April 21, 2017

Lecture – 40

Non Dimensionalisation of Basic Equation

 You have seen the Buckingham  method to non-dimensionalise the relations or form
non-dimensional relation for various experimental data.
 You also developed or came up with non-dimensional numbers or parameters.
 In today’s class, we will see the non-dimensionalisation of the basic equations and see
whether we can get some non-dimensional numbers.

Recall for an incompressible fluid (mainly liquid), the continuity equation was:

.v  0 (vector form)

vi
0 (index form)
xi
u v w
  0 (expanded form)
x y z

Also for the incompressible liquid, the momentum equation was:

 v v v v 
  u  v  w    g  p   2v (Vector Form)
 t x y z 
 vi (  vi )  p  2v i
  vj    gi  
 t x j  xi x j x j

The typical boundary conditions used to solve fluid flow are:

 Fixed solid surface, i.e. v  0
 Inlet or outlet flow, known. i.e. given v , p, etc.
 Free surface, such that pliquid  patm or water surface.

For incompressible liquids, the variables and parameters are now:

 = constant (A parameter)
p, v , x, y, z, t are the variables present in the equation.
 The basic dimensions are M, L, T
 We need to non-dimensionalise the variables.
 For that, we need to fix some reference values.

Let the reference velocity be v and reference length L (Reference value means they are not
variables and they are known values apriori).
The reference values can be eg: Inlet or Upstream velocity U, it can be diameter of immersed body,
or diameter of pipe, or length of aerofoil, etc.

Define Non-dimensional variables:

v
v 
U

Please note that we will be using * as superfix on each variable to show that it is a non-dimensional
variable.

u v w
u  , v  , w 
U U U
x y z
x  , y  , z  
L L L
  
  iˆ  ˆj  kˆ
x  y  z 
or
  
  Liˆ  Ljˆ  Lkˆ
x y z
   
 L iˆ  ˆj  kˆ 
 x y z 
or
  L
U
t  t
L
p   gz
p 
u 2

(Note :  is an operator)
p  is computed with respect to piezo metric head ( p   gz ) in the numerator.

Note :  , U, L are constant.

Therefore,
u  Uu * U u *
 
x ( Lx*) L x *
Similarly,
v  Uv * U v *
 
y  ( Ly*) L y *
w  Uw * U w *
 
z  ( Lz*) L z *

The continuity equation can be expressed in non-dimensional form as:

u v w
  0
x y z
U  u * v * w * 
 x *  y *  z *   0
L  

 *.v*  0 (1)

The momentum equation can be non dimensionalised:

v  Uv * U 2 v *
Note :  
t  Lt *  L t *
 
 U 
The left side of the Naiver – Stokes momentum equation
U 2  v *  U u * U v * U w * 
    Uu *  Uv *  Uw *
 L  t *  L x * L y * L z * 
U2 v * v * v * v * 
  t *  u * x *  v * y *  w * z * 
L  
U  v *
2

   (v *.*)v *
L  t * 
U 2  dv * 

L  dt * 
The non dimensionalisation of RHS of Naiver – Stokes momentum equation
p   gz
(Recall p  )
u 2
You can derive yourself and check.

You will get

U2   U2  2
 g  p   2v    * p*    * (v *)
L UL  L 
dv * 
  * p *   *2 (v *) (2)
dt * UL

Equation (2) is non-dimensional form of linear momentum equation.

You can see from equation (2), there are non-dimensional number like Reynolds number present
ij the expression. Therefore,

dv * 1
  * p *   *2 (v *)
dt * Re

For boundary conditions, if v  0

Then non-dimensional form, v*  0 (For fixed solid surface)

For inlet and outlet known values, you can provide p*, v * .
For free surface,
d *
z*   * or w* 
dt
p gL
p  atm2  2 z *
u U

The free surface pressure condition has non-dimensional numbers (or parameter):

patm
Euler Number , Eu =
u 2
U2
Froude Number, Fr 2

gL

Similarly, in fluid mechanics, you will come up with various such types of non-dimensional
parameters:
UL
I. Reynolds Number, Re 

U
II. Mach Number, Ma 
a
U
III. Froude Number, Fr 
gL
U 2 L
IV. Weber Number, We 

p  pv
V. Cavitation Number, Ca 
U 2