TOPOLOGY OF LAMINAR-FLOW ON A SPHEROID AT INCIDENCE

Numerical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations were obtained for s teady, incompressible, laminar flow around a prolate spheroid of axes ratio six at incidences up to 30-degrees to elucidate the changes in f low topology and separation patterns. The results clarify observations and speculations based on earlier flow visualizations, and provide de tails in the separated flow that were not accessible to previous calcu lations. In particular, a closed or singular separation, joining singu lar points of the skin-friction lines, is found at all incidences, and it is accompanied by one or more lines of the so-called open (or free -vortex, or ordinary) separation at higher incidences.