In the steady laminar flow past a sudden expansion at large Reynolds numberR, the equations of motion reduce to the boundary‐layer equations asR→∞ if the longitudinal length scale of the separated eddy increases linearly and indefinitely withR. In part I of this series [Phys. Fluids29, 1353 (1986)], several sudden expansion geometries were considered, and in each case, when the inflow was uniform, steady solutions to the boundary‐layer equations were found to exist provided that the expansion ratio remained above a critical value where the pressure gradient became singular near the reattachment point of the eddy. These results suggested that for uniform inflows and smaller values of the expansion ratio, the eddy length could not continue to increase linearly withRif the latter were sufficiently large. In the present work a global Newton method was employed to obtain finite‐difference solutions to the steady Navier–Stokes equations up toR=1000 for a uniform inflow past a cascade of sudden expansions. The calculations show that for large values of the expansion ratio, the eddy length increases linearly withR, and that the main features of the flow approach those predicted by the boundary‐layer solutions, including the existence of large pressure gradients near the reattachment point, as the expansion ratio is reduced toward the critical value. However, for smaller values of the expansion ratio where solutions to the boundary‐layer equations could not be found, the steady solutions to the Navier–Stokes equations approach, with increasingR, the limit of an inviscid eddyO(1) in length, with the main features of the flow conforming to the theoretical model of Batchelor [J. Fluid Mech.1, 388 (1956)] for an inviscid separated eddy behind a bluff body.