Assignment 3

ChE611A Transport Phenomena 12 Mar 2022

Assignments won’t be graded.

1. Startup flow in a cylindrical pipe: Work out Section D of Chapter 3 in Leal’s book. This
problem is the same as Problem 4D.2 in Bird. A Newtonian incompressible fluid placed in-
side a cylindrical pipe is set into motion due to an imposed pressure gradient across its ends
at time t = 0. Assume the flow to be axisymmetric and consider the wall to uphold the no-slip
assumption. Ignoring the entry and exit effects, solve for the 1D transient velocity profile.
(a) Formulate the problem in an appropriate co-ordinate system. Use o(1) scaling analysis to
obtain the non-dimensionalized governing equations.
(b) Decompose the problem into its steady and transient parts. Use the method of separation
of variables to obtain the transient part.
(c) Show that the eigenvalue problem for this case is given by the zeroth order Bessel’s equa-
tion of the form,
d2R dR
r2 2 + r + λ 2 r2 R = 0,
dr dr
where R denotes the separable function that incorporates the radial dependence of velocity.
(d) Assume the two independent solutions to the Bessel’s equation given in (c) to be J0 (λ r)
and Y0 (λ r). Here, J0 and Y0 represent the Bessel’s function of the first and second kind re-
spectively. In addition, it is also given that J0 (x) → −∞ as x → 0.

2. Example with a Neumann Boundary condition: Re-solve the transient 1D plane-Couette

flow that was worked out in the class. However, now instead of assuming the stationary top
wall to be no-slip as was done in the class, take it to be stress-free, i.e., the tangential stress
acting on the top stationary wall is zero. Decompose the problem into its steady (us ) and
transient (utr ) parts, followed by the method of separation of variables.
3. Example with a non-homogeneity in governing equation: Re-solve the transient 1D plane-
Couette flow that was worked out in the class. However, now assume that a body force per
unit volume, given by a sin(y/H0 ), acts on the fluid in the positive x−direction. Decompose
the problem into its steady (us ) and transient (utr ) parts, followed by the method of separation
of variables.
4. Example with a time-dependent non-homogeneity in boundary condition: Re-solve the
transient 1D plane-Couette flow that was worked out in the class. However, now the motion
of the bottom wall is time-dependent, given by u(y = 0) = U0 (1 + t).
(a) Decompose the problem into two parts like earlier, where the first part of the solution
(u1 ) satisfies the steady governing equation and accounts for all inhomogeneity in boundary
conditions. This decomposition then leaves the second part of the solution (u2 ) with homo-
geneous boundary conditions, and the method of separation of variables can be attempted. It
should be noted that though u1 was chosen to satisfy the steady governing equation, it is still
a function of time through the time-dependent non-homogeneity in the boundary condition.
(b) Solve the eigenvalue problem associated with the spatial part of the problem to obtain the
corresponding eigenfunctions, Φn (y).
(c) Now, express u2 using eigenfunction expansion as:
u2 (y,t) = ∑ an (t)Φn (y).

1
Substitute the above eigenfunction expansion for u2 into its governing equation. Use the
orthogonality property of eigenfunctions to obtain the governing equation for an (t). Solve for
an (t) and thereby obtain the velocity field.