Helmholtz instability

Helmholtz instability

[′helm‚hōlts ‚in·stə′bil·əd·ē] (fluid mechanics) The hydrodynamic instability arising from a shear, or discontinuity, in current speed at the interface between two fluids in two-dimensional motion; the perturbation gains kinetic energy at the expense of that of the basic currents. Also known as shearing instability.