aea0t6 Couette ow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Couette flow From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In fluid dynamics, Couette flow is the laminar flow of a viscous fluid in the space between two parallel plates, one of which is moving relative to the other. The flow is driven by virtue of viscous drag force acting on the fluid and the applied pressure gradient parallel to the plates. This type of flow is named in honor of Maurice Marie Alfred Couette, a Professor of Physics at the French University of Angers in the late 19th century. Contents 1 Simple conceptual configuration = 1.1 Mathematical description = 1.2 Constant shear Couette flow with pressure gradient Taylor's idealized model Finite-width model Wendl's result for phy: See also References External links devices Simple conceptual configuration Mathematical description y.dimension Couette flow is frequently used in undergraduate physies boundary plate and engineering courses to illustrate shear-driven fluid (2D, moving) motion.!'] The simplest conceptual configuration finds two infinite, parallel plates separated by a distance h, One plate, say the top one, translates with a constant velocity ug in its own plane. Neglecting pressure gradients, the Navier— Stokes equations simplify to au ay where y is a spatial coordinate normal to the plates and u(y) is the velocity distribution. This equation reflects the assumption that the flow is uni-directional. That is, only one of the three velocity components (u,v, w) is non- velocity, w boundary plate (2D, stationary) Simple Couette configuration using two infinite flat plates. trivial, Ify originates at the lower plate, the boundary conditions are u(0) = 0 and u(h) = up. The exact solution y uly) = oF can be found by integrating twice and solving for the constants using the boundary conditions. Constant shear htpaienwikipodicorgivikitCouste Now aaea0t6 Couette ow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A notable aspect of this model is that shear stress is constant throughout the flow domain.) In particular, the first derivative of the velocity, up/h, is constant. (This is implied by the straight-line profile in the figure.) According to Newton's Law of Viscosity (Newtonian fluid), the shear stress is the product of this expression, and the (constant) fluid viscosity. Couette flow with pressure gradient A more general Couette flow situation arises when a pressure gradient is imposed in a direction parallel to the plates. The Navier-Stokes equations, in this case, simplify to @u_idp ay dz? where dp/dz is the pressure gradient parallel to the plates and pris fluid viscosity. Integrating the above equation twice and applying the boundary conditions (same as in the case of Couette flow without pressure gradient) to yield the following exact solution UG) =o (2) Wty). The shape of the above velocity profile depends on the dimensionless parameter (dp 2pup \ dx)” be positive (adverse pressure gradient) or negative (favorable pressure gradient), The pressure gradient c It may be noted that in the limiting case of stationary plates, the flow is referred to as plane Poiseuille flow with a symmetric (with reference to the horizontal mid-plane) parabolic velocity profile. Taylor's idealized model The configuration shown in the figure cannot actually be realized, as two plates cannot extend infinitely in the flow direction. Sir Geoffrey Taylor was interested in shear-driven flows created by rotating co-axial cylinders. In his 1923 paper, Taylor reported the mathematical result (originally derived by Stokes in 1845) that accounts for curvature in the flow direction and has the form!4l cA a u(r) = Cir + where C; and C; are constants that depend on the rotation rates of the cylinders. (Note that r has replaced y in this result to reflect cylindrical rather than rectangular coordinates.) It is clear from this equation that curvature effects no longer allow for constant shear in the flow domain, as shown above. This model is incomplete in that it does not account for near-wall effects in finite-width cylinders, although itis a reasonable approximation if the width is large compared to the space between the cylinders. Generalizations of Taylor’s basic model have also been examined. For example, the solution for the time-dependent "start-up" process can be expressed in terms of Bessel functions.(5] Finite-width model htpaienwikipodicorgivikitCouste Now 28