A disturbance of finite amplitude λ, which is periodic in the direction of the axis of the channel, is superimposed on plane Poiseuille flow, and the subsequent development of the disturbance is studied. The disturbance is represented by an expansion in the eigenfunctions of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation with coefficients which are functions of the time, and an accurate numerical solution of the truncated system of non-linear ordinary differential equations for the coefficients is obtained.

It is found that even for Reynolds numbers R less than the critical value Rc, the flow breaks down when λ exceeds a critical value λc(R). This is shown in figure 11 for the case when the initial disturbance is represented by the first mode of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation. The development of this type of disturbance is illustrated in figures 1, 3 and 13 and, for the case of a higher-order mode initial disturbance, in figure 14. Near the time of breakdown, the curvature of the modified mean flow changes sign (figure 15), but a disturbance may die down even after a reversal in the sign of the curvature has taken place (see figure 2).

The stability of plane Poiseuille flow to disturbances of finite amplitude is affected by the characteristics of the higher-order modes of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation. As shown in figures 4, 10, and 12, and in figures 5, 6, and 7, these modes are either of a ‘boundary type’, characteristic of the region near the wall, or of an ‘interior type’, characteristic of the centre of the channel. The modes in the transition zone, where the two types merge, are easily amplified through mutual constructive interference, even though individually they have high damping coefficients. It is these transition modes which are mainly responsible for the breakdown through finite amplitude effects.