A normal-mode approach for high-speed rarefied plane Couette flow

Based on gas kinetic theory, a linear stability analysis method for low-speed rarefied flows was developed by Zou et al. “A new linear stability analysis approach for microchannel flow based on the Boltzmann Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook equation,” Phys. Fluids 34, 124114 (2022) and “A novel linear stability analysis method for plane Couette flow considering rarefaction effects,” J. Fluid Mech. 963, A33 (2023). In the present study, we extended the method to high-speed rarefied flows using the Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook model. The Chebyshev spectral method is employed to discretize physical space, and the Gauss–Hermite and fourth-order Newton–Cotes quadrature methods are used to discretize velocity space. The fourth-order Newton–Cotes quadrature method was found to have sufficient accuracy for the stability analysis, laying the foundation for future research on hypersonic flows. The stability analysis of compressible rarefied Couette flow showed that acoustic modes are reflected between the wall and the relative sonic line, and the variation in their phase speed and growth rate with the wavenumber is not affected by the Mach number (Ma) and the Knudsen number (Kn). Increasing Kn has a stabilizing effect on both the acoustic and viscous modes, but as Ma increases, the attenuation rate of each mode's growth rate gradually decreases. In subsonic and sonic flows, the least stable viscous mode dominates in the case of small numbers. As Kn increases, the viscous mode gradually dominates over all wavenumber ranges considered in subsonic flow. In sonic flow, mode 1 is dominant in the region beyond the range of small wavenumbers. In supersonic flow, mode 2 is the least stable in the large wavenumber ranges, while mode 1 is the least stable in other wavenumber ranges. At a fixed wavenumber, as Kn increases, the decay rate of the growth rate of mode 2 is the highest. Additionally, under different Knudsen numbers, the growth rates of mode 1, mode 2, and the least stable viscous mode monotonically increase with an increase in Ma, with mode 2 showing the most significant increase.