Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2014
In the present study, the instability of laminar flow of two immiscible fluids is investigated. The theory of energy gradient is employed for the analysis. The distributions of energy gradient for various viscosity ratios, i.e., ratios of lower viscosity to higher one, are obtained and the results for the onset of instability are compared with the available experimental data. The comparison of the results shows excellent agreement with the existing experimental data. It will be also demonstrated that as the viscosity ratio decreases the flow becomes more stable even at high Reynolds numbers.