Effect of small amplitude wall waviness upon the stability of the laminar boundary layer

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Abstract
The effect of small amplitude wall roughness on the minimum critical Reynolds number of a laminar boundary layer is studied under the assumptions normally employed in parallel flow stability problems. The presence of a single Fourier component of roughness enhances the instability of the flow by introducing a point of inflection and increasing the profile curvature at the critical layer, and the effect becomes increasingly important as the wavelength of the roughness component decreases. Numerical calculations show a 10% reduction in minimum critical Reynolds numbers in the presence of small wavelength roughness with an amplitude of only 1% of the boundary layer thickness.

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