Minimal seeds in the Stokes boundary layer

Abstract

Minimal seeds, the smallest amplitude perturbations that trigger transition to turbulence, are presented in the Stokes boundary layer, the oscillating flow of a viscous fluid above a flat plate. The minimal seed trajectories are dominated by the Stokes boundary layer's large linear transient growth at early times, but only 73% of the initial energy is formed from the linearly optimal growing mode; the remainder ensures that nonlinear interaction transfers energy from spanwise- to streamwise- independent structures, and makes up for a timing mismatch between the end of linear transient growth and the production phase of the edge state (the saddle point separating laminar and turbulent basins of attraction).