ME 563 - Intermediate Fluid Dynamics - Su

Lecture 7 - The Reynolds number/some viscous flow examples

Reading: Acheson, §2.2–2.4.

In the last lecture we wrote down the Navier-Stokes equations of motion for incompressible, viscous
fluids:

∇·u =0
∂u ∇p µ 2
+ (u · ∇)u = − + ∇ u + g. (1)
∂t ρ ρ
The first of these equations describes the incompressibility; the remaining equations (one for each
spatial dimension) describe the evolution of the velocity field (and are sometimes referred to as the
momentum equations). These equations differ from the the Euler equations discussed earlier by
the presence of the viscous term µρ ∇2 u. As we discussed in the last lecture, this term covers both
viscous shear forces and viscous normal forces.

1 The Reynolds number and kinematic viscosity

The Reynolds number quantifies the importance of viscosity in a given fluid flow. It is defined as
ρ UL
Re ≡ , (2)
µ
where U is a characteristic velocity in the flow, L is a characteristic length scale, and ρ and µ are
the density and dynamic viscosity of the fluid, respectively.
To see how to interpret the Reynolds number, let’s look at where it comes from. We will want
to rewrite the momentum equation in (1) in non-dimensional form. Define
xi ui t
x∗i = , u∗i = , t∗ = , (3)
L U L/U
which are the non-dimensional forms of these variables. It is important to use the non-dimensional
form of the operators as well, i.e.
∂ L ∂
∇∗ = L∇, ∗
= . (4)
∂t U ∂t
Now use (3) and (4) in (1), and we get

U 2 ∂u∗ U 2 ∗ ∗ ∗ 1 ∇∗ p U µ
∗
+ (u · ∇ )u = − + 2 ∇∗2 u∗ + g.
L ∂t L L ρ L ρ

Now multiply (L/U 2 ) through on both sides:

‘inertial term’
∂u∗ z ∗ }| ∗ {∗ µ L
∗
+ (u · ∇ )u = −∇∗ p∗ + ∇∗2 u∗ + 2 g
∂t ρ UL U
1 L
= −∇∗ p∗ + ∇∗2 u∗ + 2 g, (5)
| {z } U
Re
‘viscous term’

where we have written p∗ = p/(ρU 2 ), which is the common non-dimensionalization for the pressure.

1
 If we have chosen the parameters U and L correctly for the problem, then the various non-
dimensional terms involving u∗ and its derivatives in (5) should be of order 1. In that case, the
value of the Reynolds number tells us the relative importance of the inertial and viscous terms –
|inertial term|
O(Re) = .
|viscous term|
Thus, a high Reynolds number means viscous effects are less important, and a low Reynolds number
means viscous effects are very important. For ideal fluids, then, it is required that the Reynolds
number be very large. However, just because the Reynolds number in a flow is large doesn’t
mean that we can automatically assume that ideal fluid theory applies. This is because turbulence
develops at high Re, and turbulence complicates matters immensely.
You will have noticed that in the Navier-Stokes equations, viscosity appears divided by the
density, so we always see µ/ρ. This is called the kinematic viscosity, ν ≡ µ/ρ, and is the relevant
viscosity in most fluid problems. The kinematic viscosity is anti-intuitive in some ways. For
example, the dynamic viscosity, µ, of water is about 55 times that of air, which is probably consistent
with your intuition. However, the kinematic viscosity of air is about 15 times that of water, so in
that sense air is more viscous than water.

2 Plane Poiseuille flow

Figure 1: Plane Poiseuille flow.

Consider the system of Fig. 1, consisting of the flow of a viscous, incompressible fluid between
two fixed, parallel plates, where the flow is driven by a constant pressure gradient ∂P/∂x. (This is
known as plane Poiseuille flow.) We want to know the velocity field, which in general is

u = (u(x, y, z, t), v(x, y, z, t), w(x, y, z, t)).

The first thing we assume is that the flow is steady, because the pressure gradient driving the flow
is constant. We will also assume that the velocity doesn’t vary in the x- or z-directions. To justify
this, consider that to an observer who’s free to move around in the x−z plane (for fixed values of y),
all points in the plane look the same – the pressure gradient is constant, and the boundaries don’t
vary with x or z. We can also assume that the w-component of the velocity is zero, because there is
no pressure gradient or gravitational force that could potentially drive the flow in the z-direction.
This leads to

u = (u(y), v(y), 0)

and we haven’t needed the Navier-Stokes equations yet.

Now we’ll apply the Navier-Stokes equations. Because the flow is incompressible,
∂u ∂v ∂w
∇·u = + + = 0.
∂x ∂y ∂z

2
The first term ∂u/∂x is zero because u is not a function of x, and the third term ∂w/∂z is zero
because w = 0, so this means that ∂v/∂y is also zero. We already have v = v(y), so ∂v/∂y = 0
means that v is constant everywhere. But v = 0 at y = ±h because the fixed walls are there, so
v = 0 everywhere. (Observe that this also means we are ignoring gravity.) Thus,

u = (u(y), 0, 0)

We are left with the following terms in the Navier-Stokes equation for the u-component of
velocity:

1 ∂p ∂2u ∂2u
0=− + ν 2 = −C + ν 2
ρ ∂x ∂x ∂x

where C is a constant (because the pressure gradient and density are constant). Integrating once,

∂u
Cy + C1 = ν .
∂y

To find C1 , note that the u profile needs to be symmetric around y = 0 (why?), so ∂u/∂y = 0 at
y = 0, and C1 = 0. Integrating again, we get
1 2
Cy + C2 = ν u.
2
The boundary condition on u is that u = 0 at y ± h. This allows us to evaluate C2 . The final result
is
C 2
u= (y − h2 ).
2ν