The initial-value problem for three-dimensional disturbances in plane Poiseuille flow of helium II

The time development of small three-dimensional disturbances in plane Poiseuille flow of helium II is considered. The study is conducted by considering the interaction of a normal fluid field and a superfluid field. The interaction is caused by a mutual friction forcing between the two flow fields. Specifically, the stability of the normal fluid affected by the mutual forcing is considered. Compared to the ordinary fluid case where the mutual forcing is not present, the presence of the mutual forcing implies a substantial increase of the transient growth of the disturbances. The increase of the transient growth occurs because the mutual forcing reduces the damping of the disturbances. The phase of transient growth becomes thereby more prolonged and higher levels of amplification are reached. There is also a minor effect on the transient growth caused by the modification of the mean flow owing to the mutual forcing. The strongest transient growth occurs for streamwise elongated disturbances, i.e. disturbances with streamwise wavenumber α = 0. When α increases beyond zero, the transient amplification quickly becomes reduced. Striking differences compared to the ordinary fluid case are that the largest transient amplification does not occur when the spanwise wavenumber (β) is close to two and that the peak level of the disturbance energy density amplification does not depend on the square of the Reynolds number.