Lecture 7

Flow over immersed bodies.

Boundary layer.
Analysis of inviscid flow.

Flow over immersed bodies

flow classification: 2D,

axisymmetric, 3D
bodies: streamlined
and blunt

Shuttle landing: examples of various body types

Lift and Drag

shear stress and pressure
integrated over the surface of a
body create force
drag: force component in the
direction of upstream velocity
lift: force normal to upstream
velocity (might have 2
components in general case)

D dFx p cos dA w sin dA

CD

D
2
1
2 U A

L dFy p sin dA w cos dA

CL

L
2
1
2 U A

Flow past an object

Dimensionless numbers involved

Re

Ul

Ma

U
c

for external flow: Re>100 dominated by inertia, Re<1 by viscosity

Fr

U
gl

Flow past an object

Character of the steady, viscous
flow past a circular cylinder:
(a) low Reynolds number flow, (b)
moderate Reynolds number flow, (c)
large Reynolds number flow.

Boundary layer characteristics

for large enough Reynolds number flow can be divided into
boundary region where viscous effect are important and
outside region where liquid can be treated as inviscid

Re x

Ux

Re x cr : 2 105 3 10
6

Laminar/Turbulent transition
Near the leading edge of a flat
plate, the boundary layer flow is
laminar.
f the plate is long enough, the flow
becomes turbulent, with random,
irregular mixing. A similar
phenomenon occurs at the
interface of two fluids moving with
different speeds.

Boundary layer characteristics

Boundary layer thickness

u
Boundary layer displacement thickness: 1 dy
U
0
*

Boundary layer momentum thickness (defined in terms of momentum flux):

bU 2 b u U u dy
0

u
U
0

u
1

Prandtl/Blasius boundary layer solution

Lets consider flow over large thin plate:
2u 2u
u
u
1 p
u
v

2
2
x
y
x
y
x

2v 2 v
v
v
1 p
u v

2
2
x
y
y
x y

=
x y

approximations:

v=u

than:

u v

0
x y
u
u
2u
u
v
2
x
y
y

boundary conditions:

u v 0 on y 0
u U as y

u v

0
x y

Prandtl/Blasius boundary layer solution

as dimensionless velocity profile should
be similar regardless of location:

u
y
g
U

x
:
U

dimensionless similarity variable

( xU ) f ( )

stream function
u

Uf ( )
y

U
u

x 4 x

U
: y
x

f ( ) f ( )

2 f f f 0
f f 0 at 0; f 1 as

Drag on a flat plate

Drag on a flat plate is related to the momentum deficit within the

boundary layer

u
u
2
D bU
b 1
U
U
0
dD

b w bU 2
dx
x

Drag and shear stress can be calculated just by assuming

some velocity profile in the boundary layer

Transition from Laminar to Turbulent flow

The boundary layer will become turbulent if a plate is long enough

turbulent profiles are flatter and produce

larger boundary layer

Inviscid flow
no shearing stress in inviscid flow, so

p xx yy zz
equation of motion is reduced to Euler equations
xx
u
u
u
u
gx
( u v w )
x
t
x
y
z
yy
v
v
v
v
gy
( u v w )
y
t
x
y
z

w
w
w
w
g z zz ( u
v
w )
x
t
x
y
z

g p
(V V
t

Bernoulli equation
lets write Euler equation for a steady flow along a streamline

g p (V V
g g z

(V )V 12 (V V
)
V ( V
)

gz p (V V ) V ( V )
2

now we multiply it by ds along the streamline

gz ds p ds (V V) ds V (
V) ds
2
dp 1
d (V 2 ) gdz 0
2

or

p V2

gz const
2

Irrotational Flow
Analysis of inviscide flow can be further simplified if we
assume if the flow is irrotational:
1 v u
z
0
2 x y
v u
w v
;
;
x y
y z
Example: uniform flow in x-direction:

u w

z x

Bernoulli equation for irrotational flow

gz p (V V ) V ( V )
2
always =0, not only along a stream line

Thus, Bernoulli equation can be applied between any two points in

the flow field

p V2

gz const
2

Velocity potential
equations for irrotational flow will be satisfied automatically if we
introduce a scalar function called velocity potential such that:

u
x

v
y

w
z

V
As for incompressible flow conservation of mass leads to:

2 0

V 0,

2 2 0
2
x
y
z
2

Laplace equation

Some basic potential flows

As Laplace equation is a linear one, the
solutions can be added to each other
producing another solution;
stream lines (y=const) and equipotential
lines (f=const) are mutually
perpendicular
dy
v

dx along streanline u
d

dy
dx
dy udx vdy
x
y
dx

along const

Both f and y satisfy Laplaces equation

u v

y x
y y
x x

u
v

Uniform flow
constant velocity, all stream lines are straight and parallel

U
x
Ux

0
y

U
y
Uy

0
x

U ( x cos y sin )
U ( y cos x sin )

