Marginal separation in three-dimensional flows (Q2564115)

The boundary layer in the vicinity of the zero skin-friction point on the leeward symmetry line of a prolate spheroid placed at an angle of attack is considered. It is found that the three-dimensional boundary-layer equations in the vicinity of the zero skin-friction point are reduced to a single nonlinear partial differential equation of hyperbolic type which governs the longitudinal skin-friction component. Smooth solutions of this equation may be found which contain separation lines as well as double-valued regions. The influence of interaction is also considered, in which case the flow is governed by a partial integro-differential equation. Numerical solutions are given for each of these problems.