penetrate only a distance . Near either wall, with inward distance , the leading velocity is
The two oscillatory viscous layers are separated by an almost motionless core; the phase lag increases inward. This is in-phase oscillating parallel-plate flow.

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