Chapter 1 - INTRODUCTION

Abstract

This chapter discusses the scope of two-dimensional boundary layer theory. A two-dimensional boundary layer is a boundary layer in which each fluid property varies with only two of the three possible space coordinates. The chapter discusses that if the distributions of the fluid variables in two-dimensional steady boundary layers are to be predicted, then various things must be done: (1) derive the integration formulae for each of the fluid variables, connecting the values of these variables for clusters of nearby points; (2) provide a procedure for solving these equations, in their linearized form, simultaneously and line-by-line; and (3) deduce such physically-interesting flow quantities as the heat-transfer rate to a wall, the rate of consumption of fuel by chemical reaction, and the variation with longitudinal distance of the momentum thickness of the boundary layer. Further, these tasks have to be performed accurately, economically, and within a flexible framework that allows new problems to be quickly set up, and the interesting results easily to be deduced.