Self-similar problem of separated ideal-fluid flow over an expanding plate

The research carried out in [1–8] is developed by considering the self-similar problem of the unsteady separated flow over a plate expanding from a point with the constant velocity D of a plane-parallel stream of ideal fluid with velocity V∞. At infinity the flow is uniform, steady and normal to the surface of the plate. A wide range of values of the parameter α=V∞/D is investigated. On the value of α there depends, in particular, the direction of shedding of the vortex sheets (VS) which, in accordance with the Joukowsky-Chaplygin condition, occur in separated flow over a plate. A comparison is made with the results obtained when the sheets are replaced by vortex filaments (VF). In accordance with [9] the choice of the intensity of the VF ensures, like the introduction of VS, the finiteness of the flow velocity at the edges of the plate. Within the framework of the unsteady analogy and the law of plane sections the problem of the flow over a delta wing at an angle of attack reduces to the unsteady flow over an expanding plate investigated. In addition to [3, 9], this question was also examined in [10–15]. In [11–15] and in [3] the analysis is based on VS and in [9, 10] on VF. Special attention is paid to the topology of the flow, in particular, to the structure of the so-called conical streamlines and their points of convergence and divergence (this was done in [3] for a special, nonlinear law of expansion of the plate and a variable free-stream velocity). The results obtained for the models with VS and VF are compared over a broad range of values of α, not only with respect to the integral characteristics, as in [12], but also with respect to the flow patterns.