Development and separation of a laminar boundary layer, under the action of a very sharp constant adverse pressure gradient

An analysis is presented which improves or extends Stratford's (1954) treatment of the development and separation of a laminar boundary layer under the effect of a sharp adverse pressure gradient. Inner and outer asymptotic expansions are obtained and matched. These are used to calculate the distributions of skin friction, displacement thickness, and momentum thickness. Results are in good agreement with the approximations given by Stratford, and completely justify the outer boundary conditions which this author assumed on physical grounds.