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We now wish to treat flows with very small viscosity or very high Reynolds
numbers. An important contribution to the science of fluid motion was made
in 1904 by L. Prandtl (1904). Prandtl showed the manner in which the viscos-
ity has its effect for high Reynolds number flows and how the Navier–Stokes
differential equations can be simplified to yield approximate solutions for
this limiting case. We shall now derive the simplifications which arise for the
Navier–Stokes equations in the case of very small friction forces in a physi-
cally illustrative manner.
For simplicity we consider the plane flow of a fluid with very low viscosity
past a slender cylindrical body, Fig. 6.1. The velocities are of the order of
magnitude of the free stream velocity V apart from in the immediate neigh-
bourbood of the surface of the body. Both the streamline picture and the
velocity distribution are almost identical to those of inviscid flow (potential
flow). More precise investigations show, however, that the fluid on the surface
does not slip along the wall, as in the case of potential flow, but adheres to it.
There is a transition from zero velocity at the wall to the full velocity which
is present at a certain distance from the wall. This transition takes place in
a very thin layer called the boundary layer or frictional layer. We now have
to distinguish between two regions, between which there is actually no sharp
division:
1. A very thin layer right beside the body where the velocity gradient normal
to the wall ∂u/∂y is very large (boundary layer). A very small viscosity μ
can play an important role here since the viscous shear stress τ = μ ∂u/∂y
can reach considerable values.
2. The remaining region outside this layer. Here there are no large velocity
gradients, so the action of the viscosity is unimportant. In this region the
flow is frictionless and potential.
Altogether it may be said that the boundary layer is thinner the smaller
the viscosity, or, more generally, the higher the Reynolds number. It was seen
for some exact solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations in Chap. 5 that the