AESF 5310

Advanced Aerodynamics

Lecture 2: 7 Sept 2022

Cessna 172 Instructor: Prof Larry Li 1
 For extra help, please see Canvas for my Review Notes
from MECH-1101 (Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics),
which is a crash course I taught in 2014.

L2 2
 Spotlight on fluids

Fires in large open spaces (e.g. aircraft hangars) can

be hard to extinguish with conventional methods,
so many industrial spaces use foam-based fire
suppression systems. These animations show such
a system being tested at NASA Armstrong Research
Center. In the event of a jet-fuel fire, foam and
water are pumped in from above, quickly
generating a spreading foam that floats on the
surface of the liquid fuel, separating it from the
flames above. Because the foam-covered liquid fuel
can no longer evaporate to generate flammable
vapor, the fire extinguishes from a lack of fuel.

The shape of the falling foam is pretty fascinating,

too. Notice the increasing waviness along the foam
jet as it falls. Like water from your faucet, the foam
jet is starting to break up as disturbances in its
shape grow larger and larger. For the most part,
though, the flow rate is high enough that the jet
reaches the floor before it completely breaks up.

Image credit: NASA Armstrong.

https://fyfluiddynamics.com/2017/05/fires-in-large-open- 3
spaces-like-aircraft-hangers/
 Today’s agenda: Review of fluid mechanics
• Polar coordinates
• Conservation laws
• Mass and momentum
• Flow kinematics
• Irrotational flow
• Vorticity
• Streamlines
• Explaining lift with
streamlines

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A quick word on polar coordinates…see whiteboard + Canvas notes

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 Conservation laws:
Mass [AS2.4]
Shorthand for Anderson Section 2.4

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 Conservation of mass (i.e. continuity)
• Mass is neither created nor destroyed
• In undergraduate studies and the textbook (Anderson), conservation laws are first formulated
for a finite-sized arbitrary CV. The integral form for continuity is [AE2.48]:
Shorthand for Anderson Equation 2.48
CS
CV
𝑛
𝜕
ම 𝜌 d𝒱 + ඵ 𝜌 𝑉 ∙ 𝑛 d𝑠 = 0
𝜕𝑡
𝐶𝑉 𝐶𝑆

where 𝐶𝑉 = control volume, 𝐶𝑆 = control surface, d𝒱 = infinitesimal volume element,

d𝑠 = infinitesimal area element, 𝑛 = unit outward normal (i.e. a unit vector that points
outwards from 𝐶𝑉 and is ⊥ to 𝐶𝑆)
• Physically 𝑉 ∙ 𝑛 = velocity component ⊥ to 𝐶𝑆
𝑉 ∙ 𝑛 d𝑠 = volume traced out per unit time by fluid crossing 𝐶𝑆
L2 = volumetric flow rate, in other words. 7
 Conservation of mass (i.e. continuity)
• For steady flow (i.e. no mass accumulation in 𝐶𝑉), the integral form of continuity becomes:

𝜕
ම 𝜌 d𝒱 + ඵ 𝜌 𝑉 ∙ 𝑛 d𝑠 = 0
𝜕𝑡
𝐶𝑉 𝐶𝑆
0
Net mass flow rate into CV = Net mass flow rate out of CV
σ 𝑚ሶ 𝑖𝑛 = σ 𝑚ሶ 𝑜𝑢𝑡
where mass flow rate ≡ 𝑚ሶ ≡ 𝜌𝐴𝑉 volume flow rate ≡ 𝑄 ≡ 𝐴𝑉

• In reality, the flow conditions may vary across the inlets and outlets, but we can often simplify
the calculation (i.e. we side-step surface integration) by using a bulk-averaged velocity:

𝑈𝑏 = 𝑄/𝐴  Interpret 𝑉 above as 𝑈𝑏

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 Conservation of mass (i.e. continuity)
• From the reasoning in AS2.4, we can convert the integral form of the continuity
equation to its differential form [AE2.52], which is valid for a point in the flow:

