The vorticity shedding characteristics in attached and separated regions were investigated over three configurations, namely a backward facing circular arc, an ellipse at an angle of attack and a pitching airfoil. A fully automated data acquisition system was developed, including a two-component Laser-Velocimetry system in backscatter mode, an accurately controlled traversing mechanism and a MINK-11 minicomputer. Two-component velocity measurements were obtained over the above mentioned bodies, with steady and unsteady free streams. Emphasis was concentrated on the separation region, the free-shear layers and the wake downstream of these bodies. Two inviscid vortex models were developed to predict two different flow phenomena, namely the separated flow over a circular cylinder started impulsively from rest and propagating stall over a linear stationary cascade. / Ph. D.