A Time-Reversed Approach to the Study of Görtler Instabilities

Abstract

The original analysis (by Görtler himself and others) of the curvature-excited streamwise vortices that have become known as Görtler vortices was based on a quasi-parallel extension of the theory of parallel centrifugal instabilities of the Taylor-Couette and Dean type. However, the possibility of applying a quasi-parallel analysis to Görtler vortices has always been questioned because of the difficulties in identifying a suitable scaling parameter that could allow the theory to be cast in the form of a proper asymptotic expansion continuable to all orders.