Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 April 2006
We consider a situation involving a three-dimensional marginal separation, where a (steady) boundary-layer flow is on the verge of separating at a point (located along a line of symmetry/centreline). At this point we include a ‘triple-deck’, thereby permitting a small amount of interaction to occur. Unsteadiness is included within this interaction region through some external means. It is shown that the problem reduces to the solution of a nonlinear, unsteady, partial integro system, which is solved numerically by means of time-marching together with a pseudo-spectral method spatially. A number of solutions to this system are presented which strongly suggest that a breakdown of this system may occur, at a finite spatial position, at a finite time. The structure and details of this breakdown are then described.