COURSE NUMBER: ME 323

Fluid Mechanics II
3 credit hour

External flows

Course teacher
Dr. M. Mahbubur Razzaque
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
BUET 1
 External flows

The study of external flows is of particular importance to the

aeronautical engineer in the analysis of airflow around the various
components of an aircraft. In fact, much of the present knowledge of
external flows has been obtained from studies motivated by such
aerodynamic problems.

Other examples of external flows: the flow of fluid around turbine

blades, automobiles, buildings,
g smokestacks, spray
p y droplets,
p bridge
g
abutments, submarine pipelines, river sediment, and red blood cells,
etc.

LowReynoldsnumber flows (Re < 5) are called creeping flows or

Stokes flows and rarely occur in engineering applications. Flow
around spray droplets, lubrication in small gaps, and flow in porous
media
di would
ld be
b a few
f exceptions.
ti W will
We ill direct
di t our attention
tt ti to t high
hi h
Reynoldsnumber flows (Re > 1000).
2
HighReynoldsnumber
h ld b fl
flows can be
b subdivided
bd d d into three
h major
categories:

(1) incompressible immersed flows involving such objects as

automobiles, helicopters, submarines, lowspeed aircraft, takeoff
and landing of commercial aircraft, buildings, and turbine blades;

(2) flows of liquids that involve a free surface as experienced by a ship

or a bridge abutment; and

(3) compressible flows involving highspeed objects (V > 100 m/s) such
as aircraft, missiles, and bullets.

We will focus our attention on the first category of flows in this chapter
and consider cases in which the object is far from a solid boundary or
other objects.

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The flow becomes significantly influenced by the presence of a boundary
or another object, as shown in Fig. 8.2; in part (d) the slender object must
be at least five bodyy lengths
g below the free surface before free surface
effects can be neglected.
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HighReynoldsnumberincompressibleimmersedflowsaroundblunt
bodiesandflowsaroundstreamlinedbodies.

Separated region: A region of recirculating flow.

Wake: A region of velocity defect that grows due to diffusion.
The boundaries of the wake, the separated region, and the turbulent
boundary layer are quite time dependent. Shear stresses due to viscosity
are concentrated in the thin boundary layer, the separated region, and
th wake;
the k outside
t id these
th regions
i th flow
the fl i approximated
is i t d byb an inviscid
i i id
flow.
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The separated region eventually closes; the wake keeps diffusing into the
main flow and eventually disappears as its area becomes exceedingly
large (the fluid regains the freestream velocity).

Timeaverage
g streamlines do not enter a separated
p region;
g ; theyy do enter
a wake. The separated region is always submerged within the wake.

Flow around a blunt object is usually treated empirically, as was done

for a turbulent flow in a conduit.

We are interested primarily in

the
th drag,
d th force
the f th flow
the fl exerts
t on the
th body
b d in i the
th direction
di ti off the
th
flow.
the lift, which acts normal to the direction of flow.

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We present the drag FD and lift FL in terms of dimensionless coefficients:
the drag coefficient and lift coefficient,
coefficient defined as

where A is most often the projected area (projected on a plane normal to

the direction of the flow); for airfoil shapes, the area is based upon the
chord (see Fig. 8.4).

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In a flow around a streamlined body, the separated region is
i i ifi
insignificantly
l small
ll or nonexistent.
i

A boundary layer that develops on a plane streamlined surface, such as

an airfoil,
airfoil is usually sufficiently thin that the curvature of the surface can
be ignored and the problem can be treated as a boundary layer
developing on a flat plate.

If the flow in the boundary layer on a streamlined body can be

determined, the drag can be calculated, since the drag is a result of the
shear stress and p
pressure force acting
g on the body
y surface.

Outside the boundary layer there exists an inviscid freestream flow.

Before the velocity profile in the boundary layer can be determined, it is

necessary that the inviscid flow solution be known. It is found by
completely ignoring the boundary layer and solving the appropriate
i i id equations.
inviscid ti

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Flow separation and stall

When separation occurs on a streamlined body near the forward portion

of an airfoil, as it will with a sufficiently large angle of attack (the angle
the oncoming flow makes with the chord, a line connecting the trailing
edge with the nose),
nose) the flow situation is referred to as stall,
stall as shown in
Fig. 8.4.

