The stability of a flat plate boundary layer modulated by stationary streamwise vortices was studied experimentally in the T-324 low speed wind tunnel in Novosibirsk. Vortices were generated inside the boundary layer by means of roughness elements arranged in a regular array along the spanwise (z-) direction. Transition is not caused directly by these structures, but by the growth of small amplitude traveling waves riding on top of the steady vortices. This situation is analogous to the transition process in Görtler and cross-flows. The waves were found to amplify up to a stage where higher harmonics are generated, leading to turbulent breakdown and disintegration of the spanwise boundary layer structure. For strong modulations, the observed instability is quite powerful, and can be excited ‘‘naturally’’ by small uncontrollable background disturbances. Controlled oscillations were then introduced by means of a vibrating ribbon, allowing a detailed investigation of the wave characteristics. The instability seems to be associated with the spanwise gradients of the mean flow, ∂U/∂z, and at all z-positions, the maximum wave amplitude was found at a wall-normal position where the mean velocity is equal to the phase velocity of the wave, U(y)=c, i.e., at the local critical layer. Unstable waves were observed at frequencies well above those for which Tollmien–Schlichting (TS) waves amplify in the Blasius boundary layer. Excitation at lower frequencies and milder basic flow modulations showed that TS-type waves may also develop. The relation between TS-type waves and the observed high-frequency instability is discussed in the light of previous authors’ findings.

A two-dimensional separation bubble on a ®at plate is studied experimentally by means of hot-wire anemometry and ®ow visualization. Separation of the laminar boundary layer on the plate is caused by an adverse pressure gradient imposed by a curved wall opposite to the plate. The instability of, and transition process in, the separation bubble are focused on. The bubble is found to be highly susceptible to high-frequency two-dimensional instability waves, which are studied under both natural and forced conditions. A similar development of these instability waves in the separation bubble is found in both cases. The exponential growth of the twodimensional disturbances dominates the ®ow except for in the reattachment region, where large-scale three-dimensional structures appear. Some di¯culties associated with experimental investigations of boundary-layer separation-bubble ®ows are discussed.

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In this Brief Communication, the nonlinear evolution of periodical disturbances generated by an external sound field in a swept wing boundary layer is presented. All experimental results are compared with corresponding data for a straight wing configuration. The Tollmien–Schlichting instability has been studied, and it was found that the disturbance flow field remained highly deterministic and periodic in both time and space until the latest stages of the transition. A frequency-wave number Fourier analysis shows that the disturbance spectra comprise only the fundamental wave and its higher harmonics. The K-type breakdown scenario was observed, and the nonsymmetry of flow patterns in the swept wing boundary layer was found to be due to the presence of the cross flow.