Lecture-notes: Part 2

Non-dimensionalization,
Buckingham-Pi Theorem,
Boundary Layer, Flow Meters

Disclaimer: Shared exclusively for the use of B. Tech. Mechanical Engineering Students (2019- batch) of IIT (BHU) Varanasi
Some Solved Examples for Illustration
 Solution:
Recall the following definition of total acceleration of
a fluid particle

Non-dimensionalize the relevant parameters:

Velocity, time, pressure, angular velocity, spatial
measure, time

The final non-dimensional form of governing equation:

The non-dimensional parameters (groups) are:

 Lp

Prototype

Lm
For experiment model
Illustrative example 2: Pressure-drop ∆𝑝 across an orifice to drive a fluid

2
What about other primary dimensions? Ans: Force, length and time (F, L, t)
Topic : Flow past immerse bodies (external flow)

Question: Why should we study this topic?

Examples: flow around an aerofoil (wing)

Note
Flow near the surface
dictates the forces that
act on it
Example: flow around a vehicle
Design objectives
(a) low drag to achieve high speed at a low power
(b) low lift to sustain the car on ground at a high speed

Visualization of streamlines using

smoke (in air)/hydrogen bubble (in Note
water) in a wind/water tunnel Flow distribution near the surface of car is required to fulfill the
design objectives
What are we doing here? Understand the flow inside boundary layer to determine the
forces acting on a surface (e.g. on a flat plate)
y
Laminar flow ( at a low ReL = 10 ) over a flat plate

a. The boundary layer (the height of viscous region near

the surface up to u = 0.99 U) is broad. Boundary layer
thickness 𝛿 (𝑥)~𝑜(𝐿) varies with position.
b. A wide region of flow is retarded by the presence a flat
plate x
c. Large deviation of flow

ReX (local Reynolds number)

High-Re flow (ReL = 107 ) over a flat plate

a. The boundary layer is thinner than that of laminar

flow. Boundary layer thickness 𝛿 (𝑥) ≪ 𝑜(𝐿) varies
with position.
b. A small deviation of flow
Sub-topic: Integral approach for analyzing boundary layer over a flat plate
Objective: To determine the local thickness of boundary layer

Part I: determine the drag force on the flat plate

A flat plate of length L and width b is exposed to an
uniform free stream flow with velocity V = 𝑈0 𝑖Ƹ as shown
in the figure. The figure shows that the thickness of
boundary layer 𝛿 𝑥 increase with axial position (x). Then
we need to determine the drag force D acting on the
surface.

Selection of control volume (green region) :

A proper selection is necessary to ensure the mass and
momentum balance. The four control surfaces are defined
as follows:
Applying the momentum integral equation:
Part 2: Determine the local thickness of boundary layer over flat plate

Approach: Kármán analysis of the flat plate

The previous equation for Drag (D) was derived in 1921 using momentum thickness θ:

Momentum thickness is a measure of total drag on plate. Also we may re-write the drag using shear stress on
the flat plate as follows: (Question: why there is no effect of pressure? What is the underlying assumption?)
The above gives:
a. Accuracy : 10 % deviation from the known and accepted solution for laminar flow over a flat plate.
b. Skin friction coefficient: 𝑐𝑓 (analogous to friction factor ( f ) in ducts):

c. Displacement thickness 𝛿 ∗ :
The outer streamlines must deflect outward such that
the mass conservation is ensured as follows:

The above gives:

 Using the following Von Kármán parabolic profile for axial velocity:

we get

Conclusion: using the simplified momentum integral approach we can determine important
properties of boundary layer, like local thickness of boundary layer, shear stress, skin friction
coefficient and displacement thickness. However, these require an approximate velocity
profile. For a more detailed analysis the differential approach would be beneficial.
Sub-topic: Differential approach for analyzing boundary layer over a flat plate

Euler’s Equation

Inside boundary layer (viscous flow region):

Solve the Navier-Stokes equation

Outside boundary layer (inviscid flow region):

N-S Equation
Navier-Stokes equation?
or
Euler’s equation?

Challenge: Solving N-S equation over a wide

region is computationally and time-wise
expensive.

