Blasius Boundary Layer

APPH 4200 Physics of Fluids

Columbia University

Similarity Equation
In[1]:=

eq = f@hD D@f@hD, 8h, 2<D 2 + D@f@hD, 8h, 3<D 0

1

Out[1]=

f@hD f @hD + fH3L @hD 0

In[2]:=

hBig = 25.0;

In[3]:=

bc = 8f '@hBigD 1, f@0D 0, f '@0D 0<

Out[3]=

8f @25.D 1, f@0D 0, f @0D 0<

Finding the Solution

In[4]:=
Out[4]=

sol = NDSolve@8eq< ~ Join ~ bc, f, 8h, 0, hBig<D

88f InterpolatingFunction@880., 25.<<, <>D<<

Graph the Solution

In[5]:=
Out[5]=
In[6]:=
Out[6]=
In[7]:=

fBlasius = f . First@solD
InterpolatingFunction@880., 25.<<, <>D
gBlasius@h_D = D@fBlasius@hD, hD
InterpolatingFunction@880., 25.<<, <>D@hD
Plot@fBlasius@hD, 8h, 0, hBig<, PlotLabel "f@hD"D

f@hD
20

15
Out[7]=

10

10

15

20

25

Blasius_Boundary.nb

In[8]:=

Plot@gBlasius@hD, 8h, 0, hBig 2<,

PlotLabel "g@hD", PlotRange All, AxesLabel 8"h", "uU "<D

g@hD
uU
1.0

0.8

Out[8]=

0.6

0.4

0.2

10

12

Cross Velocity
Normalized to the
In[9]:=

uy@h_D = H1 2L Hh gBlasius@hD - fBlasius@hDL

1

Out[9]=

In[10]:=

Re

H- InterpolatingFunction@880., 25.<<, <>D@hD + h InterpolatingFunction@880., 25.<<, <>D@hDL

PlotBuy@hD, 8h, 0, hBig 2<, PlotLabel "Normalized uy @hD",

PlotRange All, AxesLabel :"h", "Huy U L

Re ">F

Normalized uy @hD
Huy U L

Re

0.8

0.6
Out[10]=

0.4

0.2

Normalized Shear Stress

At the plate surface
In[11]:=

D@gBlasius@hD, hD . h 0

Out[11]=

0.332057

Summary

10

12

Blasius_Boundary.nb

Summary
Blasius provided the mathematically rigorous "similiarity" solution to the boundary layer thickness for uniform flow along a
fixed plate. The similiarity transformation creates an nonlinear ordinary differential equation that can be easily integrated.