American

University of
Madaba
Faculty of
Engineering

Fluids Mechanics Lab Report

Experiment 8: Pressure Distribution around

a Cylinder Bodies
Submitted by
Samer melad

1810362
Supervised by Dr. Monther Nimri
Eng. Heba Homaimat

 Aim

The aim of the experiment is to study the pressure distribution around a circular cylinder in an
airstream and to measure its resistance.
 Apparatus
 Fig. 8.1 Diagram of Apparatus
 Theory

For the circular cylinder, equation (8.1) allows us to calculate Cp from the measured pressure
distribution over the cylinder surface.

P surface −PStatic
Pressure coefficient CP= ………….. (8.1)
0.5 ρU 2

Fig 8.2: The Circular Cylinder

At the point marked” S” in Figure 8.2, the oncoming airstream is brought to rest. S is called the
stagnation point, and the streamline arriving at S is the dividing streamline. Moving around the
cylinder from S, we expect the velocity over the surface to increase from zero at S, and so
according to Bernoulli’s equation, we might expect the pressure and therefore the pressure
coefficient to fall. By an analysis which is beyond our scope, the velocity u over the surface is
given in terms of θ by the simple equation:

 ………….. (8.2)

Provided that the fluid is incompressible and non-viscous,

The Dynamic pressure is:

 0.5 ρ U 2=¿  PTotal −Pstatic ………….. (8.3)

The pressure coefficient, Cp, is

P surface −PStatic
CP = =1−4 ¿ ¿ ………….. (8.4)
0.5 ρU 2

This is the theoretical result for an incompressible, inviscid fluid, and forms the basis of
comparison with experimental results.

 Procedure

1- Fit the circular cylinder and protractor model into the AF12.
2- Connect the model to the manometer.
3- Set the wind speed to maximum and the protractor to zero angle.
4- Record the surface pressure PSurface and the static pressure PStatic.
5- Rotate the protractor in 5°intervals for readings over the front half (0 to 90°) and
10°intervals for readings over the rear half (90 to 180°).
6- Monitor the total pressure (PTotal) and static pressure (PStatic) at the inlet to ensure that the
wind speed is kept constant throughout the experiment.

 Results Analysis

1- Fill the following table:

θ Psurface −P Static 0.5ρU2 CP CP CP Cosθ

(degree (N/m2) Experimental Theoretical
)
0 608.22 62 9.81 1 9.81

10 490.5 62 7.91129 -0.18384 -6.63814

20 372.78 62 6.012581 -2.33388 2.453626

30 78.48 62 1.265806 -2.90483 0.195252

40 -98.1 62 -1.58226 -1.22077 1.055268

50 -431.64 62 -6.96194 0.724638 -6.71803

60 -627.84 62 -10.1265 0.628362 9.644564

70 -686.7 62 -11.0758 -1.39563 -7.01452

80 -706.32 62 -11.3923 -2.95126 1.25756

 90 -686.7 62 -11.0758 -2.19692 4.962777

100 -608.22 62 -9.81 -0.02562 -8.45935

110 -608.22 62 -9.81 0.99217 9.800394

120 -627.84 62 -10.1265 -0.34844 -8.24476

130 -647.46 62 -10.4429 -2.46039 3.835588

140 -686.7 62 -11.0758 -2.84348 2.190945

150 -686.7 62 -11.0758 -1.04419 -7.74477

160 -686.7 62 -11.0758 0.80741 10.80588

170 -706.32 62 -11.3923 0.519337 -10.6859

180 -706.32 62 -11.3923 -1.56738 6.817812

Table 8.1 Pressure Distribution around a Cylinder

2- Plot a graph (θ) Versus (Cp) and compare the results with those obtained theoretically
using equation (6).
3- Plot a graph (Cp Cosθ) versus (θ).