Stall
St ll is
i highly
hi hl undesirable
d i bl on aircraft
i ft att cruise
i conditions
diti and
d leads
l d tot
inefficiencies when it occurs on turbine blades.

It is used,
used however,
however to provide the high drag needed when landing an
aircraft, or in certain maneuvers by stunt planes.
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Flow separation and reattachment

The location of the separation point is dependent primarily on the

geometry
g y of the body;
y; if the body
y has an abruptp change
g in g
geometry,
y,
separation will occur at, or near, the abrupt change. In addition,
reattachment will occur at some location, as shown.

10
Downstream of the separation point the xcomponent velocity near the
wall is in the negative xdirection and thus at the wall du/dy must be
negative.

Upstream of the separation point the xcomponent velocity near the wall
i in
is i the
th positive
iti xdirection,
di ti d
demanding
di th t du/dy
that d /d att the
th wallll be
b
positive.

Hence we conclude that the separation point is defined as that point

where (du/dy)wall = 0.
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Separation on the flat surface occurs as the flow is approaching a stagnation
region where the velocity is low and the pressure is high. high As the flow
approaches the stagnation region the pressure increases, that is, dp/dx > 0; the
pressure gradient is positive.

Since separation
Si i is i often
f undesirable,
d i bl a positive
i i pressure gradientdi i called
is ll d an
adverse pressure gradient; a negative gradient is a favorable pressure gradient.

I ge
In general,
e a , thee eeffect
e o of aan aadverse
e se p
pressure
essu e ggradient
a ie results
esu s iin decreasing
e easi g
velocities in the streamwise direction; if an adverse pressure gradient acts on
a surface over a sufficient distance, separation may result. This is true even if
the surface is a flat plate, such as the wall of a diffuser.

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For a given geometry a greater distance is required to reduce the velocity near
the wall to zero, resulting in the movement of the separation point to the rear,
as can be observed in Fig.
Fig 8.8,
8 8 where both spheres are moving with the same
velocity (the sphere in (b) has sandpaper attached in the nose region).

In Fig.
g 8.8a it is observed that separation
p occurs on the front half of the sphere,
p ,
in a region of favorable pressure gradient. This separation is due to the
centrifugal effects as the fluid moves around the sphere. This phenomenon of
drag reduction is observed in the drop in the drag coefficient curves for a
sphere and a cylinder.
cylinder

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Drag Coefficient
The drag
Th d coefficient
ffi i curves for
f two bodies
b di that
h dod not exhibit
hibi sudden
dd geometric i
changes will be presented; the drag coefficients for the smooth sphere and the
long smooth cylinder are shown in Fig. 8.9 over a large range of Reynolds
p g flow with no separation
numbers. At Re < 1 creeping p results. For the sphere,
p ,
this creeping flow problem has been solved, with the result that

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Separation is observed at Re = 10 over a very small area on the rear of the body.
The separated area increases as the Reynolds number increases until Re = 1000,
where the separated region ceases to enlarge; during this growth of the
separated region the drag coefficient decreases.

At Re = 1000,
1000 95% of the drag is due to form drag (the drag force due to the
pressure acting on the body), and 5% is due to frictional drag (the drag force
due to the shear stresses acting on the body).

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The drag coefficient curve is relatively flat for smooth bodies over the range 103
< Re < 2x 105. The boundary layer before the point of separation is laminar and
the separated region is as shown in Fig. 8.8a.

If the surface is rough (dimples on a golf ball), the drop in the CD curve may
occur at Re 8 x 104. Since a lower drag is usually desirable,
desirable surface roughness
is often added; the dimples on the golf ball may increase the flight distance by
50 to 100%.

After the sudden drop in drag, the CD curve is observed to again increase with
increased Reynolds number. Experimental data are not readily available for Re
> 106 for a sphere and Re > 6 x 107 for a cylinder; however, a value of CD 0.2 for
a sphere at large Reynolds number appears acceptable.

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For cylinders of finite length and for elliptic cylinders, the drag coefficients are
presented in Table 8.1. The finitelength cylinders are assumed to have two free
ends. If one end is fixed to a solid surface, its length must be doubled when
using Table 8.1.

17
Blunt objects with sudden geometry changes have separated regions that are
relatively insensitive to the Reynolds number; the drag coefficients for some
common shapes are given in Table 8.2.

