Session 6: The governing equations of boundary layer

Neglecting gravity effects, the general form of the continuity and momentum equations for a steady two-
dimensional incompressible viscous flow with the x direction along the wall and y normal to the wall, as in
the figure below are in the type of:

These should be solved for u, v, and p subject to typical no-slip, inlet, and exit boundary conditions, but in
fact they are too difficult to handle for most external flows.

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 𝛿
In 1904 Prandtl correctly deduced that a shear layer must be very thin (𝐿 ≪ 1) if the Reynolds number is
large, so that the following approximations apply:

Applying these approximations to the y-momentum equation results in a powerful simplification:

In other words, the y-momentum equation can be neglected entirely, and the pressure varies only along the
boundary layer, not through it. The pressure-gradient term in the x-momentum equation is assumed to be
known in advance from Bernoulli’s equation applied to the outer inviscid flow as:

Presumably we have already made the inviscid analysis and know the distribution of U(x) along the wall.

Meanwhile, one term in the x-momentum equation is negligible due to the Prandtl’s assumptions as

However, neither term in the continuity continuity can be neglected - another warning that continuity is
always a vital part of any fluid-flow analysis.

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The net result is that the three full equations of motion are reduced to Prandtl’s two boundary-layer
equations:

These are to be solved for u(x, y) and v(x, y), with U(x) assumed to be a known function from the outer
inviscid-flow analysis. There are two boundary conditions on u and one on v: