Turbulent mixing-layer similarity equation ($F^{\prime \prime \prime }+(\xi +F)F^{\prime \prime }=0$)

For a planar turbulent mixing layer, let $U_c=(U_a+U_b)/2$, $\Delta U=U_a-U_b$, ${\nu }_T=C\Delta U\delta$, $\delta =S\Delta Ux/U_c$, and $\xi =\sqrt{S/C}y/\delta$. The stream function $\psi =U_c[y+\delta \sqrt{C/S}F(\xi )]$ enforces mean incompressibility. Substitution into $U{U}_x+V{U}_y={\nu }_T{U}_{yy}$ gives the displayed ordinary differential equation, with $F^{\prime }(\pm \infty )=\pm \Delta U/(2U_c)$. When $\Delta U/U_c$ is small, its linear approximation is $F^{\prime \prime \prime }+\xi F^{\prime \prime }=0$, so $F^{\prime \prime }$ is a Gaussian function and $F^{\prime }$ an error function.