18
Blunt objects with sudden geometry changes have separated regions that are
relatively insensitive to the Reynolds number; the drag coefficients for some
common shapes are given in Table 8.2.

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22
 VortexShedding

Long blunt objects, such as circular cylinders, exhibit a particularly interesting

phenomenon when placed normal to a fluid flow; vortices or eddies (regions of
circulating fluid) are shed from the object, regularly and alternately from
opposite sides, as shown in Fig. 8.10.

The resulting flow downstream is often referred to as a Krmn vortex street,

named after Theodor von Krmn (18811963). The vortices are shed in the
Reynolds number range 40 < Re < 10 000, and are accompanied by turbulence
above
b R = 300.
Re 300

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For highReynoldsnumber
flows that is,
flows, is flows with
insignificant viscous forces,
the shedding frequency f,
in hertz, depends only on
the velocity and diameter.
Thus f = f(V, D). Using
dimensional analysis we
can show that fD/V =
const.

The dimensionless vortex

shedding frequency, is
called Strouhal number,

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From the experimental
results we observe that the
results,
Strouhal number is
essentially constant (0.21)
over the range 300 < Re <
10000; hence, the frequency
is directly proportional to
the velocity over this
relatively large Reynolds
number range.

When a vortex is
Wh i shed,
h d a smallll force
f i applied
is li d to the
h structure; if the
h
frequency of shedding is close to the natural frequency (or one of the
harmonics) of the structure, the phenomenon of resonance may occur in which
thee response
espo se to
o thee app
applied
ie force
o e is multiplied
u ip ie by
y a large
a ge factor.
a o

For example, when resonance occurs on a television tower, the deflection of

the tower due to the applied force may become so large that the supporting
cables
bl fail,
f il leading
l di to t collapse
ll off the
th structure.
t t

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26
Streamlining

If the flow is to remain attached to the surface of a blunt object, such as a

cylinder or a sphere, it must move into regions of higher and higher pressure
as it progresses to the rear stagnation point.

At sufficiently high Reynolds numbers (Re > 10) the slowmoving boundary
layer flow near the surface is unable to make its way into the highpressure
region near the rear stagnation point, so it separates from the object.

Streamlining reduces the high pressure at the rear of the object so that the
slowmoving flow near the surface is able to negotiate its way into a slightly
higherpressure
higher pressure region.

The fluid may not be able to make it all the way to the trailing edge of the
streamlined object, but the separation region will be reduced to only a small
percentage
t off the
th initial
i iti l separated
t d region
i on the
th blunt
bl t object.
bj t

The included angle at the trailing edge must not be greater than about 20 or
p
the separation region
g will be too large
g and the effect of streamlining
g will be
negated.

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When a body is streamlined, the surface area is increased substantially. This
eliminates
l the
h majority off the
h form
f or pressure drag
d b increases the
but h shear
h
drag on the surface.

To minimize drag, the idea is to minimize the sum of the form or pressure
drag and the shear drag.

Consequently, the streamlined body cannot be so long that the shear drag is
l
larger th
than th pressure drag
the d plus
l th shear
the h d
drag f a shorter
for h t body.
b d AnA
optimization procedure is required.

Obviously,
y, for a lowReynoldsnumber
y flow ((Re < 10)) the drag
g is due
primarily to shear drag and thus streamlining is unnecessary.

Finally, it should be pointed out that another advantage of streamlining is that

the periodic shedding of vortices is usually eliminated.
eliminated

The vibrations produced by vortex shedding are often undesirable, so

streamlining not only decreases drag but can eliminate the vibrations.

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29
Cavitation

Cavitation is a very rapid change of phase from liquid to vapor which occurs
in a liquid whenever the local pressure is equal to or less than the vapor
pressure. The first appearance of cavitation is at the position of lowest
pressure in a field of flow.

Four types of cavitation have been identified:

1 Traveling
1. T li cavitation,
it ti which
hi h occurs whenh vapor bubbles
b bbl or cavities
iti are
formed, are swept downstream, and collapse.

2. Fixed cavitation,, which occurs when a fixed cavity y of vapor

p exists as a
separated region. The separated region may reattach to the body, or the
separated region may enclose the rear of the body and be closed by the main
flow, in which case it is referred to as supercavitation.

