Elements of Compressible

Flows

Beyond Viscosity – Lesson 2

Incompressible Versus Compressible Flows
• Incompressible • Compressible
‐ Density variations are not important for the ‐ Density variations are critical for the dynamics
dynamics of the fluid motion. of the fluid motion.
‐ Small changes in density do not affect ‐ Changes in density affect velocity and
velocity and pressure. pressure.
‐ Governing equations of fluid motion: ‐ Governing equations of fluid motion:
• Conservation of mass • Conservation of mass
• Conservation of momentum • Conservation of momentum
• Conservation of energy (for heat transfer cases only) • Conservation of energy
• Equation of state

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Compressible Flow Applications

Commercial Aircraft Engines

Energy, Oil & Gas Generation and Transportation

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What is Compressibility?

• Compressibility is the fractional change in the volume of a

fluid or a solid as a response to a unit change in pressure.
• It can be expressed as:

1 𝜕𝑉
𝛽=−
𝑉 𝜕𝑝
where 𝑉 is the volume and 𝑝 is the pressure. The negative sign helps to define Pressure increases by 𝜕𝑝
compressibility as positive for the common cases where an increase in pressure Volume decreases by 𝜕𝑉
induces a reduction in volume.
• Compressibility is the inverse of bulk modulus (𝐾).
• It is an important factor in many practical applications. For
example, it plays a significant role in the design of high-
speed aircraft, turbines and compressors, etc.

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Review of Thermodynamics Object #2

(Thermometer)
• Thermodynamics is the study of the effects of work, heat and energy
on a system. It is only concerned with the large-scale response of a Object
#1
Object
#3
system which can be measured using experiments.
Zeroth Law
• There are three principal laws of thermodynamics, each leading to
the definition of thermodynamic properties which help us to
understand and predict the operation of a physical system. Q

‐ Zeroth Law: When two systems are separately in thermodynamic W

equilibrium with a third object, they are in equilibrium with each other. This
State #1 State #2
law leads to the definition of temperature.
‐ First Law: The change in internal energy is equal to the difference of the First Law: 𝑬𝟐 − 𝑬𝟏 = 𝑸 − 𝑾
heat transfer into the system and work done by the system. This leads to the
definition of internal energy and enthalpy.
‐ Second Law: The entropy of an isolated system (system + surrounding) ΔQ
increases over time for an irreversible process and stays constant in the case 𝑑𝑆 ≥
𝛿𝑄
of a reversible process. This leads to the definition of a useful state variable 𝑇
called entropy (𝑆). Second law: 𝒅𝑺 ≥ 𝟎

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Review of Thermodynamics
• In case of compressible flows, the density changes represent significant compression or
expansion work on a gas, thus changing the thermodynamic state of the fluid, meaning
that in general all properties (pressure, temperature, internal energy, entropy, etc.) can
change.
• Gases of engineering interest (at moderate pressure and temperature) can be
represented by the ideal gas equation of state:
𝑝 = 𝜌𝑅𝑇

where 𝑅 is a unique constant for each gas, given by: 𝑅 = 𝑅𝑢 /𝑀𝑚

Here 𝑅𝑢 = 8314 𝑁 ∙ 𝑚/(𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 ∙ 𝐾) is the universal gas constant and 𝑀𝑚 is the molecular mass of the gas.
• Specific heat (𝑐) of a gas is the heat energy added to the gas per degree of temperature
rise.
‐ If the heat is added at constant volume (𝑐𝑣 ) the energy goes entirely into increasing the internal kinetic
energy of the particles. If the heat is added at constant pressure (𝑐𝑝 ), the gas can expand and do work
on the expanding walls. The two are related by:
𝑐𝑝 − 𝑐𝑣 = 𝑅 𝛾 ≡ 𝑐𝑝 /𝑐𝑣

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Speed of Sound
• Sound is low amplitude pressure waves propagating in a gas (e.g.,
air). Human hearing range: 10−9 atm to 10−3 atm.
• Speed of sound, 𝑐, is an important parameter in mechanics of
compressible fluids as this is the speed at which disturbances
travel through the medium.
• Using the conservation laws, we get the following expression for Source
the speed of sound in any medium in terms of thermodynamic
quantities: 𝑐 = 𝑑𝑝/𝑑𝜌

• It can be anticipated that for solids and liquids the speed of sound will have relatively
high values as it is difficult to change their densities. Moreover, an incompressible
medium will have 𝑑𝜌 = 0 for any 𝑑𝑝 and thus 𝑐 → ∞.
• Using the ideal gas equation, we arrive at: 𝑐 = 𝛾𝑅𝑇
• This means that for an ideal gas the speed of sound is a function of temperature only!

