Chapter Two

Flow Over Immersed Bodies

(Boundary Layer Concept)
Learning Objectives

 Identify and discuss the features of external flow.

 Explain the fundamental characteristics of a boundary layer, including

laminar, transitional, and turbulent regimes.

 Calculate boundary layer parameters for flow past a flat plate.

 Provide a description of boundary layer separation.

 Calculate the lift and drag forces for various objects.

Con…
• We will learn various aspects of the flow over bodies that are immersed in a fluid

such as flow of air around airplanes, automobiles, and falling snowflakes or the flow

of water around submarines and fish.

• In these situations the object is completely surrounded by the fluid and the flows are
termed external flows.
• External flows involving air are often termed aerodynamics in response to the
important external flows produced when an object such as an airplane flies through
the atmosphere.
• Although this field of external flows is extremely important, there are many other
examples that are of equal importance.
• The fluid force (lift and drag) on surface vehicles (cars, trucks, bicycles) has become
a very important topic.
 Con…
• By correctly designing cars and trucks, it has become possible to greatly decrease the fuel
consumption and improve the handling characteristics of the vehicle.

• Similar efforts have resulted in improved ships, whether they are surface vessels
(surrounded by two fluids, air and water) or submersible vessels (surrounded completely by
water).

• Other applications of external flows involve objects that are not completely surrounded by
fluid, although they are placed in some external-type flow.

• For example, the proper design of a building (whether it is your house or a tall skyscraper)
must include consideration of the various wind effects involved.

• As with other areas of fluid mechanics, various approaches (theoretical, numerical, and
experimental) are used to obtain information on the fluid forces developed by external flows.
Lift and Drag Concepts
• When any body moves through a fluid, an interaction between the body and the
fluid occurs; this effect can be given in terms of the forces at the fluid–body
interface.
• These forces can be described in terms of the stresses—wall shear stresses on
the body, due to viscous effects and normal stresses due to the pressure, P.
• Typical shear stress and pressure distributions are shown in Figs. Below.
• Both and P vary in magnitude and direction along the surface.
• It is often useful to know the detailed distribution of shear stress and pressure
over the surface of the body, although such information is difficult to obtain.
Con…
• Many times, however, only the integrated or resultant effects of these
distributions are needed.
• The resultant force in the direction of the upstream velocity is termed the
drag, D, and the resultant force normal to the upstream velocity is termed the
lift, L.
• Consider the flow of fluid over an inclined plane as shown below
 Con…
• The resultant of the shear stress and pressure distributions can be obtained by
integrating the effect of these two quantities on the body surface as is indicated in
the above Fig.

• The x and y components of the fluid force on the small area element dA are
 Con…
• Of course, to carry out the integrations and determine the lift and drag, we must know the body shape
(i.e., as a function of location along the body) and the distribution of τ and p along the surface.

• These distributions are often extremely difficult to obtain, either experimentally or theoretically.

• The pressure distribution can be obtained experimentally by use of a series of static pressure taps
along the body surface.

• On the other hand, it is usually quite difficult to measure the wall shear stress distribution.

• The widely used alternative is to define dimensionless lift and drag coefficients and determine their
approximate values by means of either a simplified analysis, some numerical technique, or an
appropriate experiment.

• The lift coefficient, and drag coefficient, are defined as

where A is a characteristic area of the object

Characteristics of Flow Past an Object

• External flows past objects encompass an extremely wide variety of fluid mechanics phenomena.

• Clearly the character of the flow field is a function of the shape of the body.

• For a given shaped object, the characteristics of the flow depend very strongly on various
parameters such as size, orientation, speed, and fluid properties.

• According to dimensional analysis arguments, the character of the flow should depend on the

various dimensionless parameters involved like Re, Ma () and Froude Number Fr()(flows with an

interface between two fluids, such as the flow past a surface ship).

• For typical external flows the most important of these parameters are the Reynolds number Re
=UL/ν , where L– is characteristic dimension of the body.
 Con…
• Most external flows with which we are familiar are associated with moderately sized
objects with a characteristic length on the order of 0.01m<L<10m.

