The method referred to in Dr. Coleman's notes was developed with the collaboration of my colleague Mr. J. B. Edwards of Handley Page Research Department. The purpose was to obtain a rational estimate of suction quantities and suction distribution, linked up with measurements of boundary layer profiles and suction quantities on wind tunnel models, and also to assess the effect of a certain degree of roughness of the order to be expected on actual wings. Existing theoretical methods ignore roughness which, however, is a most important parameter not only in wind tunnel tests, but also in flight at higher values of the unit Reynolds number; surface roughness obviously limits the intensity of suction which can be applied at a spanwise suction strip.

It was intuitively assumed that the removal of fluid by suction was equivalent to cutting off the lower portion of the boundary layer profile at the upstream edge of the suction strip and that a rapid re-adjustment of the boundary layer profile within a short distance took place.