Flow instability in the laminar boundary layer separation zone created by a small roughness element

The development of disturbances of the laminar flow in the separation zone behind a surface projection in the boundary layer on a flat plate has been experimentally investigated. The linear instability characteristics of the separated flow are determined and the interaction between the oscillations growing in the separation zone and the average flow is studied.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 16–22, January–February, 1990.