• In addition, typical upstream velocities are on the order of 0.01m/s<U<100m/s and the
fluids involved are typically water or air.

• The resulting Reynolds number range for such flows is approximately10<Re< .

• The flows with Re> 100 are dominated by inertial effects, whereas flows with Re<1 are
dominated by viscous effects.

• Hence, most familiar external flows are dominated by inertia.

Con…
• E.g.: Flows past three flat plates of length L with different Re (Speed)

 For low Reynolds number flows, viscous effects are felt far from the object.
Con…
• If the Reynolds number is large but not infinite, the flow is dominated by inertial effects and the viscous
effects are negligible everywhere except in a region very close to the plate and in the relatively thin wake
region behind the plate.

• For many high-Reynolds-number flows the flow field may be divided into two region:

1. a viscous boundary layer adjacent to the surface of the object (and in the weak region behind the
object)

2. the essentially inviscid flow outside the boundary layer (the velocity gradient normal to the flow
are relatively small)

• We know that fluids stick to the solid walls and they take the solid wall velocity.

• When the wall does not move also the velocity of fluid on the wall is zero.

• In region near the wall the velocity of fluid particles increases from a value of zero at the wall to the value
that corresponds to the external ”frictionless” flow outside the boundary layer.
 Con…
• Since the fluid viscosity is not zero (Re<∞) it follows that the fluid must stick to the solid surface (the no-slip
boundary condition.)

• There is a thin boundary layer region of thickness δ=δ(x)<<L (i.e., thin relative to the length of the plate) next
to the plate in which the fluid velocity changes from the upstream value u=U to zero velocity on the plate.

• The thickness of this layer increases in the direction of flow, starting from zero at the forward or leading edge
of the plate. Why?
 Con…
• The momentum of the flat plate is zero and the momentum of the uniform flow has a finite value.

• When the incoming uniform flow flows over a flat plate, the fluid particles near the plate will stick to the plate (no-slip
condition).

• That means that the momentum of the flat plate is diffused to the fluid.

• The reason for this no-slip condition is adhesion between the flat plate and the fluid particles.

• The fluid particles have a force between them that holds them together, which is cohesion.

• When the fluid flows this cohesive force along with adhesion shows itself in the macroscopic scale as viscosity.

• As the flow proceeds downstream of the flat plate the viscosity is able to slow down more and more fluid layers above

the flat plate.

• This is what is called momentum transfer and hence the boundary layer thickness increases as the fluid moves

downstream
Con…
Con…
• At still larger Reynolds numbers, the area affected by the viscous forces is forced farther downstream

until it involves only a thin δ<<D boundary layer on the front portion of the cylinder and an irregular,

unsteady (perhaps turbulent) wake region that extends far downstream of the cylinder.

• The fluid in the region outside of the boundary layer and wake region flows as if it were inviscid.

• Of course, the fluid viscosity is the same throughout the entire flow field.

• Whether or not viscous effects are important depends on which region of the flow field we consider.

• The velocity gradients within the boundary layer and wake regions are much larger than those in the

remainder of the flow field.

• Since the shear stress (i.e., viscous effect) is the product of the fluid viscosity and the velocity gradient,

it follows that viscous effects are confined to the boundary layer and wake regions.
Introduction to Boundary layer concepts
• For many high-Reynolds-number flows the flow field may be divided into two
region

i. A viscous boundary layer adjacent to the surface

ii. The essentially inviscid flow outside the boundary layer

• We know that fluids adhere the solid walls and they take the solid wall velocity.
When the wall does not move also the velocity of fluid on the wall is zero.

• In region near the wall the velocity of fluid particles increases from a value of
zero at the wall to the value that corresponds to the external ”frictionless” flow
outside the boundary layer
Con…

Figure 1: Visualization of the flow around the car. It is visible the thin layer along the body
cause by viscosity of the fluid. The flow outside the narrow region near the solid boundary
can be considered as ideal (inviscid).
Con..
• The concept of boundary layer was first introduced by a German engineer, Prandtl
in 1904.