𝜕𝜌
+ 𝛻 ∙ 𝜌𝑉 = 0
𝜕𝑡

• If the flow is incompressible, 𝜌 = constant → 𝛻 ∙ 𝑉 = 0 , which will be our default

assumption for the first half of this course.
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑤
• In Cartesian coordinates: 𝛻∙𝑉 = + + =0
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧
• Physically this means (incompressible) ‘flows that slow down must spread out’
See live demo:

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 Conservation laws:
Momentum [AS2.5]

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 Conservation of momentum
• Newton’s 2nd law for a continuum (𝐹Ԧ = 𝑚𝑎):
Ԧ

∑ forces = time rate of change of momentum

• For steady flow in a CV, this becomes:

∑CV forces = net flow of momentum out of CV via CS

Principia
Mathematica (1687)

…in words this reads as ‘the net force acting on a CV with

steady flow is equal to the difference between the rates of
outgoing and incoming momentum flows.’

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Conservation of momentum: Navier-Stokes
• Differential form [AE2.70a]:

• Physical interpretation:
• = Local acceleration → Time rate of change of velocity observed at a fixed
location in space; zero for steady flow
• = Convective acceleration → Time rate of change of velocity
observed by a fluid particle moving through a spatially varying velocity field
• = Pressure force → Net pressure force on an infinitesimal volume element
• = Body force → Net body force, typically excluded in aerodynamics
• = Viscous stresses → Net viscous force; zero for inviscid flow

L2 Can we have a steady flow in which a fluid particle accelerates? 12

 Flow kinematics:
Irrotational flow & vorticity [AS2.12]

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 Irrotational flow [AS2.12]
In fluid mechanics, when we say that…

…a flow is irrotational,
what exactly do we mean
by this?
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 Irrotationality: Physical interpretation
A fluid particle in an irrotational flow keeps the same orientation, even
as it translates around a curved path
Rotational
If the passenger pods on a Ferries wheel
were fluid particles, would they be
rotational or irrotational?

Irrotational

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 Irrotationality: Physical interpretation
• Our concern is whether fluid elements rotate about their own axes.
• The passenger pods on a Ferries wheel do not rotate about their
own axes → Irrotational
‘Bohai Eye’ → World’s tallest ‘Ain Dubai’ → World’s tallest
spoke-less Ferris wheel (145 m tall) Ferris wheel (260 m tall)

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 Irrotationality: Physical interpretation
• Our concern is whether fluid elements rotate about their own axes.
• Let’s imagine the Moon were a fluid element. The Moon is known
to rotate about its own axis as it orbits Earth → Rotational

Rotational
Tidal locking causes the
Moon to rotate about its
own axis in around the same
time as it takes to orbit
Earth. This results in the
Moon keeping the same face
turned toward Earth, as seen
in the left figure. (The Moon
L2
is not drawn to scale.)
Irrotational
If the Moon were not
rotating at all, it would
alternately show its near
and far sides to Earth,
while orbiting Earth, as
shown in the right figure.
17
Irrotationality: Mathematical definition
• Mathematically, irrotationality is just a condition on the velocity field:

𝜕𝑤 𝜕𝑣 No vorticity!
−
𝑒𝑥 𝑒𝑦 𝑒𝑧 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧
0
𝜕 𝜕 𝜕 𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑤
Vorticity = 𝜔 = 𝛻 × 𝑉 = = − = 0
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑥
𝑢 𝑣 𝑤 𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑢 0
−
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
For 2D flows (e.g. flows in x-y
plane only), only this vorticity
component (𝜔𝑧 ) is non-zero.

