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Aerodynamics HW 3
Aerodynamics HW 3
FUNDAMENTALS OF AERODYNAMICS
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FLUID STATICS
As the title suggest, to talk about Fluid Statics, we need to consider the case of no fluid
motion. Even though there is a no relative motion, a body immersed in a static fluid will
still experience a force.
To understand about this force, first we must consider an infinitesimally small fluid
element with sides of length dx , dy anddy . There are two types of forces acting on this
fluid element: pressure forces from the surrounding fluid exerted on the surface and the
gravity force due to the weight of the fluid inside the element.
The pressure on the bottom surface of the element p in the upward direction is a force
depending by the product of p and an area dxdy . As the surface of the top element is
in different location, its pressure will be slightly different from the pressure on the
bottom. Then the pressure exerted on the top surface will be p+ ( dpdy ) dy, and the
dp
pressure force on the top of the element will be p+
[ ( ) ][
dy
dy dxdz ] in the downward.
dp −dp
( ( ) )(
p ( dx dz ) − p+
dy
dy dx dz )=
dy
( dx dy dz )
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It’s a differential equation which relates the changes of pressure in a fluid with a
change in vertical height dy.
on the body due to the pressure distribution over the surface is F=( p 2−p 1)l(1)
p2 h1
The weight of a small element of fluid of height dy and width and length of unity is
ρgdy (1)(1). In turn, the weight of a column of fluid with a base of unit area and a
height (h1 −h2 ) is
h1
∫ ρ gdy
h2
Moreover, if we place l of these fluid columns side by side, we would have a volume of
fluid equal to the volume of the body on the left, and the weight of this total volume of
fluid would be
h1
∫ ρ gdy
h2
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The well-known Archimedean principle has just been obtained. Which holds
that when a body is immersed in a fluid whose density is lower, the unsupported object
will accelerate upward and float; in the opposite case, that is to say if the density of the
submerged body is greater than that of the fluid, it will accelerate downwards and sink.
Although a rectangular body has been used to simplify the derivation, Archimedes'
principle is valid for bodies of any general shape. Archimedes' principle applies to both
gases and liquids and does not require that the density be constant.
TIPES OF FLOW
Aerodynamics has evolved into a study of numerous and distinct types of flow
When two fluid layers move relative to each other, a friction force develops between
them and the slower layer tries to slow down the faster layer. This internal resistance to
flow is quantified by the fluid property viscosity, which is a measure of internal
stickiness of the fluid. Viscosity is caused by cohesive forces between the molecules in
liquids and by molecular collisions in gases. There is no fluid with zero viscosity, and
thus all fluid flows involve viscous effects to some degree. However, in many flows of
practical interest, there are regions where viscous forces are negligibly small compared
to inertial or pressure forces. Neglecting the viscous terms in such inviscid flow regions
greatly simplifies the analysis without much loss in accuracy.
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The Mach number is a measure of relative speed that is defined as the quotient
between the speed of an object and the speed of sound in the medium in which said
object is moving. It is a dimensionless number normally used to describe the speed of
airplanes. Mach 1 equals the speed of sound, Mach 2 is twice the speed of sound, etc.
The usefulness of the Mach number is that it allows expressing the speed of an object
km m
not in absolute or , but taking the speed of sound as a reference, something
h s
interesting from the moment the speed of sound changes depending on the conditions
of the atmosphere. For example, the higher the height above sea level or the lower the
temperature of the atmosphere, the lower the speed of sound. In this way, it is not
necessary to know the speed of sound to know if an airplane flying at a given speed
has exceeded it: it is enough to know its Mach number. Normally, flight speeds are
classified according to their Mach number in:
It’s important to know that free-flowing Mach number M ∞less than 1 does not mean
fully subsonic flow over the body. When expanding over an aerodynamic shape, the
flow velocity increases above the free flow value, and if M ∞is close enough to 1, the
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local Mach number can become supersonic in certain regions of the flow. This
gives rise to an empirical rule that M ∞ <0.8 for subsonic flow over thin bodies. For thin
bodies, M ∞must be even lower to ensure fully subsonic flow. So, the Mac numbers for
slim bodies are as follows:
BOUNDARY LAYERS
In general, when a fluid flow over a stationary surface, the fluid touching the surface is
stopped by shear stress in the wall, τ , exists at any point in a flow where there is a
velocity gradient across streamlines.
