Stability of time-periodic flow with laminar boundary-layer separation

The influence of the low-frequency modulation of flow behind a rectangular backward-facing step on the amplitude characteristics of disturbances in the separated laminar boundary layer has been studied. The experimental data were obtained by the method of hot-wire anemometry in a wind tunnel at a low subsonic velocity. Response of the separated flow to the long-wave oscillations generated by a local source of disturbances on the surface of the experimental model was clarified. The low-frequency nonstationarity of the separation region leads to a growth of velocity fluctuations in the separated boundary layer, which dominate the laminar-turbulent transition and the state of the flow in the near-wall region.