The Development of Intermittent Turbulence on a Swept Attachment Line Including the Effects of Compressibility

Abstract

Summary A model of the boundary layer transition process at an infinite swept attachment line under incompressible flow conditions and in the presence of a gross upstream disturbance is developed. The approach adopted is based upon the spot concepts of Emmons which are well established for transition on a flat plate. An extension to compressible flow situations is made by means of a simple transformation which reduces the process to an equivalent incompressible form. A new criterion for predicting the onset of attachment-line transition is proposed.