An analytical and experimental study was conducted to examine the interaction between a standing transverse resonant acoustic field and viscous fluid. The objective was to obtain flow‐behavior information related to combustion instability phenomena. Reduced governing equations were obtained in a form that separated the time‐dependent motion from the time‐mean motion through the use of a rigorous order‐of‐magnitude analysis. Solutions of these equations predict the existence of standing vortices (acoustic streaming) in the cross section of the cylindrical enclosure. The number of vortices and their circulation velocities are proportional to the resonant mode. The results extend and lend greater clarity to work of other authors. Pressure measurements confirmed that the experimental system satisfied the constraints of the mathematical analysis. Photographs of the streaming flow, using tobacco smoke as a tracer, substaniated the mathematical results. [Research supported by NASA.]