Inviscid parallel shear flow

An inviscid parallel shear flow has base velocity $\mathbf{u}=U(y){\mathbf{e}}_x$. Two-dimensional normal-mode perturbations satisfy the Rayleigh equation for inviscid shear flow.

A uniform-density inviscid shear flow with $U=U_{0}z/d$ for $|z|<d$ and $U=\pm U_0$ outside has two vorticity jumps but no walls. Decaying normal modes satisfy $w^{\prime \prime }-k^{2}w=0$ in each region. Continuity of $w$ and pressure matching at a piecewise-linear shear interface gives a two-by-two determinant whose diagonal entries are $1-2kd\pm 2kdc/U_0$ and off-diagonal entries $e^{-2kd}$. Its vanishing gives the displayed dispersion relation. The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability band is $0<kd<{\alpha }_s$, where $2{\alpha }_s-1=e^{-2{\alpha }_s}$ has its unique positive root above $1/2$, approximately $0.63923227$. Short waves decouple the two edges and remain neutral; long waves approach the vortex sheet instability with $c=\pm i{U}_0$.

This three-layer shear flow has $U=\Delta Uz/h$ and density ${\rho }_0$ between $z=\pm h/2$. Above and below, the velocity is the corresponding constant $\pm \Delta U/2$, and the mass density is ${\rho }_0\mp \Delta \rho /2$. The density drops and vorticity jumps coincide at both interfaces. Its hydrodynamic stability involves coupled gravity-vorticity interface waves, unlike a profile with uniform shear extending through all three layers.

For the bounded-shear three-layer profile with density contrasts minus one, zero and plus one, the localized-mode matching determinant is $[a(1-c{)}^2-(1-c)-J][a(1+c{)}^2-(1+c)-J]-b^2(1-c^2{)}^2=0$, where $a=\alpha [1+\coth (2\alpha )]$ and $b=\alpha \mathrm{csch}(2\alpha )$. Dividing by $a^2-b^2=2\alpha a$ gives a quartic in $c$ and a quadratic in $c^2$. Its constant term is $\{[2\alpha -(1+J){]}^2-e^{-4\alpha }(1+J{)}^2\}/(4{\alpha }^2)$, whose negative sign proves the unstable band of a three-layer stratified shear flow.

For the three-layer stratified piecewise-linear shear flow, set $\alpha =kh/2$. The dispersion relation is quadratic in squared nondimensional phase velocity. Its constant term is $[2\alpha -(1+J)(1+e^{-2\alpha })][2\alpha -(1+J)(1-e^{-2\alpha })]/(4{\alpha }^2)$. Throughout the displayed band this is negative, so one squared speed is negative and gives an exponentially growing normal mode.

The Hazel model is a smooth stratified shear flow whose base velocity has a hyperbolic-tangent profile and whose squared buoyancy frequency has a hyperbolic-secant-squared profile. The equal-width nondimensional example is $U=\tanh z$ and $N^2=J{\mathrm{sech}}^{2}z$. For $J\ge 0$, its gradient Richardson number is $J{\cosh }^{2}z$, with minimum $J$.

The zero-phase velocity ansatz $w=(\mathrm{sech}z{)}^k(\tanh z{)}^{1-k}$ solves the Taylor–Goldstein equation away from its critical level of an internal gravity wave exactly when $J=k(1-k)$. Let $y=\tanh z$ and $a=1-k$. Then $w^{\prime }/w=a/y-y$ and $w^{\prime \prime }/w=a(a-1)/y^2-a-1+2y^2$, so the differential-equation residual divided by $w$ is $[J-k(1-k)](y^{-2}-1)$. The curve has maximum $1/4$ at $k=1/2$. The endpoint $k=0$ does not decay at infinity; fractional powers at the critical level require a branch and regularity qualification.

For $0<k<1$, a neutral mode of the equal-width Hazel model behaves as $w\sim z^{1-k}$ near $z=0$. Its derivative diverges as $z^{-k}$, so it is not a classical continuously differentiable mode across the critical level of an internal gravity wave. The horizontal velocity is proportional to $w^{\prime }/k$; its local kinetic energy is finite only for $k<1/2$, because ${\int }_0^{ϵ}{z}^{-2k}dz$ converges precisely then. One possible neutral-mode convention is the boundary value from $U-c$ with $c_i\downarrow 0$, which fixes the phase of the power on the negative-$z$ side. The Miles–Howard theorem concerns growing modes with nonreal $c$ and does not rule out such singular neutral limits.

Let $\zeta =z/L\in [-1,1]$, $h=L_s/L\in (0,1)$, and normalize velocity by its maximum magnitude. The profile is $U=\zeta /h$ for $|\zeta |<h$ and $U=\mathrm{sgn}\zeta$ outside. Each region has exponential vertical-velocity modes; the two walls and vorticity-jump matching for an inviscid shear flow determine their coupling. With $\alpha =kL$, $q=\alpha h$, $X=\tanh q$, $Y=\tanh [\alpha (1-h)]$, $H=q(1+XY)$ and $J=q(X+Y)$, elimination gives $c^2=(H-Y)(J-XY)/(HJ)$, with $c$ normalized by the velocity scale.

The bounded piecewise-linear shear layer has exponentially growing modes exactly when $h<1/2$. Its squared phase speed tends to $2h-1$ as $kL\to 0$ and to $1$ as $kL\to \infty$. For $h<1/2$, sufficiently long nonzero waves are therefore unstable. Conversely $J-XY>0$, and for $h\ge 1/2$, $q\ge \alpha (1-h)>Y$, so $H-Y>0$ for every positive wavenumber and $c^2>0$. This proves the threshold without assuming monotonicity of the dispersion curve.