Flow over a trailing flap and its asymmetric wake

Detailed measurements of pressure and velocity characteristics are reported for the attached flow on a trailing flap and in its downstream asymmetric wake. The results indicate that the flow over the flap is subjected to an adverse pressure gradient. Near the trailing edge, an inflection point develops in the streamwise velocity profile and the flow approaches intermittent separation. The wake is asymmetric with a destabilizing curvature on the suction side and a stabilizing curvature on the pressure side. Streamwise variations in the near wake are primarily confined to the inner layer, and further downstream the mean velocity and turbulence quantities attain selfsimilar profiles. Nonequilibrium effects are present in the near wake and imply that mixing length models are not appropriate. Both the pressure gradient term and the cross-stream gradient of the turbulent stresses are found to be important. Streamwise gradients of the turbulent stresses are, however, small.