Solution? Any idea

Solution: Simplify (reduce) the detailed N-S equation, inside boundary layer, to reduce the computational cost and time.
This leads to the so-called BOUNDARY LAYER EQUATION.
Objective: to calculate the velocity and pressure distribution over a flat plate

Let us consider a 2-D (x-y), incompressible, viscous fluid flow over a flat plate in Cartesian coordinate system shown below:

Neglecting the body force due to gravity, the velocity profile

can be obtained by solving 2-D, Navier-Stokes equation as follows:

Boundary conditions:
Wall: no-slip; inlet: uniform, uni-directional velocity; Outside of boundary layer: velocity-gradient = 0;

Question: what about the pressure?

 Boundary Layer Equation

Note : For a curved wall, x can represent the arc length along the wall and y can be everywhere normal to x with negligible change
in the boundary layer equations as long as the radius of curvature of the wall is large compared with the boundary layer thickness

The above approximation simplifies the 2-D, incompressible, N-S Equation to the following:
Remarks:
a. The y-momentum equation can be neglected entirely.
b. Pressure varies only along the boundary layer.
c. The pressure gradient is estimated by applying the Bernoulli’s
equation to the outer inviscid flow:

1
𝑝 + 2 𝜌𝑈 2 = C ⇒

presumably, U(x) is known from the inviscid flow analysis.

Question: How to solve the boundary layer equation?

Problem: Find out thesolution for laminar flow over a flat plate.
Expected outcome: exact solution for u and v assuming a constant free stream velocity (U) or dU/dx = 0.

Approach:
The solution was given by Prandtl’s student Blasius in1908, and still widely used for solving many practical
problems. This solution relies in converting the boundary layer equation from PDE to ODE using a transformation.
There are several known approaches, like numerical integration (e.g. Runge-Kutta method), for solving an ODE. The
transformation is as follows:

This is the Blasius equation, which can be solved by

numerical integration. Some tabulated values of the velocity
profile shape f ́ (η)= u/U are given in the table in the next slide.
(wall)
(far from boundary layer)
 Solution:
In the following tabulated form:

Observations:
Coefficient of friction, 𝑐𝑓 , for laminar flow:

The wall shear stress:

Note:
1. 𝜏𝑤 ∝ 𝑈1.5 and 𝜏𝑤 ∝ 𝑥 −0.5 , which is unlike 𝜏𝑤 ∝ 𝑈
2. The drag coefficient, 𝐶𝐷 , for laminar flow over flat plate:
Turbulent flow of an incompressible fluid
y : height from the plate
δ : boundary layer thickness

a. Turbulent axial-velocity grows much faster

than that of laminar flow along the height
b. Laminar axial-velocity closely resembles the
parabolic profile
c. Turbulent axial-velocity varies as 1/7 power of
Blasius Solution height. This is called , 1/7th power-law.

Parabolic profile
 Turbulent flow of an incompressible fluid
Momentum thickness, 𝜃, for turbulent flow of fluid :

The skin friction coefficient, 𝑐𝑓 , for turbulent flow of fluid:

 Turbulent flow of an incompressible fluid
Wall shear stress, 𝜏𝑤 :

Turbulent plate friction drops slowly with x, increases nearly as ρ and U2, and is rather
insensitive to viscosity.
We can evaluate the drag coefficient by integrating the wall friction
Coefficient of Drag for Laminar and Turbulent flow on smooth and rough flat plates
Analogous to Moody diagram

𝑅𝑒𝐿 = 105

Roughness :
External flow : defined as x/ϵ or L/ϵ,
Internal flow (in a pipe) : defined as ϵ/d.
Fully Rough Regime ( at a certain ReL) :
- CD is independent of ReL
- D varies as U2 and is is independent of μ.
Transition regime:
Laminar drag coefficient is appreciable

Schlichting’s approximation
depending on the initiation of
transition regime at Retrans
 Revisit : boundary layer with pressure-gradient
Case: Steady, incompressible, Newtonian fluid flow over a flat plate, in 2D Cartesian (x-y) coordinate system.

𝑑𝑝
At the wall, u = 0 = v , for laminar and turbulent flow: Adverse pressure gradient ∶ >0
𝑑𝑥

𝜕2 𝑢 𝜕2 𝑢
ቚ > 0, however 𝜕𝑦 2 <0 at the outer layer
𝜕𝑦 2 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑙

𝜕2 𝑢
⇒ 𝜕𝑦 2
= 0 at some height point.

