It may be observed that the thickness of a turbulent boundary layer increases as while it increases as for a laminar boundary layer. It means that a turbulent boundary layer grows at a faster rate compared to that of a laminar boundary layer. Eq. (5.11.5) is the solution of a turbulent boundary layer because all the boundary layer parameters can be obtained from this equation as given below;

 

•  Displacement thickness,

(5.11.6)

•  Momentum thickness,

(5.11.7)

•  Turbulent shape factor for flat plate

(5.11.8)

•  Skin friction coefficient,

(5.11.9)

•  Wall shear stress,

(5.11.10)

•  Drag coefficient,

(5.11.11)

These are some basic results of turbulent flat plate theory. The flat plate analysis for a Blasius laminar boundary layer and turbulent boundary layer is summarized in Table 5.11.1.

Table 5.11.1: Comparative analysis of laminar and turbulent boundary layer flow over a flat plate