Transient energy growth in channel flow with compliant walls

Shear flows in contact with compliant boundaries exhibit a rich dynamics involving traveling-wave-flutter, Tollmien-Schlichting, as well as divergence instabilities. In this context, maximum transient growth effects are the result of optimal energy exchanges during the fluid-structure interaction process. The present investigation studies the detailed contribution of the different interacting modes. In particular, it is found that the optimal gain may be associated with a large-amplitude oscillatory behavior and that wall-compliance enhances this phenomenon.