A note on oblique stagnation-point flow

Previous analyses of oblique stagnation-point flow at a plane wall are discussed and unified with reference to a free parameter. The oblique flow consists of orthogonal stagnation-point flow to which is added a shear flow whose vorticity is fixed at infinity. Physically the free parameter may be viewed as altering the structure of the shear flow component by varying the magnitude of the pressure gradient. For large adverse pressure gradients, the shear component has a region of reversed flow near the wall. Remarkably, combining an orthogonal flow with shear flows featuring different levels of reversed flow always produces the same oblique flow but with the stagnation-point of attachment shifted along the wall by a predictable amount. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.