Note : 1 mmH2O = 9.81 N/m2

15

10

5
Cp

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

-5

-10

-15
ϴ
 15

10

5
Cp cos(ϴ)

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

-5

-10

-15
ϴ

Throughout this experiment several factors were found out these include:

The pressure distribution in the system

Drag of the cylinder

Drag coefficient

Reynolds number

Errors in the experiment which may have caused anomalies

1. Looking at the graphs it can be seen that the pressure distribution in the system
as in both lamina and turbulent flow also in parts off the graph it shows steady
correlation, between angles 900 and 3100 in laminar flow. Angles 1300 and 2300
in turbulent flow.
2. The drag on the cylinder in turbulent and lamina conditions show through the
results and graphs shown. As there is more drag when there is turbulent flow
 than lamina, however this easy to understand as, in lamina flow the eddies
produced have a small wake so therefore it does not have a large pressure so do
not increase drag. From the graphs it can be seen that the pressure coefficient in
lamina flow at 90ï‚° is greater than the pressure coefficient at turbulent flow.
However in the turbulent flow the motion reduce the pressure and so increases
the drag.

The drag coefficient can be found by looking at the results and graphs, which both show
that it is less in turbulent flow as the separation point occurs after 90ï‚° resulting in less
eddies so less wake and therefore a high pressure with a end of low drag coefficient.
Whereas in lamina flow it is greater than in turbulent. This may be due to the fact that
the separation point occurs before 90ï‚°, this has a resulting effect of more eddies which
induce wakes and low pressure, the end result of this is a high drag coefficient.

Appendix

The resistance of a body as it moves through a fluid is of great technical importance in

hydrodynamics and aerodynamics.
Consider the cylindrical body shown in cross-section in Figure 8.3. The reader may be unfamiliar
with the idea of a non-circular cylinder. In the present context the word ‘cylinder’ is used to
describe a body which is generated by a straight line moving round a plane closed curve, its
direction being always normal to the plane of the curve. For example, a pencil of hexagonal
cross-section is by this definition a cylinder.

Fig 8.3
The curve shown in Figure 8.2 represents a section of an oval cylinder. An essential property of a
cylinder is that its geometry is two-dimensional; each cross-section is exactly the same as every
other cross-section, so that its shape may be described without reference to the dimension along
the cylinder axis. We shall use the term circular cylinder to denote the particular and important
case of the cylinder of circular cross section. Motion of the cylinder through stationary fluid
produces actions on its surface which give rise to a resultant force. It is usually convenient to
analyze these actions from the point of view of an observer moving with the cylinder, to which
the fluid appears to be approaching as a uniform stream. At any chosen point A of the surface of
the cylinder, the effect of the fluid may conveniently be resolved into two components, pressure
p normal to the surface and shear stress τ along the surface. It is convenient to refer absolute
pressure pa to the datum of static pressure p0 in the oncoming stream; p is then a gauge pressure,
that is:

PGauge=PTotal −P static …………….. (1)

Let U denote the uniform speed of the motion and ρ the density of the fluid, then the dynamic
pressure in the undisturbed stream, ½ρU2, is

 0.5 ρ U 2=¿  PTotal −Pstatic ………….. (2)

Where, PTotal is the total pressure in the oncoming stream. This pressure is a useful quantity by
which the gauge pressure PGauge and shear stress τ may be non-dimensional, and the following
dimensionless terms are defined:

P surface −PStatic
Pressure coefficient, CP = ………….. (3)
0.5 ρU 2

Skin friction coefficient, Cf = …….. (4)

The combined effect of pressure and shear stress (sometimes called skin friction) gives rise to
resultant force on the cylinder. This resultant may conveniently be resolved into the following
components acting at any chosen origin C of the section as shown in Figure 10.2:
1. A component in the direction of U, called the drag force, of intensity D per unit length of
cylinder.
2. A component normal to the direction of U, called the lift force, of intensity L per unit length of
cylinder.
3. A moment about the origin C, called the pitching moment, of intensity M per unit length of
cylinder.
These components may be expressed in dimensionless terms by definition of drag, lift, and
pitching moment coefficients as follows:

Drag coefficient, Cd = ………….. (5)

Lift coefficient, CL = ………….... (6)

Pitching moment coefficient, CM = ………….. (7)

In which (d) denotes a suitable dimension which characterizes the size of the cylinder.