3. Vortex cavitation, which is found in the highvelocity, and thus low

pressure, core of a vortex, often observed in the tip vortex leaving a propeller.

4. Vibratory cavitation, which may exist when a pressure wave moves in a

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liquid. A pressure wave consists of a pressure pulse, which has a high pressure
f ll
followedd by
b a low
l pressure. The
h lowpressure
l part off the
h wave (or vibration)
b
can result in cavitation.

The Traveling cavitation, in which vapor bubbles are formed and collapse, is
associated with potential damage. The instantaneous pressures resulting from
the collapse can be extremely high (perhaps 1400 MPa) and may cause damage
to stainless steel components, as happens on the propellers of ships.

Cavitation occurswheneverthecavitation number,definedby

is less than the critical cavitation number crit, which depends on the geometry
of the body and the Reynolds number.
number Here p is the absolute pressure in the
undisturbed free stream and pv is the vapor pressure.

As decreases below crit, the cavitation increases in intensity, moving from

traveling cavitation to fixed cavitation to supercavitation.

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The drag coefficient of a body is dependent on the cavitation number and for
small
ll cavitation numbers
b is given by
b

CD()=CD(0)(1+) (8.3.4)

where some values of CD(0) for common shapes are listed in Table 8.3 for
Re 105.

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The hydrofoil, an airfoiltype body that is used to lift a vessel out of the water,
is a shape
h that
h is invariably
bl associatedd withh cavitation. Drag and d lift
lf
coefficients and critical cavitation numbers are given in Table 8.4 for a typical
hydrofoil with 105 < Re < 106, where the Reynolds number is based on the
chord length and the area used with CD and CL is the chord times the length.

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34
LIFT AND DRAG ON AIRFOILS

An airfoil
A i f il is
i a streamlined
t li d body
b d designed
d i d to
t reduce
d th adverse
the d pressure
gradient so that separation will not occur, usually with a small angle of attack,
as shown in Fig. 8.12.

Without separation the drag is due primarily to the wall shear stress, which
results from viscous effects in the boundary layer.

The boundary layer on an airfoil is very thin, and thus it can be ignored when
solving for the flow field surrounding the airfoil.

Hence the lift on an airfoil can be approximated by integrating the pressure

distribution as given by the inviscid flow solution on the wall.
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Empirical results for the drag

For a typical
F t i l airfoil
i f il the
th lift and
d drag
d coefficients
ffi i t are given
i i Fig.
in Fi 8.13.
8 13 For
F a
specially designed airfoil the drag coefficient may be as low as 0.0035, but the
maximum lift coefficient is about 1.5. The design lift coefficient (cruise
condition)) is about 0.3,, which is near the minimum drag g coefficient condition.
This corresponds to an angle of attack of about 2, far from the stall condition of
about16.

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The drag coefficient presented may seem quite low compared with the
coefficients of the preceding section. For airfoils a much larger projected area is
used,
d namely, l the
th plan
l area, which
hi h is
i the
th chord
h d c (see
( Fi 8.12)
Fig. 8 12) times
ti th length
the l th
L of the airfoil. Thus the drag and lift coefficients are defined as

Conventionalairfoilsarenotsymmetric;hencethereisapositiveliftcoefficient
at zero angle of attack
atzeroangleofattack.

To take off and land at relatively low speeds, it is necessary to attain

significantly higher lift coefficients than the maximum of 1.7 of Fig. 8.13. Or if a
relatively low lift coefficient is to be accepted, the area c x L must be enlarged.
Both are actually accomplished. Flaps are moved out from a section of each
airfoil, resulting in an increased chord, and the angle of attack of the flap is also
increased. 37
Slots are used to move highpressure air from the underside into the relatively
low momentum boundary layer flow on the top side, as shown above; this
prevents separation from the flap, thereby maintaining high lift.

The lift coefficient can reach 2.5 with a singleslotted flap and 3.2 with a double
slotted flap. On some modern aircraft there may be three flaps in series with
three slots along g with a nose flap,
p to ensure that the boundary y layer
y does not
separate from the upper surface of the airfoil.

The effective length of the airfoil when calculating the lift is taken to be the tip
totip distance,
distance the wingspan.
wingspan The fuselage acts to produce lift on the
midsection of the aircraft.

The drag calculation must include the shear acting on the airfoil, the fuselage,
and the tail section.

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