Source and Sink

Lets consider fluid flowing radially outward from a line through
the origin perpendicular to x-y plane
from mass conservation:

(2 r )vr m

r 2 r

1
0
r

ln r
2
1
m

r 2 r

0
r

Vortex
now we consider situation when ther
stream lines are concentric circles i.e.
we interchange potential and stream
functions: K

K ln r
circulation

V ds
ds
d 0
C

in case of vortex the circulation is zero along any contour except ones
enclosing origin

K
(rd ) 2 K
r

ln r
2

Shape of a free vortex

p V2

gz const
2
at the free surface p=0:

V12 V2 2

z
2g 2g

z 2 2
8 r g
2

Doublet
lets consider the equal strength, source-sink pair:
m

(1 2 )
2
m
2ar sin

tan 1 ( 2
)
2
2
r a
if the source and sink are close to
each other:

K sin

r
K cos

K strength of a doublet

Summary

Superposition of basic flows

basic potential flows can be combined to form new
potentials and stream functions. This technique is
called the method of superpositions
superposition of source and uniform flow

m
Ur sin
2

m
Ur cos
ln r
2

Superposition of basic flows

Streamlines created by injecting

dye in steadily flowing water show a
uniform flow. Source flow is created
by injecting water through a small
hole. It is observed that for this
combination the streamline passing
through the stagnation point could
be replaced by a solid boundary
which resembles a streamlined
body in a uniform flow. The body is
open at the downstream end and is
thus called a halfbody.

Rankine Ovals

a closed body can be modeled as a combination of a

uniform flow and source and a sink of equal strength
m
Ur sin
(1 2 )
2

m
Ur cos
(ln r1 ln r2 )
2

Flow around circular cylinder

when the distance between source and sink approaches 0,
shape of Rankine oval approaches a circular shape

K sin
Ur sin
r
K cos
Ur cos
r

Potential flows

Flow fields for which an incompressible

fluid is assumed to be frictionless and
the motion to be irrotational are
commonly referred to as potential flows.
Paradoxically, potential flows can be
simulated by a slowly moving, viscous
flow between closely spaced parallel
plates. For such a system, dye injected
upstream reveals an approximate
potential flow pattern around a
streamlined airfoil shape. Similarly, the
potential flow pattern around a bluff body
is shown. Even at the rear of the bluff
body the streamlines closely follow the
body shape. Generally, however, the
flow would separate at the rear of the
body, an important phenomenon not
accounted for with potential theory.

Effect of pressure gradient

dAlemberts paradox: drug on an object in inviscid liquid is zero,
but not zero in any viscous liquid even with vanishingly small
viscosity

inviscid flow

viscous flow

Effect of pressure gradient

At high Reynolds numbers, nonstreamlined (blunt) objects have wide,

low speed wake regions behind them.
As shown in a computational fluid
dynamics simulation, the streamlines for
flow past a rectangular block cannot
follow the contour of the block. The flow
separates at the corners and forms a
wide wake. A similar phenomenon
occurs for flow past other blunt objects,
including bushes. The low velocity wind
in the wake region behind the bushes
allows the snow to settle out of the air.
The result is a large snowdrift behind the
object. This is the principle upon which
snow fences are designed

Drag on a flat plate

Drag coefficient diagram

CD

D
2
1

U
A
2

Drag dependence
Low Reynolds numbers Re<1:

D f (U , l , )

D C lU

2C
CD
Re

Drag dependence

Moderate Reynolds numbers. Drag coefficient on flat plate ~Re -; on blunt

bodies relatively constant (and decreases as turbulent layer can travel
further along the surface resulting in a thinner wake

Examples

Examples
The drag coefficient for an
object can be strongly
dependent on the shape of
the object. A slight change
in shape may produce a
considerable change in
drag.

Problems
6.60. An ideal fluid flows past an infinitely
long semicircular hump. Far from hump
flow is uniform and pressure is p0. Find
maximum and minimum pressure along
the hump. If the solid surface is y=0
streamline, find the equation for the
streamline passing through Q=p/2, r=2a.

9.2. The average pressure and shear

stress acting on the surface of 1 msquare plate are as indicated.
Determine the lift and drag generated.

9.12. Water flows past a flat plate with an upstream velocity of

U=0.02 m/s. Determine the water velocity 10mm from a plate at
distances 1.5mm and 15m from the leading edge.