A stability analysis is presented for a vortex pair over a highly swept flat-plate delta wing, by use of a formulation based on the slender-body theory for an inviscid incompressible flow. The vortex pair is found to be truly stable to all disturbances of small amplitude. The stabilizing mechanism has been identified to be the freestream velocity component that tends to pull the vortex pair toward the midplane of the delta wing. Such a mechanism is three dimensional in nature and cannot be provided by a two-dimensional stabilizing device. This result, together with a deduction that the strength of the vortex pair that can be trapped above a delta wing decreases with increasing sweepback angle, generally agrees with laboratory observations.
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