An Introduction To Gas

Dynamics

What is Gas Dynamics?

Also known as Compressible flow.
Branch offluid mechanicsthat deals with flows having
significant changes in fluiddensity.
Study relevant to

High speed aircraft

Jet Engines
Hyperloop
High Speed Entry of space crafts
Gas pipelines and more..

History
Its origins lie with simpler machines.
In 19th century,Ernst Machsought to understand the
physical phenomenon involved through
experimentation.
At the beginning of 20th century, Ludwig Prandtland his
students proposed important concepts ranging from the
boundary layerto supersonicshock waves,
supersonic wind tunnels, and supersonic nozzle design.
Theodore von Krmn, a student of Prandtl, continued
to improve the understanding of supersonic flow.

The Sound Barrier

In the early 20th century was a public misconception
that there existed a barrier to the attainable speed of
aircraft, commonly referred to as the "sound barrier.
In truth, the barrier to supersonic flight was merely a
technological one, although it was a stubborn barrier to
overcome.
This accompanied the improved conceptual
understanding of gas dynamics.

Two forms of Gas Dynamics

Experimental gas dynamics Experimental gas dynamics undertakes wind tunnel
model experiments and experiments inshock tubesand
ballistic ranges with the use of optical techniques to
document the findings.

Theoretical gas dynamics Theoretical gas dynamics considers the equations of

motion applied to a variable-density gas, and their
solutions.

Mach number, wave motion, and

sonic speed
The Mach number (M) is defined as the ratio of the
speed of an object (or of a flow) to the speed of sound.
M can range from 0 to , but this broad range falls
naturally into several flow regimes.

Mach angle
at a 1

vt v M
1
sin 1
M

sin

Always stays inside the

family of circular sound
waves

Wave front called

Mach Wave
Always stays outside the
family of circular sound
waves

Mach Number

V2
V2
V2
V2
V2
V2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
M 2

a
RT ( 1) RT 1 R T 1 CvT ( 1) e
1
1

V
M
a

M 1
M 1
M 1

Subsonic flow
Sonic flow
supersonic flow

The physical meaning of M

M

Kinetic energy
Internal energy

Other Applications
Spacecraft re entry

De Laval Nozzle
HighSpeedflowsoftenseemcounterintuitivewhen
Comparedwithlowspeedflows
Example:ConvergentDivergentNozzle(DeLaval)
In1897SwedishEngineerGustavDeLavaldesignedAturbinewheelpowered
by4steamnozzles.
DeLavalDiscoveredthatifthesteamnozzlefirstnarrowed,andthenexpanded,
theefficiencyoftheturbinewasincreaseddramatically.
Furthermore,theratiooftheminimumareatotheinletandoutletareaswas
criticalforachievingmaximumefficiencyCountertothewisdomofthe
day.

Salient Features of Gas Dynamics

A Complete Fluid Mechanics.
Sudden transfer of energy from one form to another form.
Shock : kinetic (ordered) to thermal (random).
Expansion Wave : Thermal to Kinetic.
Introduces inviscid entropy/vorticity layers.
Momentum boundary layer
occurs in thin layer near surface where velocity relaxes from freestream to
zero to satisfy the no-slip condition.
Necessary to predict viscous drag forces on body.
Thermal boundary layer
As fluid decelerates in momentum boundary layer kinetic energy is converted
to thermal energy
Temperature rises can be significant (> 1000 K)

 Caloric gas behavior to Non-Caloric gas behavior.

vibrational relaxation effects
energy partitioned into vibrational modes in addition to translational
lowers temperature that would otherwise be realized
important for air above 800 K
unimportant for monatomic gases
Perfect gas behavior to Imperfect gas behavior.
dissociation effects
effect which happens when multi-atomic molecules split into constituent
atoms O2 totally dissociated into O near 4000 K.
N2 totally dissociated into N near 9000 K.
For T > 9000 K, ionized plasmas begin to form
Vibrational relaxation, dissociation, and ionization can be accounted for to
some extent by introducing a temperature-dependent specific heat cv(T)