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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2010
An oncoming two-dimensional laminar boundary layer that develops an unstable inflection point and becomes three-dimensional is described by the Hall-Smith (1991) vortex/wave interaction equations. These equations are now examined in the neighbourhood of the position where the critical surface starts to form. A consistent structure is established in which an inviscid core flow is matched to a viscous buffer-layer solution where the appropriate jump condition on the transverse shear stress is satisfied. The final result is a bifurcation equation for the (constant) amplitude of the wave pressure. A representative classical velocity profile is considered to illustrate solutions of this equation for a range of values of the wave-numbers.