FALKNER

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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24.1.1897 Peckham/UK - 14.8.1965 Teddington/UK

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Victor Montague Falkner was from the early 1930s a collaborator of the National Physical Laboratory NPL and there remained during the war. He collaborated mainly in mathematical researches relating to problems in aerodynamics with Arthur Fage (1890-1977), the later superintendent of NPL.

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Falkner is particularly known for a paper written in collaboration with Skan in 1931 relating to the solution of the boundary layer equations. Whereas Ludwig Prandtl (1875-1953) was able to simplify the Navier-Stokes equations within the boundary layer of a flat plate, his first PhD student Heinrich Blasius (1883-1970) found in 1908 a self-similar solution for a constant flow velocity. This models the fluid flow over a plate at zero incidence with an excellent agreement with experiments for moderately large Reynolds numbers. Falkner and Skan found families of self-similar solutions in their 1931 paper if the streamwise velocity is proportional to a power of the streamwise coordinate. The Falkner and Skan equation results from a transformation of the original equation and is a third order non-linear ordinary differential equation. A special mathematical technique gives a family of solutions that were in agreement with observations. Henry Görtler (1909-1987) later generalized the approach of Falkner and Skan.

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_{Falkner, V.M., Skan, S.W. (1931). Solutions of the boundary layer equations. Philosophical Magazine Ser.7 12: 865-896.}

_{Falkner, V.M. (1951). The use of equivalent slopes in vortex lattice theory. ARC Reports and Memoranda 2293. HMSO: London.}

_{Falkner, V.M. (1951). Experiments on air flow in the 7 foot open-jet No. 1 wind tunnel and application to wind-tunnel design. ARC Reports and Memoranda 2484. HMSO: London. Falkner, V.M. (1952). The solution by lifting-line theory of problems involving discontinuities. ARC Reports and Memoranda 2592. HMSO: London.}

_{Falkner, V.M. (1952). Calculated aerodynamic characteristics of two infinite wings with constant chord. ARC Reports and Memoranda 2594. HMSO: London.}

_{Falkner, V.M. (1952). The scope and accuracy of vortex lattice theory. ARC Reports and Memoranda 2740. HMSO: London.}

_{Falkner, V.M. (1953). A comparison of two methods of calculating wing loading with allowance for compressibility. ARC Reports and Memoranda 2685. HMSO: London. http://www.iutam.org/iutam/History/1934.php P}