BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE – PILANI, HYDERABAD CAMPUS

Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME G515 - Computational Fluid Dynamics
First Semester 2018-2019
Max. Marks: 50 Mid-Semester Exam 9th Oct 2018

𝜕𝜙 𝜕2 𝜙 1 𝜕 𝜕𝜙
1. The energy equation for slug flow in a circular tube is given as 𝑃𝑒 𝜕𝑥 = 𝜕𝑥 2 + 𝑟 𝜕𝑟 (𝑟 𝜕𝑟 )
where, Pe is a dimensionless number known as the Peclet number, 𝜙 is the dimensionless
temperature, and 𝑥, 𝑟 are the dimensionless axial and radial coordinate distances, respectively.
Determine the nature of this equation and state the boundary conditions required to solve it.
[5M]

𝜕𝜙 𝜕𝜙
2. Consider the 1D wave equation given by 𝜕𝑡 + 𝛼 𝜕𝑥 = 0. [2+5+6=13M]
a. Write the corresponding forward-time central-space difference equation.
b. Evaluate the consistency of the resulting discretized equation.
c. Using Von Neumann stability analysis, comment on the stability of this scheme.

3. Consider the 2D steady state conduction in a flat plate of dimensions 30𝑐𝑚 × 30𝑐𝑚. The finite
difference grid is shown in the figure below, where the indices 𝑖 and 𝑗 take the values 1,2,3
and 4. Heat is lost from both the surfaces of the plate to the surroundings at 0𝑜 𝐶 through
convection (ℎ = 200 𝑊/𝑚2 . 𝐾). Assume 𝛼 = 1 𝑚2 /𝑠.
a. Write the discretized equations for heat transfer at each of the interior nodes.
b. Solve the resulting equations using two Gauss-Seidel iterations starting with initial guess
values of 100𝑜 𝐶 for the interior nodes. [5+8=13M]
200𝑜 𝐶

100𝑜 𝐶 100𝑜 𝐶
𝑖

0𝑜 𝐶
𝑗
𝜕3 𝑢
4. Consider the problem of finding a finite difference representation of 𝜕𝑥 3 | in terms of 𝑢𝑖−1, 𝑢𝑖+1
𝑖
and 𝑢𝑖+2.
a. Multiply the Taylor series expansions of the terms 𝑢𝑖−1, 𝑢𝑖+1 and 𝑢𝑖+2with 𝑎, 𝑏 and 𝑐
respectively. Impose the necessary conditions on 𝑎, 𝑏 and 𝑐 to obtain a system of linear
equations 𝑷𝒙 = 𝑸, where 𝒙 = [𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐]𝑇 and 𝑸 is a column vector.
𝜕3 𝑢
b. Solve the system using direct inversion to obtain 𝒙 and the difference expression for 𝜕𝑥 3 | .
𝑖
c. What is the condition number of the matrix 𝑷? [4+5+3=12M]
5. Consider the radiative heat transfer from the surface of a sphere to the surroundings at 𝑇0 . If
the sphere is assumed to be at a uniform temperature 𝑇 throughout at all times, the governing
equation is 𝑑𝑇/𝑑𝑡 = −𝛼(𝑇 4 − 𝑇04 ), where 𝛼 = 𝜎𝜖𝐴/𝑚𝐶𝑝 . [3+4=7M]
a. Convert this differential equation into a difference equation using implicit method.
b. Comment on the resulting difference equation obtained. How do you propose to solve this
transient problem?