Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2006
Measurements in the neighbourhood of a laminar separation point at a high subcritical Reynolds number are reported. These results are used to test the validity of various theories relating to laminar separation. It is concluded that the boundary-layer equations are valid in the neighbourhood of the separation point without the existence of a singularity.
The velocity field was measured using a dual-beam laser-Doppler anemometer with optical frequency shifting. The wall-shear-stress distribution was measured with a flush-mounted hot-film sensor and the wall-pressure distribution was measured using a strain-gauge pressure sensor. The various terms in the Navier–Stokes equations were evaluated directly from the measurements, permitting the validity of the boundary-layer equations to be established. Proposed solutions for the flow field are compared with the measured flow field.