Highlights from 50 years of turbulent boundary layer research

Abstract

This paper grew out of a survey lecture on highlights from the history of turbulent boundary layer research since the Turbulence Colloquium held in Marseille in 1961, the proceedings of which were published the next year. The highlights chosen, of course, reflect my own interests, experience and knowledge of the field. Necessarily, much important work is not mentioned, but I hope the references in the work cited will lead readers deeply into the many branches this research field has developed over these five decades. It is a rich field, and the progress in understanding this technically and scientifically important flow has been dramatic, but there is still much to learn.

Keywords:

• turbulence
• boundary layers
• wall layers

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Marie Farge, Kai Schneider and Keith Moffatt for inviting him to give the boundary layer overview lecture at the 2011 Marseille Turbulence Colloquium on which this paper is based. The opportunity to review this subject, having been a participant in it for most of these 50 years, was a great honor and pleasure. I also want to thank the many colleagues who also have participated in the study of this subject, from whom I have learned so much and who have permitted me to use figures from their work. Interacting with them, and the many others whose work I admire but did not cite so that this review would not become any longer than it already is, has been a professional and personal delight.