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Solutions of the Laminar Boundary Layer Equations The boundary layer equations for incompressible steady flow, i.e.

u v + =0 x y

dp u u 2u + v = e + 2 x y dx y

p = 0, we set p = p e ( x) , y i.e. the boundary layer edge pressure. Note: since

have been solved for a handful of important cases. We will look at the results for a flat plate and a family of solutions called Falkner-Skan Solutions. Flat Plate (Laminar): Blasius Solution For a flat plate, p e = p constant
dp e =0 dx

Blasius was able to show that the boundary later equations could be rewritten to only depend on a parameter,

V 2vx

and its derivatives The resulting solution has been tabulated and compared to experiments on the following page. Note:
u ( x, y ) = V f ( ) where f = df d

w =

u y

=
y =0

V f (0)
2vx / V

These values from the solution of f ( ) can be used to find:

99% y location at which u ( x, y ) = 0.99V

Solutions of the Laminar Boundary Layer Equations

From the table, f ( ) = 0.99 at 3.5 :

=y

V 2vx V 2vx 2vx V boundary layer grows as x

3.5 = 99% 99% = 3.5

Typically, this result is written non dimensionally as:

99%
x

5.0 Re x

where Re x

V x v

Reynold' s number based on x We can also find:

*
x

1.7208 Re x Re x

0.664

Cf =

w
1 V2 2

0.664 Re x

Comment: At leading edge of a flat plate x 0 and this gives C f !

In reality, the leading edge of an infinitely thin plate would have very large, but not infinite C f . The problem is that near the leading edge of a thin plate, the boundary layer equations are not correct and the Navier-Stokes equations are needed. Question: Why did the boundary layer approximation fail at x 0?

16.100 2002

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