An examination of the Reynolds equations for axisymmetric turbulent flow where the thickness of the boundary layer is of the same order as the transverse radius of curvature of the surface shows that neither the boundary layer nor the potential flow outside it may be calculated independently of the other, owing to significant interactions between the two flow regimes. Following a discussion of various procedures for extending conventional thin boundary-layer calculation methods to treat thick axisymmetric turbulent boundary-layers, a method is proposed for the simultaneous solution of the boundary layer and the potential flow equations, allowing the two flow regimes to interact. (Author Modified Abstract).

Detailed measurements of pressure distributions, mean velocity profiles and Reynolds stresses were made in the thick, axisymmetric boundary layer and the near wake of a low-drag body of revolution. The data are presented in graphical as well as tabular form for convenience in later analysis. These measurements shed some light on the joint influence of transverse and longitudinal surface curvatures and pressure gradients on the boundary-layer development and on the manner in which an axisymmetric boundary layer becomes a fully-developed wake. Apart from giving a complete set of data on such an important flow configuration, the measurements should provide a fairly rigorous test case for some of the recent turbulence closure models which claim a level of generality not achieved by the older phenomenological models. By inclusion of recently proposed modifications to account for the effects of the extra rates of strain on the turbulence length scale arising from longitudinal and transverse surface curvatures, it is shown that the boundary layer in the tail region of a body of revolution is dominated by the extra strain rates and that more research is needed to account for them properly even in the most recent calculation procedures.