Speaker Name: Prof. Rama Govindarajan

Date: 11-02-2026 (Wednesday)

Time: 2:30 PM

Venue: LC102

Abstract: Small particles suspended in pressure-driven shear flow tend not to be uniformly distributed. We examine what this does to the stability of the flow, and show that critical-layer dynamics can create a new instability absent in channel flow of clean fluid. The stratification of the effective viscosity further complicates the answer. The normal route to turbulence in channel flow is via streak formation, and we will see how viscosity stratification affects them.