The region where the flow adjusts from zero velocity at the wall to a maximum in the
main stream of the flow is called the boundary layer.
Aerodynamic flows have treated the region away from the body as an inviscid flow, and
the thin region immediately adjacent to the body surface as a viscous flow, where these
dissipative effects are included. The thin viscous region adjacent to the body is called
the boundary layer. We are going to classify air flow into two types. Laminar flow,
where we can consider that the air particles move in uniform and parallel layers. And
the second type is the turbulent flow in which we consider that the air particles move in
a disorganized way both in direction and in speed. And with those previous concepts
we can concentrate on the definition of the boundary layers.
Let's imagine a surface at rest and a fluid that flows through the upper side. When the
air flows over the surface of the wing the fluid that is in direct contact with the surface
will remain adhered to it and due to the friction generated by the sliding between the air
layers. The layers closest to the surface will have a lower speed than the immediate
upper layers until reaching a point at which the fluid reaches the speed of the current of
free air. The boundary layer is defined as the area between the wing's surface and the
point where the air reaches the speed of the airflow. This layer has a very small
thickness.
At the points close to the leading edge of the wing, the boundary layer is laminar.
However, as we moved away from the leading edge, the forces of Friction between the
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layers causes them to lose energy causing the thickness of the boundary layer
to increase little by little to the point at which the air begins to suffer disturbances. The
laminar boundary layer becomes a layer turbulent boundary. This point is called the
transition point. At this point, the airflow begins to separate from the wing surface,
preventing lift from being generated effectively and therefore we must always ensure
that this transition point is as far back as possible.
AERODYNAMIC COEFFICIENTS
The nondimensional coefficients are important to obtain a feeling for typical values of
the aerodynamic coefficients. A low drag coefficient implies that the streamline shape
of the vehicle's body is such as to enable it to move easily through the surrounding
viscous air with the minimum of resistance. A high drag coefficient is caused by poor
streamlining of the body profile so that there is a high air resistance when the vehicle is
in motion.
One of these numbers is the Reynolds number which measures the ratio of inertial
forces to viscous forces and describes the degree of laminar or turbulent flow. The
systems that operate at the same Reynolds number will have the same flow
characteristics even if the fluid, speed and characteristic lengths vary.
It’s important to remember that Pressure Drag is caused by the air particles being more
compressed on the front-facing surfaces and more spaced out on the back surfaces.
This is caused when the layers of air separate away from the surface and begin to
swirl, called turbulent flow. Now we have the skin Friction Drag, which is caused by the
friction of a fluid against the surface of an object that is moving through it. It is directly
proportional to the area of the surface in contact with the fluid and increases with the
square of the velocity. This, lead us the definition of two generic body shapes in
aerodynamics:
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Streamlined body = a body where most of the drag is skin friction drag
CONCLUSION
Once knowing all the details of the topics addressed in this essay, it is possible to have
a more exact vision of the behavior of fluids in airfoils. Mastery of such concepts is of
utmost importance for the study of aerodynamics. For this, Archimedes' theorem was
analyzed in detail, deducing the formula from the beginning in order to show the origin
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and purpose of each variable involved. A rectangular body was used, but the
principle holds by bodies of any shape. In turn, it is emphasized that Archimedes'
principle holds for either gases or liquids and does not require that the density be
constant. Likewise, a body will experience a buoyant force much times greater in water
than in air. For naval vehicles the buoyant force is important while for airplanes it is
negligible.
Airfoils to analyze
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