Progress on Interacting Boundary-Layer Computations at High Reynolds Number

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly clear that many viscous-flow problems involving separation can be handled with Prandtl boundary-layer equations which are allowed to interact through the displacement thickness with an outer inviscid flow. We will call this model the interacting-boundary-layer (IBL) model. The triple-deck (TD) theory of Stewartson [1.106], Sychev [2.13], and Messiter [2.96], governing the small-separation² problem, contains no terms which are not included in the IBL model, and therefore the model is correct for at least the small-separation problem in a composite sense. In addition, the Sychev [2.13] and Smith [2.18, 2.97] theories of incompressible massive separation indicate that up to and through separation, the triple-deck theory (and therefore IBL theory) holds if one has properly taken care of the downstream wake in the interaction model.

This research was supported (for R.T.D.) by NASA under Consortium Agreement NCA2-OR130–901 and ONR under N00014–76-C-0364, and (for M.J.W.) by Naval Air System Command Contract N00019–80-C-0057.