⇒ a point of inflection of velocity profile must exist

𝑑𝑝
Favorable pressure gradient ∶ < 0 ⇒ no inflection, no separation.
𝑑𝑥
Interpretation : using illustrations

height
Application : boundary layer growth inside a nozzle-diffuser configuration
 Forces on immerse bodies

Force Moment about axis

Drag (parallel to the flow) Rolling
Lift (perpendicular to drag) Yawing
Side force (no loss/gain) Pitching
Coefficient of pressure : representative of pressure distribution
Laminar boundary layer Turbulent boundary layer
Use: to estimate forces due to pressure distribution

(e.g. for invisicid flow)

Free stream: 𝑝∞ , 𝑉

Laminar boundary layer

a. vulnerable to the adverse gradient
b. separation occurs at 82°
c. broad wake and very low pressure in rear separation
d. High coefficient of drag 1.2.

Turbulent boundary layer

a. more resistant and separation is delayed until 120°
b. resulting smaller wake, higher pressure on the rear separation
c. Low coefficient of drag, 0.3
Velocity and Volume Flow Measurement Devices

Velocity Measurement (some devices) :

1. Rotating mechanical devices:
a. Cup anemometer
b. Savonius rotor
c. Propeller meter
d. Turbine meter
3. Hot wires and hot films.
4. Pitot-static tube
5. Laser-doppler anemometer (LDA).
6. Electromagnetic device
7. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)
Hot Wire Anemometer
• A very fine (tungstan, platinum or platinum alloy) wire (d ≤ 0.01 mm) heated between two small
probes
• ideally suited to measure rapidly fluctuating flows (turbulent boundary layer)
• King’s law : If electric power (q) is supplied to heat the cylinder, the loss varies with flow velocity
(V) across the cylinder as follows:

n ~ ½ for a very Low Re flow

n ~1/3 for a high-Re flow V

Operation process
a.1 constant current I (constant current anemometer) : R is measure for V
or
a.2 constant resistance R (constant temperature anemometer) : I is measure for V
b. Need calibration to find best-fit for a b and n; preferred for high Re flow
c. Suitable for low density fluid e.g. air
d. Not suitable for high density fluid (alternative: hot film anemometer)
Volume Flow Rate Meters
Turbine Flowmeter
a. for air b. for oil, gas and water supply
Calibration Chart

Rotation per second

Working
-. Rotation is converted into volume flow rate
- Rotation is measured using magnetic or electric pickup pulses.
 Vortex Flowmeter

Advantage
1. No moving parts.
2. Accuracy ~ 1 % for wide range of flow.
3. Useful for very hot or very cold fluids.
4. Requires a short pipe length.
5. Calibration insensitive to fluid density or viscosity.

Working principle
a. A bluff body placed in a uniform crossflow, sheds alternating vortices, at a nearly
uniform Strouhal number St = fL/U, where U is the approach velocity and L is a
characteristic body width.
b. Since L and St are constant, this means that the shedding frequency f is proportional to
velocity:
f = (constant) (U)

c. A shedding element is introduced to record the shedding frequency downstream with a

pressure, ultrasonic, or heat transfer type of sensor.
 Rotameter (variable area)
Working principle
- Variable area rotameter has a float that rises
under the action of flow
- At equilibrium (see figure):

where Wnet is the float’s net weight in the fluid, Aa = Atube - Afloat is the
annular area between the float and the tube, and Cd is a dimensionless
discharge coefficient of order unity, for the annular constricted flow.

Discharge coefficient (efflux coefficient): ratio of measured to

theoretical discharge. Need calibration to define this parameter.

Note
- Tube must be vertical
- The device does not give accurate readings for fluids containing high concentrations of bubbles or particles.
 Ultrasonic Flowmeter

Advantage
Accuracy: 1 – 5 %
Easy to install on pipeline

- The device is non-invasive (does not interfere with flow)

- Transducer A is excited with a sonic pulse that propagates across the flow to
downstream transducer B. The arrival at B triggers another pulse to be created at A,
resulting in a regular pulse frequency fA.
- The same process is duplicated in the reverse, creating frequency fB.
- The Doppler frequency shift fA - fB is proportional to the flow rate.
Orifice-type Flowmeter

Volume flow rate is estimated as follows:

Where, β = D2/D , t denotes the throat, and by dimensional analysis

the discharge coefficient Cd , for correction, is a function of β and ReD
 Self-study
- Velocity potential function for irrotational fluid flow
- Coriolis flowmeter and its working principle
- Venturi flowmeter and its working principle
- Other devices (refer to the suggested textbooks)
 Reference/Acknowledgement
A. All the used open resources are hereby acknowledged
B. Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, by Robert W. Fox, Philip J.
Pritchard, Alan T. McDonald
C. Fluid Mechanics, by F. M. White