• DECEMBER 2019

Intro to Real External Flows

Real External Flows – Lesson 1

Intro
• External flows in general can be classified as flows over immersed
bodies where flow features (such as boundary layers) around the
body can develop freely without constraints of adjacent surfaces:
‐ Airflow over aircraft and ground vehicles
‐ Water flow over a submersible vessel
‐ Flying baseballs, footballs and golf balls
• One of the most important areas of interest in studying external
flows are fluid forces acting on the body, as they define the
dynamics of an object traveling through a fluid.
• In this section, we will cover realistic external fluid flows across all
fluid regimes from laminar to turbulent.

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Examples of External Flows

Sky Diving Cycling Running

Reentry Vehicles Swimming Baseball

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What Do We Know?

• Unlike internal flows which could be solved analytically for the entire range of laminar 𝑅𝑒, analytical
solutions to flows over even simple shapes are only possible for very low Reynolds numbers 𝑅𝑒~1
which are of little interest in practical applications.
• Even at modest laminar regime numbers 𝑅𝑒~10, external flows start developing separation regions
and wakes which cannot be described analytically.
• The boundary layer theory for laminar and turbulent flows provided us with relations and
correlations which can clarify some, but not all, characteristics of external flows.
• An external flow is, indeed, a challenging problem even in present-day fluid dynamics.

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Challenges of External Flows
• To highlight challenges in predicting external flows, let’s
consider a flow over a very simple cylindrical shape. Re = 9.6

• Even though the shape is simple, the flow is not! No Separation

• At 𝑅𝑒 ∝ 10 the flow starts separating and developing a

stationary wake.
Re = 26
• As the Reynolds number increases, the wake becomes
unsteady and evolves into periodically shed vortical
structures. Steady Separation
Re = 30.2
• Such unsteady evolution of the wake leads to time-fluctuating
fluid forces whose prediction becomes challenging even in
the laminar regime.
• External flows over real geometries are expected to be even
more complex. Unsteady Separation

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External Flow Features – Frame of Reference and Upstream
Conditions
• In external flow problems, the flow either moves over a stationary body (e.g., a wind tunnel experiment) or a body
moves in a quiescent fluid (e.g., a flying airplane).

• In fluid dynamics it is common to describe the flow in the reference frame fixed to the body, i.e., fluid is flowing
over a stationary body.

Flow over a stationary body: Body moving in a quiescent fluid:

aircraft in a wind tunnel flying aircraft

• Upstream conditions (velocity, pressure, density) are normally used as inputs to characterize the flow upstream of
the body at a location where the flow is not affected by body’s presence. In most cases, constant upstream
conditions are used.

Body to be analyzed
𝑉∞ , 𝑃∞ , 𝜌∞

𝐿 Flow Domain
Upstream Conditions 𝑥 ≥ 20𝐿

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External Flow Features – Streamlined vs. Bulky Body Shapes
• External flow characteristics depend greatly on a body’s shape.
While there are many different possible shape variations, two
extremes are:
• Bulky shapes, like buses or large trucks:
‐ Flows are highly separated and unsteady, and steady-state
approximation may not give accurate results.
Bulky Shape
‐ Boundary layers are significantly affected by flow separations, and the
boundary layer theory is largely inapplicable.

• Streamlined shapes like airplanes or submarines:

‐ Flows are attached over a significant part of the body surface.
‐ The boundary layer theory can be taken advantage of in certain cases.
‐ The steady-state assumption holds in many situations.

Streamlined Shape

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Laminar vs Turbulent Flow

• The vast majority of practical external flows are turbulent in a sense that the flow is turbulent in a
part of the domain around the flow.
• All turbulent external flows invariably have laminar regions, e.g., a boundary layer immediately after
its onset or slow-moving separation regions.
• If laminar regions are very small compared to the turbulent region, then the flow can be assumed to
be fully turbulent.
• On the other hand, if a laminar boundary layer persists over a significant portion of the surface, then
both laminar and turbulent regimes must be included in the analysis.

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External Flow — What Do We Want to Know?

• External flows develop whenever an object is moving through a fluid.

‐ Example – have you ever felt the air resistance while speeding up on your bike?

• As an object travels though the fluid, its dynamics are affected by pressure and viscous forces.
• Therefore, for external flow analysis, our primary objectives are prediction of fluid forces acting on
the object and understanding the flow physics defining these forces.
• We will:
‐ Take a detailed look at lift and drag forces acting on bodies in external flows
‐ Cover flow separation and reattachment
‐ Discuss free shear flows: jets, wakes and mixing layers

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Summary

• External viscous flows are important across many industries (aerospace,

automotive, marine). In our everyday life we are also surrounded by external
flows.
• External flow physics is complex even in the laminar regime. Turbulent external
flows become very complex because of flow transition and separation.

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