Discontinuous Flow past a Circular Cylinder

The discontinuous flow past a circular cylinder is studied making use of the theory of discontinuous flow and the boundary-layer theory. The determination of the separation points is carried out by means of an iterative method. It is found that the separation angle which is measured from a forward stagnation point, is approximately equal to 58°. This angle is very close to the smallest one 55° among the angles of separation which can be allowed from the discontinuous flow theory. Thus the flow with separation angles of 55° seems to be the limiting case of the viscous flow past a circular cylinder when the Reynolds number increases indefinitely.