On Goldstein’s Singularity

Summary

The singularity which has been revealed by Goldstein [1] in his study of laminar boundary-layer flow near a position of separation remains up to now to be a challenge for all theoreticians dealing with this fundamental phenomenon. In attempts to remove this singularity a profound analysis was developed recently in Ruban [2] as well as Stewartson, Smith & Kaups [3] with the objective to explain the formation of small bubbles on the leading edge of airfoils at incidence. But full clarity in the issue at hand was not achieved, that is why it seems expedient to treat the Goldstein’s solution as a limiting one in a more general class of functions depending on a similar veritable and including singular pressure distribution.