Calculation of Boundary Layers and Separation on a Spheroid at Incidence,

Three-dimensional boundary layers on a 61 spheroid at an incidence of 10 degrees have been calculated at two Reynolds numbers and comparisons have been made with the corresponding data of Meier et al. The results clearly demonstrate the capabilities and limitations of first-order boundary-layer theory. At the lower Reynolds number, the laminar boundary-layer calculations are in good agreement with the data on the the windward side of the body and separation is predicted in the region where the experiments indicated near zero wall shear stress just before transition to turbulent flow. The solutions have been interpreted in the light of previous proposals concerning the topology of three-dimensional flow separation. Although the results support several alternative possibilities, it is concluded that boundary-layer calculations, by themselves, are insufficient to identify a clear choice.