The spanwise perturbation of two-dimensional boundary layers

Abstract

Large spanwise variations of boundary-layer thickness and surface shear have been found recently in wind tunnels designed to maintain two-dimensional flow. Bradshaw (1965) argues that these variations are caused by minute deflexions in the free-stream flow rather than by any intrinsic instability of the boundary layers. This paper is a study of the effect of a small, periodic transverse flow on a flat-plate boundary layer. The perturbation flow Reynolds number is assumed to be O(1) as it is in the experiments.