Three-dimensional disturbances of planar viscometric flow

This paper examines three-dimensional disturbances of a plane steady shear flow of simple fluids with short memory. Under the assumption of nearly-viscometric flow, constitutive equations are derived and then a general form of the Reynolds-Orr energy equation is obtained. With the aid of this derived energy formula, sufficient conditions are generated for the stability of three-dimensional disturbances of the planar viscometric flow. These conditions are analysed and a comparison is made with the corresponding two-dimensional stability problem. There is a strong indication that the basic flow is less stable against three-dimensional disturbances than against two-dimensional ones.