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Falkner-Skan Boundary Layer

The Falkner–Skan boundary layer describes steady two-dimensional laminar flow over a wedge. It generalizes the Blasius boundary layer and can be modeled using Prandtl's boundary layer equations. Solutions to the Falkner–Skan equation exist for a limited range of pressure gradients and involve similarity transformations.

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Falkner-Skan Boundary Layer

The Falkner–Skan boundary layer describes steady two-dimensional laminar flow over a wedge. It generalizes the Blasius boundary layer and can be modeled using Prandtl's boundary layer equations. Solutions to the Falkner–Skan equation exist for a limited range of pressure gradients and involve similarity transformations.

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engineer bilal
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Falkner–Skan boundary layer

In fluid dynamics, the Falkner–Skan boundary layer (named after V. M. Falkner and Sylvia W. Skan[1]) describes the steady two-
dimensional laminar boundary layer that forms on a wedge, i.e. flows in which the plate is not parallel to the flow. It is a generalization of
the Blasius boundary layer.

Contents
Prandtl's boundary layer equations
Falkner–Skan equation - First order boundary layer[3]
Compressible Falkner–Skan boundary layer[5]
Howarth transformation
See also
References Wedge flow.

Prandtl's boundary layer equations


Prandtl's[2] equations known as the boundary layer equations for steady
incompressible flow with constant viscosity and density, are

A schematic diagram of the Blasius flow profile.


The streamwise velocity component is
shown, as a function of the similarity variable .
Here the coordinate system is chosen with pointing parallel to the plate in the
direction of the flow and the coordinate pointing towards the free stream, and
are the and velocity components, is the pressure, is the density and is the kinematic viscosity.

The -momentum equation implies that the pressure in the boundary layer must be equal to that of the free stream for any given
coordinate. Because the velocity profile is uniform in the free stream, there is no vorticity involved, therefore a simple Bernoulli's equation

can be applied in this high Reynolds number limit constant or, after differentiation: Here is the

velocity of the fluid outside the boundary layer and is a solution of Euler equations (fluid dynamics).

A number of similarity solutions to this equation have been found for various types of flow, including flat plate boundary layers. The term
similarity refers to the property that the velocity profiles at different positions in the flow are the same apart from a scaling factor. These
solutions are often presented in the form of non-linear ordinary differential equations.

Falkner–Skan equation - First order boundary layer[3]


We can generalize the Blasius boundary layer by considering a wedge at an angle of attack from some uniform velocity field . We
then estimate the outer flow to be of the form:

Where is a characteristic length and m is a dimensionless constant. In the Blasius solution, m = 0 corresponding to an angle of attack of
zero radians. Thus we can write:

As in the Blasius solution, we use a similarity variable to solve the boundary layer equations.
It becomes easier to describe this in terms of its stream function which we write as

Thus the initial differential equation which was written as follows: Falkner-Skan boundary layer profiles
for selected values of .

Can now be expressed in terms of the non-linear ODE known as the Falkner–Skan equation.

with boundary conditions

Here, m < 0 corresponds to an adverse pressure gradient (often resulting in boundary layer separation) while m > 0 represents a favorable
pressure gradient. (Note that m = 0 recovers the Blasius equation). In 1937 Douglas Hartree showed that physical solutions to the Falkner–
Skan equation exist only in the range . For more negative values of m, that is, for
stronger adverse pressure gradients, all solutions satisfying the boundary conditions at η = 0 have the property that f(η) > 1 for a range of
values of η. This is physically unacceptable because it implies that the velocity in the boundary layer is greater than in the main flow.[4]

Further details may be found in Wilcox (2007).

The displacement thickness for the Falkner-Skan profile is given by

and the shear stress acting at the wedge is given by

Compressible Falkner–Skan boundary layer[5]


Here Falkner–Skan boundary layer with a specified specific enthalpy at the wall is studied. The density , viscosity and thermal
conductivity are no longer constant here. In the low Mach number approximation, the equation for conservation of mass, momentum and
energy become

where is the Prandtl number with suffix representing properties evaluated at infinity. The boundary conditions
become

,
.

Unlike the incompressible boundary layer, similarity solution can exists for only if the transformation

holds and this is possible only if .


Howarth transformation
Introducing the self-similar variables using Howarth–Dorodnitsyn transformation

the equations reduce to

The equation can be solved once are specified. The boundary conditions are

The commonly used expressions for air are . If is constant, then .

See also
Blasius boundary layer

References
1. V. M. Falkner and S. W. Skan, Aero. Res. Coun. Rep. and Mem. no 1314, 1930.
2. Prandtl, L. (1904). "Über Flüssigkeitsbewegung bei sehr kleiner Reibung". Verhandlinger 3. Int. Math. Kongr. Heidelberg:
484–491.
3. Rosenhead, Louis, ed. Laminar boundary layers. Clarendon Press, 1963.
4. Stewartson, K. (3 December 1953). "Further Solutions of the Falkner-Skan Equation" (https://www.cambridge.org/core/ser
vices/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/C64E489495AC8D2B30B0DB7B5BF6E50E/S030500410002956Xa.pdf/div-class-t
itle-further-solutions-of-the-falkner-skan-equation-div.pdf) (PDF). Mathematical Transactions of the Cambridge
Philosophical Society. 50 (3): 454–465. doi:10.1017/S030500410002956X (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS03050041000295
6X). Retrieved 2 March 2017.
5. Lagerstrom, Paco Axel. Laminar flow theory. Princeton University Press, 1996.

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This page was last edited on 3 February 2020, at 02:19 (UTC).

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