UCK455E Boundary Layer Theory

CONTENT: Introduction to Boundary Layer Theory; General Properties of Laminar

Boundary Layer Equations; Exact Solutions of Two-Dimensional Boundary Layer
Equations; Approximate Solutions of Two-Dimensional Boundary Layer Equations;
Axisymmetric and Three-Dimensional Boundary Layers; Boundary Layer Control;
Transition to Turbulence and Stability Theory of Laminar Flows; Basic Information
about Turbulent Flows; Turbulent Channel Flows; Turbulent Boundary Layers;
Free Shear Flows

TEXT BOOK:
Schlichting, H., Gersten K., with contributions by Krause E., Oertel H., Mayes, C. ,
2000. Boundary Layer Theory, Springer, 8th Rev. & enl. Edition, Berlin.
 quantity contribution, % date

Quizzes 2 10
Assessment

Homework 2 10

Midterm 1 30

Final Exam 1 50
Some Features of Viscous Flows
 Real and Ideal Fluids
Theoretical investigations into fluid mechanics in the last century were mainly
based on the ideal fluid, i.e. a fluid which is inviscid and incompressible.
It is only since this century that the effects of viscosity and compressibility
have been taken into account in any great way.

In the flow of inviscid fluids, no tangential forces (shear stresses) exist

between adjacent layers; only normal forces (pressures) do. This is
equivalent to saying that an ideal fluid does not oppose a change in its shape
with any internal resistance.

The theory of flows of ideal fluids is mathematically very highly developed

and indeed in many cases gives a satisfactory description of real flows, as
for example, in the cases of wave motion and the formation of liquid jets. On
the other hand, the theory of ideal fluids is useless when faced with the
problem of calculating the drag of a body. It predicts that a body moving
subsonically and uniformly through an infinitely extended fluid will experience
no drag (D’Alembert’s paradox).
This unacceptable result of the theory of ideal fluids is due to the fact that
in a real fluid, in addition to the normal forces, tangential forces also occur
both between layers in the fluid and between the fluid and the walls.
These tangential or friction forces of real fluids are connected to a physical
property called the viscosity of the fluid.

The presence of tangential stress (shear stress) and the no–

slip condition produces the essential difference between
ideal and real fluids.
Some particularly important fluids in practice, such as water and air, have
a very low viscosity. In many cases the flows of such very low friction fluids
are like the flows of ideal fluids, because in general the tangential forces
are very small. However it is important to note that the no–slip condition
does hold good even for very low viscosity fluids.
In some cases this no–slip condition leads to great discrepancies between the
laws of motion for real and ideal fluids. In particular, the great difference in
the drag laws between real and ideal fluids mentioned above originates from
the no–slip condition.
 Viscosity
The nature of viscosity of a fluid can be understood most easily by the following
experiment.

𝑦
𝑢 𝑦 = 𝑈
ℎ

Velocity distribution of a viscous fluid between two parallel flat walls (Couette flow)
Newtonian fluid, constant temperature

In order to maintain the state of the motion, a tangential force in the direction
of motion must act on the upper plate. This keeps the friction forces of the
fluid in equilibrium. According to experimental results, this force (force per
unit surface area of the plate = shear stress τ ) is proportional to U/h. In the
general case, this can be replaced by du/dy. The constant of proportionality
between τ and du/dy, which we will denote by μ1, depends on the nature
of the fluid, i.e. it is a physical property of the fluid.
we have the elementary law of fluid friction in the form,
𝑑𝑢
𝜏=𝜇
𝑑𝑦
The value μ is a physical property of the fluid which is strongly dependent on the
temperature and is called the viscosity of the fluid.

Therefore μ has the units,

𝑚/𝑠 𝑁𝑠
𝑁/𝑚2 = 𝜇 , 𝜇 = 2 = 𝑃𝑎. 𝑠
𝑚 𝑚
kinematic viscosity,
𝜇 𝑚2
𝜈= , 𝜈 =
𝜌 𝑠

Fluids where there is a nonlinear relation between the shear stress τ and the
velocity gradient du/dy are called non–Newtonian fluids.
Shear thickening (dilatant) Viscosity increases with shear stress Corn starch suspension
Shear thinning (sanki plastic) Viscosity decreases with shear stress nail polish, ketchup, blood
Newtonian Viscosity is constant Water, plasma (blood)
 Reynolds Number

Flows with geometrically similar boundaries and streamline portraits are called
mechanically similar flows. In order that the flows past two geometrically similar
bodies (e.g. past two spheres) are mechanically similar for different fluids,
different velocities and different body sizes, the forces acting on volume
elements situated in similar positions must be in the same ratio to each other.

Forces generally act on a volume element:

-friction forces (proportional to the viscosity μ)
-inertial forces (proportional to the density),
-pressure forces
-volume forces (e.g. gravitational force)

We shall consider only the ratio of the inertial forces to the friction forces.

