On the Steady Flow past an Oblique Flat Plate at a High Reynolds Number

The stationary flow of a viscous fluid past a flat plate at a small incidence, θ, is dealt with by Oseen's linearized approximation. The behavior of flow at a high Reynolds number, R , is precisely studied, using the Fourier transformation. The two characteristic types of flow are shown. In the case: 1≪ R ≤ O (1/sin θ), the flow field is the conventional potential flow satisfying the Kutta-Joukowski condition with the thin boundary layer of thickness of \(O(1/√R)\) adjacent to the surface of the plate. In the other case: O (1/sin 2 θ)≪ R , the flow field consists of a potential field and a wide viscous wake spreading downstream, where the flow is rotational and the velocity almost vanishes. The latter corresponds to the stalled state of the plate.