Abstract

The prediction of the flow conditions in diffusing passages has long been a major unsolved problem in fluid mechanics. The chief complicating effect is the presence of the large adverse pressure gradient, whose exact influence on the velocity distribution has defied mathematical analysis. 

In the paper, the method of flow-separation forecasting for steady, incompressible flows without swirl in axisymmetrical conical diffusers has been described. The separation conditions are shown to depend on the shear stress distribution inside of the turbulent boundary layer. Comparisons between the predictions of boundary-layer theory and the actual data of diffuser passages are given.