An extended discussion of Mayle's (1991) critical study of transition phenomena in gas turbine engines is presented. Attention is focussed on transition in decelerating flow regions which are the major sources of loss production for axial turbomachine blades. The following points are examined in detail: (a) the physics of transition and its implications for the correlation of various transition phenomena; (b) the relative importance of pressure gradient and freestream turbulence in controlling

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... ransition; (c) the influence of pressure gradient on periodic-unsteady transition; (d) the correlation of transition length under conditions of arbitrary pressure gradient and free-stream turbulence level; and (e) transition behavior in laminar separation bubbles.