An experiment for quantitative visualization of boundary-layer flow

The report deals with one way of generating an unsteady flow past a body -- breaking the diaphragm of a shock tube. A visualization of the phenomenon within the boundary layer of such a flow was attempted by using bubbles. A method has been suggested for further work in this line. An unsteady flow was then generated using water as the flow medium in a towing tank following the principles of Ahlborn. Various improvements have led to an experiment that can visualize the details of flow within the boundary layer. The technique has been successfully applied to the case of unsteady flow past a flat plate.