Effect of variation in density on the stability of bilinear shear currents with a free surface

Abstract

We perform the stability analysis for a free surface fluid current modeled as two finite layers of constant vorticity, under the action of gravity and absence of surface tension. In the same spirit as Taylor ["Effect of variation in density on the stability of superposed streams of fluid," Proc. R. Soc. A 132, 499 (1931)], a geometrical approach to the problem is proposed, which allows us to present simple analytical criteria under which the flow is stable. A strong destabilizing effect of stratification in density is revealed by comparison with the physical setting where the vorticity interface is also a density interface separating two immiscible fluids with constant densities.