ABSTRACT

The boundary layer is a crucial connection between ideal and actual fluid flow. The
impact of internal friction in a fluid is only noticeable in a short region surrounding the fluid
boundaries in fluids with relatively low viscosity. Because the fluid at the borders has no
velocity, the velocity gradient from the boundary into the flow is steep. In a real fluid, this
velocity differential creates shear forces at the border, reducing the flow speed to that of the
barrier. The boundary layer is the fluid layer whose velocity has been altered by the
boundary shear. The boundary layer with smooth upstream borders begins as a laminar
boundary layer in which fluid particles travel in smooth layers. As the thickness of the
laminar boundary layer rises, it becomes unstable and eventually evolves into a turbulent
boundary layer in which fluid particles flow in random directions. When the boundary layer
becomes turbulent, there is still a laminar layer adjacent to it. It's known as the laminar
sublayer. There have been several proposed definitions of boundary-layer thickness. The
most fundamental definition relates to the displacement of the main flow caused by particle
slowing in the border zone.
 CHAPTER 1

1.1 BACKGROUND

The discipline of fluid mechanics in motion had two seemingly attractive research
topics early in the twentieth century. On the one hand, there was hydrodynamics, which
described the flow over surfaces and bodies under the assumption that the flow was
inviscid, incompressible, and irrotational, and hydraulics, which was primarily an
experimental field concerned with the behaviour of fluids in machinery such as pipes,
pumps, and ships. Although hydrodynamics appeared to be a suitable theory for flows in the
zone not close to solid boundaries, it was unable to explain concepts like friction and drag.
Because there was little theory, hydraulics did not provide a strong platform for designing
their experiments. Ludwig Prandtl developed a hypothesis that linked these topics.

1.2 INTRODUCTION

In 1904 German aerodynamicist Ludwig Prandtl introduced the concept of a

boundary layer. The notion of boundary layers bridged the gap between theory and practise.
Furthermore, the boundary layer idea enabled the solution of viscous flow problems by
applying the Navier-Stokes equation to the whole flow field, which would have been
impossible otherwise.
A classic experiment in fluid mechanics is boundary layer tests on a flat plate. In the
early 1900s, the first experiments were conducted by the German scientist Ludwig Prandtl.
He was the one who witnessed the boundary layer's creation and separation from the
surface.

Figure 1 Boundary Layer Formation Concepts

 A flat plate's boundary layer is crucial because it gives information about the fluid's
behaviour near a solid surface. The flow of fluid near a solid surface experiences a
considerable drop in flow velocity due to viscous factors, resulting in the creation of a thin
boundary layer. The aerodynamic efficiency of things moving through fluids, such as
aeroplanes, ships, and submarines, is determined by this boundary layer. Researchers have
developed a number of ideas and strategies for improving vehicle aerodynamic efficiency by
analysing the layer near the edge of a flat plate.

1.3 OBJECTIVES

- To measure the velocity profiles of the boundary layer and examine the development
of the boundary layer for flat plates with smooth and rough surfaces.
- To determine the boundary layer parameters for the velocity profiles that have been
measured.
- To investigate the impact of surface roughness on the formation of boundary layers.
 CONCLUSION
To summarise, the boundary layer thickness rises with increasing mass flow rate, i.e.,
free stream flow velocity, under all measured circumstances. Following that, as the leading-
edge distance grows, so does the thickness of the boundary layer. The thickness of the rough
surface boundary layer is greater than the thickness of the smooth boundary layer. The
smoothness or roughness of the surface has a significant impact on the thickness of the
boundary layer.