A family of laminar boundary layers along a semi-infinite flat plate

A new similarity solution is obtained for flow of a uniform stream past an aligned, semi-infinite flat plate. The fluid is incompressible, of constant density, and constant absolute viscosity. A detailed examination is made of flows involving steady rates of accretion and of ablation at the leading edge. Both the classical Blasius boundary layer and the Rayleigh-Stokes shear layer are encompassed, each representing a different extreme case of the similarity solution. In contrast to the accretion case, only relatively small rates of ablation can be tolerated and there is a qualitative change in the boundary-layer solutions.