EXTENSIONS OF THE FALKNER - SKAN SIMILAR SOLUTIONS OF THE BOUNDARY LAYER EQUATIONS TO FLOWS WITH SURFACE CURVATURE
Abstract
Results of a study of the effects of longitudinal surface curvature on incompressible laminar boundary layer flows are presented. They were obtained by numerical solution of a generalized Falkner-Skan equation governing similar solutions for flows over curved surfaces. The curvature parameter is essentially the inverse square root of the Reynolds number based on free stream conditions and a characteristic radius of curvature. The results indicate that, for equal flow conditions, boundary layer thickness is greater for flows with convex surface curvature than for those with concave curvature. An important influence of curvature on the velocity profile occurs near the outer edge of the boundary layer where, due to the pressure gradient normal to the surface, the gradient of the velocity component parallel to the surface, in a direction normal to the surface, is negative for convex and positive for concave surfaces in contrast to its value of zero for flows where the curvature correction is neglected. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 15, 1961
- Accession Number
- AD0264290
Entities
People
- J.s. Murphy
Organizations
- Douglas