Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 June 2016
Curie and Skan have modified the approximate methods of Thwaites and Stratford to predict separation properties of laminar boundary layers for flow over an impermeable surface. The work of Curie and Skan has been extended by Curle to include the estimation of laminar skin friction for the whole flow. The purpose of the following note is to compare the approximate methods of Curie and Skan and Curle with the numerical results given by the author for flow past a circular cylinder. It is found that there is remarkable agreement between these approximate methods and the exact numerical solutions. This indicates that these methods can be used widely, both on account of their simplicity and their accuracy.