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Sushil Sunil Gaikwad

Assistant Professor
Mech. Engg. Dept.
DYPIEMR 2
 Timelines
• A timeline is a set of adjacent fluid particles that were marked at the same
(earlier) instant in time. • As shown in the diagram the speed near
the center of the channel is fairly
uniform, but small deviations tend to
amplify with time as the timeline
stretches.
• Timelines can be generated
experimentally in a water channel
through use of a hydrogen bubble wire.
• When a short burst of electric current is
sent through the cathode wire,
electrolysis of the water occurs and tiny
hydrogen gas bubbles form at the wire.
• Since the bubbles are so small, their
buoyancy is nearly negligible, and the
bubbles follow the water flow nicely
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• There are two primary flow visualization techniques that utilize the fact
that the index of refraction in air (or other gases) varies with density.
• They are the shadowgraph technique and the schlieren technique
(Settles, 2001).
• Interferometry is a visualization technique that utilizes the related phase
change of light as it passes through air of varying densities as the basis
for flow visualization
• All these techniques are useful for flow visualization in flow fields where
density changes from one location in the flow to another, such as natural
convection flows (temperature differences cause the density variations),
mixing flows (fluid species cause the density variations), and supersonic
flows (shock waves and expansion waves cause the density variations).

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• Unlike flow visualizations involving
streaklines, pathlines, and timelines,
the shadowgraph and schlieren
methods do not require injection of a
visible tracer (smoke or dye).
• Rather, density differences and the
refractive property of light provide
the necessary means for visualizing
regions of activity in the flow field,
allowing us to “see the invisible.”
• Equipotential lines are like contour lines on a map which trace lines of equal
altitude. In this case the "altitude" is electric potential or voltage.
• Equipotential lines are always perpendicular to the electric field. In three
dimensions, the lines form equipotential surfaces.
• Movement along an equipotential surface requires no work because such
movement is always perpendicular to the electric field.

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• A grid obtained by drawing a
series of stream lines and
equipotential lines is known as a
flow net
• The flow net provides a simple
graphical technique for studying
two-dimensional irrotational
flows especially in the cases
where mathematical relations for
stream function and velocity
function are either not available
or are rather difficult and
cumbersome to solve
 Methods of Drawing Flow Nets
1. Analytical method (or Mathematical analysis):
• Here, the equations corresponding to the curves
φ and ψ are first obtained and the same are
plotted to give the flow net pattern for the flow
of fluid between the given boundary shape.
• This method can be applied to problems with
simple and ideal boundary conditions.
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 Methods of Drawing Flow Nets
2. Graphical method:
• • A graphical method consists of drawing stream
lines and equipotential lines such that they cut
orthogonally and form curvilinear squares.
• This method consumes lot of time and requires
lot of erasing to get the proper shape of a flow
net.
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 Methods of Drawing Flow Nets
3. Electrical analogy method:
• This method is a practical method of drawing a flow net for a particular set of
boundaries.
• It is based on the fact that the flow of fluids and flow of electricity through a
conductor are analogous.
• These two systems are similar in the respect that electric potential is analogous to
the velocity potential, the electric current is analogous to the velocity of flow, and
the homogeneous conductor is analogous to the homogeneous fluid.

4. Hydraulic models:
• Stream lines can be traced by injecting a dye in a seepage model or Heles haw
apparatus.
• Then, by drawing equipotential lines the flow net is completed.
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 Reference Used
• Fluid Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications
(MECHANICAL ENGINEERING) – Dr.Yunus A. Cengel &
John M. Cimbala

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