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Stability of a high Mach number flow in a channel

Modal instabilities in a flow through a channel at high Reynolds and Mach numbers are studied for three-dimensional perturbations. In addition to the Tollmien-Schlichting modes, there exist higher modes in a channel flow that do not have a counterpart in the incompressible limit. The stability characteristics of these higher modes, obtained through numerical calculations, are compared with boundary layer and Couette flows that have been previously studied. The dominant higher mode instabilities in a channel flow are shown to be viscous in nature, in contrast to compressible boundary layer modes. For general compressible bounded-domain flows, a necessary condition for the existence of neutral modes in the inviscid limit is obtained. This criterion is used to construct a procedure to determine a critical value of Mach number below which the higher modes remain stable. This criterion also delineates a range of angles of inclination of the wave number with respect to the flow direction which could go unstable at a specified Mach number. Asymptotic analysis is carried out for the lower and upper branch of the stability curve in the limit of high Reynolds number. A common set of relations are identified for these exponents for the upper and lower branch for the continuation of the Tollmien-Schlichting modes and the compressible modes. The scalings for the Tollmien-Schlichting modes are identical to those for an incompressible flow. The scalings for the finite wave number modes are different; the wave speed $c$ scales as $\mbox{Re}^{-\frac{1}{3}}$ for the lower branch and $\mbox{Re}^{-\frac{1}{5}}$ for the upper branch, where $\mbox{Re}$ is the Reynolds number. The asymptotic analysis shows that the stability boundaries for three-dimensional perturbations at high Reynolds numbers can be calculated from the strain rate and the temperature of the base flow at the wall.