Flow instability as a research area investigates the onset, evolution, and control of disturbances in fluid flows, focusing on the mechanisms by which small perturbations grow, saturate, or decay in laminar or transitional regimes. It encompasses linear and nonlinear stability theory, eigenvalue and transient growth analyses, secondary instabilities, and the role of inflectional profiles, shear, and buoyancy in triggering transition to turbulence. This area integrates analytical, numerical, and experimental approaches to characterize modal and non-modal instabilities, study coherent structures, and develop models and control strategies relevant to aerodynamics, turbomachinery, geophysical flows, and microfluidics, often coupling hydrodynamic stability with heat, mass, or momentum transfer phenomena.
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