The evolution of the large scale structures and the mean field were investigated in axisymmetric and plane mixing layers. Some aspects of the linear instability of an axisymmetric jet have been demonstrated. The axisymmetric geometry admits two additional length scales with relation to the two-dimensional shear layer: the radius of the jet column and the azimuthal wavelength. The importance of these two length scales in governing the instability of an axisymmetric jet was explored. The special case of a thin axisymmetric shear layer was analyzed and the results stressing the evolution of different azimuthal modes were compared with some phase-locked data which was produced by subjecting the jet to axisymmetric and helical excitation. The importance of the initial spectral distribution in a natural jet was demonstrated when it is used as an input to the amplification curve obtained from linear stability theory to predict a measured spectral distribution at a further downstream location. The inclusion of the nonlinear terms in the stability analysis reveals two main interactions: mean flow-wave interaction and wave-wave interaction. The modification of the mean flow of an axisymmetric jet was examined by exciting two azimuthal modes simultaneously. The interaction resulted in an azimuthal modulation of the mean velocity profile having a cosine shape. Effectively, the geometry of the jet was modified without changing the geometry of the nozzle. The coupling between an excited periodic disturbance and the mean flow was analyzed and the spatial evolution of both were compared with experimental results obtained in a plane mixing layer. The behavior of the concommittant Reynolds stresses is discussed in detail. The conditions under which one disturbance will transfer energy to another were derived and demonstrated in an axisymmetric jet. The interaction between a large amplitude plane wave with a weak subharmonic component was shown to enhance the amplification rate of the subharmonic. It was further shown that the nonlinear interaction between two azimuthal modes can produce a third azimuthal mode which was not initially present in the flow. The coupling between a fundamental wave and its subharmonic in a parallel plane mixing layer was demonstrated numerically.
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