Integral constraints on the linear instability of stratified flow with planar shear at an arbitrary angle to the vertical

Abstract

Integral constraints on the linear instability of stratified parallel flow with planar shear at an arbitrary angle to the vertical are derived using the analytical approach of Miles and Howard, for perturbations with 2D spatial structure, which are thought to be the most unstable. The general stability formulation reproduces the Miles-Howard stability criterion for vertical shear, but yields no stability condition for non-vertical shear, confirming expectations from earlier studies. This study also extends Howard's semicircle theorem to non-vertical planar shear, and derives a new expression for the upper bound of the instability growth rate (extending that obtained by Howard), which is consistent with published numerical results.