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Compressible Liquids
• In most engineering applications, liquids are considered incompressible and gas flows
can be either incompressible or compressible. However, there are some specific
applications where the compressibility of liquids must be taken into consideration,
such as:
‐ Underwater acoustics – propagation of sound waves in water
‐ Hydraulic shocks and water hammer in piping systems
• The liquid density can be related to pressure using the Tait equation of state, given by
Peter Guthrie Tait in 1888:
𝜌 and 𝜌0 - liquid densities at pressures 𝑝 and 𝑝0 ,
𝑛
𝜌 𝐾0 + 𝑛(𝑝 − 𝑝0 ) 𝐾 and 𝐾0 - Bulk modulus values at pressures 𝑝 and 𝑝0 ,
=
𝜌0 𝐾0 𝑛 - empirical density exponent.

• Unlike the ideal gas equation of state obtained from the laws of thermodynamics, the
Tait equation of state was based on empirical considerations.
• For solids and liquids, the bulk modulus 𝐾 relates how the pressure changes affect a
relative density change. Thus the speed of sound in compressible liquids can be
expressed as:
𝑐= 𝐾/𝜌

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Types of Flow Regimes in Compressible Gas Flows
• The speed of sound also acts as a demarcation between various flow regimes. Flows with speeds less than the
speed of sound are called subsonic, whereas flows with speeds greater than the speed of sound are called
supersonic.
• The dimensional parameter Mach is the ratio of local velocity to the speed of sound.
𝑉
𝑀≡
𝑐
where 𝑉 is the speed of the fluid (or that of an object moving through the fluid).

𝑀<1 0.8 ≤ 𝑀 ≤ 1 𝑀>1 𝑀≥5

Subsonic flow Transonic flow Supersonic flow Hypersonic flow.

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 Types of Flow Regimes
• Subsonic regime (𝑀 < 0.1). For low subsonic conditions, i. e., 𝑀 < 0.3, compressibility can be
ignored. However, as the Mach number increases, the effect of compressibility of the fluid can not be
neglected and must be accounted for. Subsonic flow
Transonic Flow over an Aircraft

• Transonic regime (0.8 ≤ 𝑀 ≤ 1.0). As the speed of the object approaches the speed of sound, the
local speed can exceed the speed of sound at some locations around the object leading to the
appearance of local shock waves and subsequent change in fluid dynamics including increase in drag.

Supersonic Jet
• Supersonic regime (1 < 𝑀 < 5) is characterized by shock waves generated by the surface of the
object. For high supersonic speeds (3 < 𝑀 < 5), aerodynamic heating becomes very important and
must be factored into the aircraft design.

• Hypersonic regime (𝑀 > 5) is an extension of supersonic regime into higher Mach numbers where Hypersonic Re-entry
extremely high temperatures encountered behind shocks induce chemical reactions in the gas which
must be accounted for to correctly predict the thermal environment around the object. For example,
surrounding air over a re-entry vehicle at high hypersonic speed (𝑀 ≈ 25) will be transferred into
ionized plasma.

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Shock Waves
• We saw that compressible flows undergo a marked change in behavior
when Mach numbers exceed 1.

• Pressure waves compress into shock waves, as shown in the Schlieren

image on the right.

• Shock waves are discontinuities in the flow where properties jump

sharply and abruptly over a very small distance, specifically:
‐ Increase in static properties (pressure, temperature, density)
‐ Decrease in Mach number and total pressure
‐ Increase in entropy

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Shock Waves
• Shocks which are oriented perpendicular to the flow direction are
called normal shocks.

• If they are inclined with the flow, they are called oblique shocks.

• Shock structures can also form when a supersonic flow impinges on a

stationary body, or the body itself is accelerated to supersonic
speeds. The shock is displaced away from the impingement point of
the body and arcs away from this position as an oblique shock. This
type of shock structure is called a bow shock.

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Blast Waves and Transient Shocks
• The shock waves we have talked about so far can be modeled as steady-state discontinuities. However, for some
cases, such as blast waves, the shock wave is transient in nature.

• A blast wave is the increased pressure and flow resulting from the deposition of a large amount of energy in a
small localized volume.

• Examples include blast waves from detonation of explosive devices, volcanos, asteroid impacts, supernovas, etc.

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Summary

• In this lesson we discussed the importance of compressible flows and reviewed some
thermodynamics principles used for analyzing compressible flows.

• We introduced the concept of speed of sound for a medium and its significance for studying
compressible flows.

• Various types of flow regimes classified based on Mach number were discussed.

• Lastly, we introduced the concept of shock waves and briefly described different types of shocks.

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