Abstract: The instability of a swirling flow of an inviscidand incompressible fluid is studied on the assumption that the wavenumber k=k_r + ik_i of the disturbance is complex while its frequency ω is real. This implies that the disturbance grows with distance along the axis of the swirling flow, but it does not grow with time. The occurrence of such disturbance is called spatial instability, in contrast to the temporal instability, in which k is a real number and ω=ω_r + iω_i is a complex one. The results show that spatial instability analysis is a useful tool for the comprehensive understanding of the instability behaviours of a swirling flow.

Key words: exponentially fitted difference scheme, singular perturbation, nonlocal boundary condition