Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
In this paper an attempt is made to review present knowledge of the subject of boundary layers at high speeds, without delving too deeply into the theory, and to draw attention to the results of practical interest. The introductory remarks describe broadly the special features of boundary layers in compressible flow, namely the existence of both thermal and velocity layers and their interdependence, the sensitivity of the external flow to the layers, and their inter-action with shock waves. The results of importance arising from the theory of the laminar boundary layer and of its stability to small disturbances are then discussed, followed by a summary of the present inadequate state of knowledge of turbulent boundary layer characteristics. It is noted that progress in the latter must await the production of more experimental data. The paper concludes with a discussion of scale effects and the allied problem of boundary layer—shock wave inter-action.
A version of this paper was read before the Institute of Physics at their Conference on Fluid Flow in November 1950 (Proceedings to be published by Edward Arnold & Co. Ltd.), and in a shortened form, was read as a Section Lecture of the Royal Aeronautical Society on the 21st March 1950.