Laminar Wakes.

A comprehensive survey of the state of knowledge of steady, nonturbulent laminar fluid dynamic wakes behind both blunt and slender bodies in viscous fluids, with emphasis on high-speed wakes. The flows are generally assumed to occur at large but finite free-stream Reynolds numbers, generally with a thin boundary layer on the body. Understanding requires some knowledge of compressible and viscous flow theory. A typical high-speed wake flow may consist of various subregions with quite different dynamics and parameters and unknown boundaries, plus embedded discontinuities--shock waves--whose paths are also unknown. The focus is on basic theory and concepts; both experimental results and speculative theories are given only where they provide greater insight or information otherwise unavailable. Transition and turbulence problems are not discussed. Although high-temperature, real-gas, and chemical-kinetic phenomena associated with hypersonic flight are also excluded, the material presented should be useful in analyzing such effects. 313 pp. Ref. Index. (Also published by American Elsevier Publishing Co., 1971, $16.00. Available only from booksellers or the publisher.) (MW)