For motion which is mainly in the x direction, the inertial force per unit volume
𝑑𝑢
is 𝜌 𝑑𝑡 .
𝜕𝑢 𝑑𝑥 𝜕𝑢
For steady flow this can also be written as 𝜌 𝜕𝑥 𝑑𝑡 = 𝜌𝑢 𝜕𝑥
For a volume element whose x direction is in the direction of
motion, gives rise to the following expression for the shear
forces
𝑑𝜏 𝑑𝜏
𝜏+ 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑥𝑑𝑧 − 𝜏𝑑𝑥𝑑𝑧 = 𝑑𝑥𝑑𝑦𝑑𝑧
𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑦
The friction force per unit volume,
𝑑𝜏 𝑑2𝑢
=𝜇 2
𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑦
In this way we reach the condition of mechanical similarity,
𝜕𝑢
𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝜌𝑢 𝜌𝑈 2 /𝑑 𝜌𝑈𝑑
𝑅𝑒 = = 𝜕𝑥 ~ =
𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑑 2 𝑢 𝜇𝑈/𝑑 2 𝜇
𝜇 2
𝑑𝑦
Since the constant of proportionality must be equal at similarly positioned
points, the mechanical similarity of the flows is satisfied when the quantity
𝝆𝑼𝒅
has the same value for both flows.
𝝁
 Therefore mechanical similarity of the flows exists if the Reynolds
number is equal for both flows.

When the different quantities are replaced by their units

In the case of geometrically similar systems, i.e. geometrically similar bodies

which have the same orientation to the free stream direction, the
dimensionless lift and drag coefficients are only dependent on the Reynolds
number.
 𝐶𝐿 = 𝑓1 𝑅𝑒 ; 𝐶𝐷 = 𝑓2 𝑅𝑒
this simple form are only valid as long as gravitational forces and
elastic forces (in the case of compressible fluids) are not taken into
account. Otherwise additional dimensionless coefficients have to
be included in the relations. For example, in flows of liquids with a
free surface, where the gravitational force is important, the
dimensionless Froude number appears:
𝑈
𝐹𝑟 =
𝑔𝑑
in the case of high velocity flows, where additional elastic forces
occur because of the compressibility of the fluid, the Mach number,
𝑈
𝑀=
𝑎
Internal flows (flows through pipes, diffusers, etc.) are also characterised by
dimensionless coefficients. For example, in the case of flows through circular
pipes, where x is the coordinate in the flow direction, the pressure gradient
dp/dx is characterised by the dimensionless pipe friction factor,

Here d is the diameter of the pipe, 𝜌 is the density and um is velocity averagedn over
the cross–section. When the inner surface of the pipe is smooth, λ is again only a
function of the Reynolds number Re, where this is now formed as
Figure shows the results of
measurements of the drag coefficients
of spheres as a function of the Reynolds
number and the Mach number

Here it is interesting to note that the

effect of the Reynolds number vanishes
for spheres in supersonic flows.
 Laminar and Turbulent
Flows

Laminar flow, where layers of

fluid move with different Re=1150
velocities without great exchange
of fluid particles perpendicular to
the flow direction.

Turbulent flow, characterised

by a high irregular, random,
fluctuating motion. Re=2520

O. Reynolds (1883), in his famous coloured filament

experiment, he showed the two different flow forms in
pipe flow
 Asymptotic Behaviour at Large Reynolds Numbers

The majority of flows in practice are

flows with high Reynolds number.
Therefore the asymptotic behaviour of
dimensionless coefficients at high
Reynolds numbers is very important.

Boundary–layer theory, deals with

precisely this asymptotic behaviour. In
other words, boundary–layer theory is a
theory to determine the asymptotic
behaviour of flows at large Reynolds
numbers (i.e. Re→∞).

It can be expected of high Reynolds number flows that they

will differ only slightly from the limiting case of inviscid flow.
Pressure distribution measured for a
symmetric airfoil at zero angle of incidence
and compares it to the inviscid solution.
Setting aside what happens at the trailing
edge, the differences are small. Because of
the finite angle at the trailing edge, the
inviscid solution gives rise to a stagnation
point there, and, compared to viscous
flows, to a sharply increased pressure.
The dependence of the lift coefficient cL on the
the angle of attack α is shown for the NACA
4412. Whereas the limiting solution Re = ∞
leads to vanishing drag (D’Alembert’s paradox),
the lift curve shows good approximation to the
flow at Re = 3x 106.
Circular cylinder
Sphere
 Summary
In internal and external flows, the action of the flow can be divided into
pressure forces (normal forces) and shear forces (tangential forces).

As the examples have shown, the pressure distributions at bodies in flows at high
Reynolds numbers and in the limiting case of inviscid flows are quite similar.
Therefore, it seems obvious to begin with these limiting solutions and to deal
with the differences from real (viscous) flows through corrections to the limiting
solution. This is the basic idea of boundary–layer theory.

Naturally the inviscid limiting solution cannot provide the shear forces, i.e. friction
forces, which are important in determining the friction drag and friction losses
(dissipation). The object of boundary–layer theory is to determine this force in
particular.
One of the main difficulties in the theory is that the limiting solution
is sometimes a priori unknown for a given flow.
In many cases however the uniqueness of the limiting solution must be produced
through additional conditions, for example, the Kutta condition.

The drag of bodies in flows consists of the pressure or form drag (integral
of the pressure or normal forces over the body’s surface) and the friction
drag (integral of the shear or tangential forces). In the case of blunt bodies, like
cylinders and spheres, the form drag dominates. This is given to good
approximation by the inviscid limiting case. Boundary–layer theory can be
used to determine the friction drag and corrections to the form drag due to
the viscosity.