Critical Reynolds number of the couette flow of a vibrationally excited diatomic gas energy approach

An energy balance equation for plane-parallel flows of a vibrationally excited diatomic gas described by a two-temperature relaxation model is derived within the framework of the nonlinear energy theory of hydrodynamic stability. A variational problem of calculating critical Reynolds numbers Re-cr determining the lower boundary of the possible beginning of the laminar-turbulent transition is considered for this equation. Asymptotic estimates of Re-cr are obtained, which show the characteristic dependences of the critical Reynolds number on the Mach number, bulk viscosity, and relaxation time. A problem for arbitrary wave numbers is solved by the collocation method. In the realistic range of flow parameters for a diatomic gas, the minimum critical Reynolds numbers are reached on modes of streamwise disturbances and increase approximately by a factor of 2.5 as the flow parameters increase.