Flow Instabilities: Understanding Unstable Flows

This lecture covers various flow instabilities, including Vortex shedding, Saffman-Taylor, Flow separation, Tollmien-Schlichting, Rayleigh-Taylor, Lift-up and Streaks, Traffic waves, Meandering instability, Gravito-capillary waves, Taylor-Couette, Rayleigh-Plateau, Tearing instability, Rayleigh-Benard, Coiling instability, and Benard-Marangoni Kelvin-Helmholtz. The instructor explains methods to solve the Rayleigh equation, concepts of parallel flow instabilities, and the influence of viscosity on Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The lecture also discusses the stability of plane Poiseuille flow and the influence of confinement on instability. MATLAB simulations and boundary layer analysis at increasing Reynolds numbers are demonstrated.