On the effect of the nonparallelism of the boundary layer flow over a flat plate on its stability characteristics

The effect of the nonparallelism of the boundary layer flow over a flat plate on its stability characteristics has been investigated by several authors, and it was claimed that the results of the theoretical calculations are already in good agreement with the experimental observations. However, this is not true. In this paper, this problem is reinvestigated, using two different methods. It is found that within the framework of linear theory, the theoretical results are in fact not in good agreement with the experimental observations. To settle this problem, nonlinear effect must be taken into consideration. Projects Supported by the Science Fund of the Chinese Academy of Sciences