A method allowing the transverse excitation of non-reactive or reactive flows is described. The method relies on a characteristic wave modulation applied on the lateral sides of the computational domain. It is shown that this procedure can be used to induce a transverse sloshing motion in the region of interest. Two two-dimensional geometries are studied: in the first, the flow features one or two wakes embedded in a high-speed stream; the second configuration involves a premixed reactive jet flame. The excited flow structure calculated in this last case is found to be similar to that observed in an experiment carried out previously. As the simulations are performed in two dimensions, they cannot describe many of the processes taking place in a turbulent flow. They are, however, valuable when the flow is dominated by a large-scale organized motion induced by a transverse acoustic modulation. The present calculations indicate that the method in combination with a large eddy simulation flow solver could be used to study combustion response to transverse acoustic perturbations. With additional developments this might be used to study liquid propellant rocket motor instabilities coupled by transverse acoustic modes in the high-frequency range.