Exercises Lecture 4

Pressure distributions and flow separation

Ir. Nando Timmer
Salomon Voorhoeve
Delft University of Technology

Kurush Pawar - CC - BY - SA 2.0

 AE1110x - Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering

Exercise 1
How is the pressure coecient dened?

Exercise 2
Why do we invert the Cp (y) axis in the pressure distribution plot?
A) Because the pressure spike is otherwise not clearly visible
B) Because otherwise the ow over the top side of the airfoil is at the bottom of the graph and
vice versa
C) To visualise any adverse pressure gradient
D) None of the above

Exercise 3
A Boeing 747 is ying at M = 0.7 at an altitude where the temperature is 223.15 K and the density
is 0.41268 kg/m3 . The pressure coecient on a point of the wing is -2.
Calculate the pressure (in [Pa]) at this point on the wing:

Exercise 4
Consider the following statements:
1) A laminar ow over a cylinder has a less negative value for the minimum pressure coecient
than an inviscid ow.
2) The drag due to friction is higher than the drag due to pressure.

Select the answer that matches:

A) Only statement 1 is true
B) Only statement 2 is true
C) Both statement 1 and statement 2 are true
D) Neither statement 1 nor statement 2 is true

Exercise 5
Which of the statements about turbulence is false?

A) We sometimes prefer turbulent boundary layers because they delay ow separation.
B) Turbulence can be calculated exactly from, for instance, the Navier-Stokes equations.
C) Turbulent boundary layers have more kinetic energy than laminar boundary layers.
D) We can force turbulent transition using, for instance, changes in surface roughness.

Exercise 6
What happens when we increase the Reynolds number? (Multiple answers may be correct)
A) The Cd decreases
B) Transition moves towards the trailing edge of the wing
C) The maximum lift coecient increases
D) The angle of attack for which the maximum lift coecient is reached, increases.

Exercises Lecture 4 - Pressure distributions and ow separation 1

Quiz lecture 4a
Quiz

Below we present the quiz for this lecture, that cover the topic of pressure distributions. If you
prefer to download them in PDF format, you can find a PDF-version here.

Note that you have unlimited attempts per question for all questions in this lecture,
unless indicated otherwise. In that case there will be a statement next to the
"check" button, saying "You have used ... of 2 submissions".

Definition of the pressure coefficient

0/1 point (ungraded)
How is the pressure coefficient defined?

Hint: Enter division as /, multiplication with *, squares as ^2; write out greek letters (so α is
written as 'alpha'), and enter subscripts with _ (so C L is written as C_L).

Cp =
(p*p_1/p_1-p_0)/(0.5*rho*V_0^2)

Explanation
The pressure coefficient was defined in the lectures as \(C_p=\frac{p-p_0}{\frac{1}{2}\rho
V_0^2\). (Note that, to also allow p1 in the answer, a small 'trick' has been applied to make the
system accept that as well, so the answer may look a bit weird)

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Inve
rted axis
0/1 point (ungraded)
Why do we invert the C p (y) axis in the pressure distribution plot?

Because the pressure spike is otherwise not clearly visible

 Because otherwise the flow over the top side of the airfoil is at the bottom of the
graph and vice versa

To visualise any adverse pressure gradient

None of the above

Explanation
The flow over the top side of the airfoil has a higher velocity and therefore a lower pressure; it is
useful to visualise this flow with negative pressure coefficients so that the top side of the graph
corresponds to the top side of the airfoil.

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Pre
ssure coefficient calculation
0/1 point (ungraded)
A Boeing 747 is flying at M = 0.7 at an altitude where the temperature is 223.15 K

and the density is 0.41268 kg/m3. The pressure coefficient on a point of the wing is -2.

Calculate the pressure (in [Pa]) at this point on the wing:

8298.9

Explanation
Using the equation of state, p = ρRT , we find p0 = 26429.7 Pa. We can find the velocity if
we know the speed of sound, for which we only need the temperature, so:
−−−−−
V0 = M a = M √ γRT0 = 0.7 ⋅ 299.44 = 209.61 m/s.
p −p
The pressure coefficient is defined as C p = 1 02 , so
1/2ρV0
1 1
p1 = C p ⋅ 2 ρV0
2 + p0 = −2 ⋅ 2 ⋅ 0.41268 ⋅ 209.612 + 26429.7 = 8298 Pa.

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Quiz lecture 4b
Quiz

Using the quiz below, you can test your understanding of the phenomenen of flow separation.

Pressures and drag

1/1 point (ungraded)
Consider the following statements:

1. A laminar flow over a cylinder has a less negative value for the minimum pressure coefficient
than an inviscid flow

2. The drag due to friction is higher than the drag due to pressure

Select the answer that matches

Only statement 1 is true

Only statement 2 is true

Both statement 1 and statement 2 are true

Neither statement 1 nor statement 2 are true

Explanation
If we look at the graph on the 4th slide of the lecture, we see that the line for laminar flow 'levels
off' at about -1.5, whereas the inviscid line continues to -3. Hence, statement 1 is true.
On the next slide, we compare the drag due to friction and pressure, and we can see that the
pressure drag is higher than the friction drag. Hence, statement 2 is false.

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Tur
bulence
0/1 point (ungraded)
Which of the statements about turbulence is false?
 We sometimes prefer turbulent boundary layers because they delay flow separation

Turbulence can be calculated exactly from, for instance, the Navier-Stokes

equations

Turbulent boundary layers have more kinetic energy than laminar boundary layers

We can force turbulent transition using, for instance, changes in surface roughness

Explanation
Turbulence is a very complicated phenomenen, which can only be modelled; there are no closed-
form analytical solutions available. Hence, the second statement is false.

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Incr
easing Reynolds number
0/2 points (ungraded)
What happens when we increase the Reynolds number? (Multiple answers may be correct)

The C d decreases

Transition moves towards the trailing edge of the wing

The maximum lift coefficient increases

The angle of attack for which the maximum lift coefficient is reached, increases.

Explanation
Transition moves towards the leading edge of the wing. The rest of the statements is true, as can
be seen from the graphs presented in the lecture.

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