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BoundaryLayerEquations

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BoundaryLayerEquations
Considerarigidstationaryobstaclewhosesurfaceis(locally)flat,andcorrespondstothe plane.Let
thissurfacebeincontactwithahighReynoldsnumberfluidthatoccupiestheregion

.See

Figure48.Let bethetypicalnormalthicknessoftheboundarylayer.Thelayerthusextendsoverthe
region

.Now,thefluidthatoccupiestheregion

,andthusliesoutsidethelayer,is

assumedtobebothirrotationaland(effectively)inviscid.Ontheotherhand,viscositymustbeincluded
intheequationofmotionofthefluidwithinthelayer.Thefluidbothinsideandoutsidethelayeris
assumedtobeincompressible.

Figure48:Aboundarylayer.
Supposethattheequationsofirrotationalflowhavealreadybeensolvedtodeterminethefluidvelocity
outsidetheboundarylayer.Thisvelocitymustbesuchthatitsnormalcomponentiszeroattheouter
edgeofthelayer(i.e.,
).Ontheotherhand,thetangentialcomponentofthefluidvelocityatthe
outeredgeofthelayer,

(say),isgenerallynonzero.Here,weareassuming,forthesakeof

simplicity,thatthereisnospatialvariationinthe direction,sothatboththeirrotationalflowandthe
boundarylayerareeffectivelytwodimensional.Likewise,wearealsoassumingthatallflowsaresteady,
sothatanytimevariationcanbeneglected.Now,themotionofthefluidwithintheboundarylayeris
governedbytheequationsofsteadystate,incompressible,twodimensional,viscousflow,whichtakethe
form(seeSection2.14)
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(670)
(671)

(672)

where isthe(constant)density,and thekinematicviscosity.Here,Equation(670)istheequationof

continuity,whereasEquations(671)and(672)arethe and componentsofthefluidequationof
motion,respectively.Theboundaryconditionsattheouteredgeofthelayer,whereitinterfaceswiththe
irrotationalfluid,are
(673)
(674)

as

.Here,

isthefluidpressureattheouteredgeofthelayer,and
(675)

(since

,andviscosityisnegligible,justoutsidethelayer).Theboundaryconditionsattheinner

edgeofthelayer,whereitinterfaceswiththeimpenetrablesurface,are
(676)
(677)

Ofcourse,thefirstoftheseconstraintscorrespondstothenoslipcondition.
Let

beatypicalvalueoftheexternaltangentialvelocity,

lengthscaleofthisquantity.Itisreasonabletosupposethat

,andlet bethetypicalvariation
and arealsothecharacteristic

tangentialflowvelocityandvariationlengthscaleinthe direction,respectively,oftheboundarylayer.
Ofcourse, isthetypicalvariationlengthscaleofthelayerinthe direction.Moreover,

sincethelayerisassumedtobethin.Itishelpfultodefinethenormalizedvariables

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(678)

(679)
(680)
(681)
(682)

where

and

areconstants.Allofthesevariablesaredesignedtobe

insidethelayer.

Equation(670)yields
(683)

Inorderforthetermsinthisequationtobalanceoneanother,weneed
(684)

Inotherwords,withinthelayer,continuityrequiresthetypicalflowvelocityinthe direction,
muchsmallerthanthatinthe direction,

,tobe

Equation(671)gives
(685)

Inorderforthepressuretermontherighthandsideoftheaboveequationtobeofsimilarmagnitudeto
theadvectivetermsonthelefthandside,werequirethat
(686)

Furthermore,inorderfortheviscoustermontherighthandsidetobalancetheotherterms,weneed
(687)

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where
(688)

istheReynoldsnumberoftheflowexternaltothelayer.Theassumptionthat
implythat

canbeseento

.Inotherwords,thenormalthicknessoftheboundarylayerseparatinganirrotational

flowpatternfromarigidsurfaceisonlymuchlessthanthetypicalvariationlengthscaleofthepattern
whentheReynoldsnumberoftheflowismuchgreaterthanunity.
Equation(672)yields
(689)

Inthelimit

,thisreducesto
(690)

Hence,

,where
(691)

,andusehasbeenmadeof(675).Inotherwords,thepressureisuniformacrossthelayer,
inthedirectionnormaltothesurfaceoftheobstacle,andisthusthesameasthatontheouteredgeofthe
layer.
Retainingonly

terms,ourfinalsetofnormalizedlayerequationsbecomes

(692)

(693)

subjecttotheboundaryconditions
(694)
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and
(695)
(696)

Inunnormalizedform,theabovesetoflayerequationsarewritten
(697)
(698)

subjecttotheboundaryconditions
(699)

(notethat

reallymeans

),and
(700)
(701)

Now,Equation(697)canbeautomaticallysatisfiedbyexpressingtheflowvelocityintermsofastream
function:i.e.,
(702)
(703)

Inthiscase,Equation(698)reducesto
(704)

subjecttotheboundaryconditions
(705)
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and
(706)
(707)

Tolowestorder,thevorticityinternaltothelayer,

,isgivenby
(708)

whereasthe componentoftheviscousforceperunitareaactingonthesurfaceoftheobstacleis
written(seeSection2.18)
(709)

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