• All irrotational flows are inviscid, but not all inviscid flows are
irrotational. This is because rotation (i.e. vorticity) can be generated by
inviscid mechanisms, such as baroclinicity (‘baroclinic torque’):
• See example on whiteboard
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Irrotationality: Mathematical definition
• Formally, a flow is irrotational if one of the following is true:
A. 𝜔 = 0 everywhere in the flow, or…
B. 𝜔 = 0 everywhere in the flow EXCEPT at a finite number of points
(𝜔 may blow up to ∞ at these points, making them singularities)

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Irrotationality: Mathematical definition
• Formally, a flow is irrotational if one of the following is true:
A. 𝜔 = 0 everywhere in the flow, or…
B. 𝜔 = 0 everywhere in the flow EXCEPT at a finite number of points
(𝜔 may blow up to ∞ at these points, making them singularities)

• One example of B. (above) is the irrotational vortex (or ‘free vortex’)

• Circular streamlines → 𝑢𝑟 = 0
• 𝑢𝜃 = 𝑐Τ𝑟 for some constant 𝑐
𝜕𝑢𝜃 1 𝜕𝑢𝑟
• 𝜔𝑧 = + 𝑢𝜃 −
𝜕𝑟 𝑟 𝜕𝜃
−2 1 𝑐
= −𝑐𝑟 + −0
𝑟 𝑟
= 0 except at 𝑟 = 0
which is a singularity point
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 Flow kinematics:
Streamlines [AS2.11]

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 What are streamlines?

• Definition: A streamline is a curve that is everywhere tangent to the local

instantaneous velocity vector.
• There can be no flow across a streamline because the velocity component ⊥ to it
is, by definition, zero → i.e. streamlines act as ‘invisible’ walls.
• Multiple streamlines can be drawn, but they are not allowed to cross each other.
If they did, we would have multiple orientations of the velocity vector at the
point of intersection, which is obviously a physical impossibility.
• Streamlines can be unsteady (varying with time) or steady (same as streaklines).
L2 22
 Flapping foil in a hydrodynamic tunnel: Streaklines

L2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQFm3PB9iNw 23
 What do streamlines tell us?
P2
P1

• Along streamlines:
Streamlines converging → Flow accelerates → Pressure drops
Streamlines diverging → Flow decelerates → Pressure rises

• Across streamlines:
Streamlines always turn towards lower pressure: P2 > P1
L2 Closer streamlines → Higher velocity → Lower pressure 24
 Explaining lift with streamlines
Centripetal force in curved motion

𝑣
𝑚𝑣 2
𝐹𝑐 =
𝑅

L2 25
 Explaining lift with streamlines
Transverse P gradient in curved streamlines
𝑑𝑃 𝜌𝑣 2
=
𝑑𝑛 𝑅

L. Euler
High P
P1

Low P
Freestream Equal P2
Both equal to Patm
Low P
P3 P 3 > P 4 = P1 > P 2

High P P4

Symmetric airfoil at zero AOA Symmetric airfoil at positive AOA

Lift is not produced Lift is produced
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 Spotlight on fluids
Ice can be a terrible pest, freezing to surfaces such
as aircraft wings. Some surfaces, however, can
encourage a freezing droplet to scrape itself off.
There are a couple of effects in play here. The first is
that the surface is nanotextured, which means that
it has extremely small structures on it. This makes it
hydrophobic (i.e. water-repellent). The second key
ingredient is that the droplet is cooling
evaporatively, which means that heat is escaping
along the air-water interface instead of conducting
through the solid surface below. As a result, a
freezing front forms at the interface and moves
inward. Water expands as it freezes, which tries to
force the interior liquid out, towards the bottom of
the droplet. On a regular surface, this would force
the contact line – where air, water, and the surface
meet – to push outward. However, the nanotexture
of the hydrophobic surface pins the contact line in
place. Thus, the expanding ice pushes the frozen
droplet up, scraping it off the surface!

https://fyfluiddynamics.com/2018/04/ice-can-be-a-terrible-
pest-freezing-to-surfaces/
27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgJHptCRg04