Numerical simulation of the three-dimensional Kolmogorov flow in a shear layer

Numerical simulation is used to study the Kolmogorov flow in a shear layer of a compressible inviscid medium. A periodic permanent force applied to the flow gives rise to a vortex cascade of instabilities. The influence exerted by the size of the computational domain, the initial conditions, and the amplitude of the force on the formation of an instability cascade and the transition to turbulence is studied. It is shown that the mechanism of the onset of turbulence has an essentially three-dimensional nature. For the turbulent flows computed, the classical Kolmogorov $-5/3$ power law holds in the inertial range.