• According to Prandtl theory, when a real fluid flows past a stationary solid
boundary at large values of the Reynolds number, the flow will be divided into two
regions.

• i. A thin layer adjoining the solid boundary, called the boundary layer, where
the viscous effects and rotation cannot be neglected.

• ii. An outer region away from the surface of the object where the viscous
effects are very small and can be neglected. The flow behavior is similar to
the upstream flow. In this case a potential flow can be assumed.
 Con….
• Since the fluid at the boundaries has zero velocity, there is a steep velocity gradient from the
boundary into the flow. This velocity gradient in a real fluid sets up shear forces near the
boundary that reduce the flow speed to that of the boundary.

• That fluid layer which has had its velocity affected by the boundary shear is called the boundary
layer.

• For smooth upstream boundaries the boundary layer starts out as a laminar boundary layer in
which the fluid particles move in smooth layers.

• As the laminar boundary layer increases in thickness, it becomes unstable and finally transforms
into a turbulent boundary layer in which the fluid particles move in haphazard paths.

• When the boundary layer has become turbulent, there is still a very thin layer next to the
boundary layer that has laminar motion. It is called the laminar sublayer.
 Con…
The flow within the boundary layer may be laminar or turbulent, depending on various parameters involved.

Figure 2: The development of the boundary layer for flow over a flat plate, and the
different flow regimes. The vertical scale has been greatly exaggerated and horizontal
scale has been shortened.
 Con...
• The turbulent boundary layer can be considered to consist of four regions, characterized by
the distance from the wall.

• The very thin layer next to the wall where viscous effects are dominant is the viscous
sublayer. The velocity profile in this layer is very nearly linear, and the flow is nearly parallel.

• Next to the viscous sublayer is the buffer layer, in which turbulent effects are becoming
significant, but the flow is still dominated by viscous effects.

• Above the buffer layer is the overlap layer, in which the turbulent effects are much more
significant, but still not dominant.

• Above that is the turbulent (or outer) layer in which turbulent effects dominate over viscous
effects.
Boundary Layer Definition
Boundary layer thickness, δ

• The boundary layer thickness is defined as the vertical distance from a flat plate to a point where
the flow velocity reaches 99 per cent of the velocity of the free stream.

• Another definition of boundary layer are the

 Boundary layer displacement thickness, δ*

 Boundary layer momentum thickness, θ

Boundary layer displacement thickness, δ*

• Consider two types of fluid flow past a stationary horizontal plate with velocity U as shown in Fig.
shown below. Since there is no viscosity for the case of ideal fluid (Fig. a), a uniform velocity
profile is developed above the solid wall.

• However, the velocity gradient is developed in the boundary layer region for the case of real fluid
with the presence of viscosity and no-slip at the wall (Fig. b).
Con…
Boundary layer displacement thickness, δ*

Figure Flow over a horizontal solid surface for the case of (a) Ideal fluid (b) Real fluid

• The velocity deficits through the element strip of cross section b-b is U -u . Then the
reduction of mass flow rate is obtained as where b is the plate width.
• The total mass reduction due to the presence of viscosity compared to the case of
ideal fluid
 Reynolds Number and Geometry Effects
• The technique of boundary layer (BL) analysis can be used to compute viscous effects near solid

walls and to “patch” these onto the outer inviscid motion.

• This patching is more successful as the body Reynolds number becomes larger, as shown in Fig.

below.

• In Fig. shown below a uniform stream U moves parallel to a sharp flat plate of length L. If the

Reynolds number UL/ ν is low (Fig. a), the viscous region is very broad and extends far ahead and

to the sides of the plate. The plate retards the oncoming stream greatly, and small changes in flow

parameters cause large changes in the pressure distribution along the plate.

• There is no existing simple theory for external flow analysis at Reynolds numbers from 1 to about

1000. Such thick-shear-layer flows are typically studied by experiment or by numerical modeling
 Con…

Fig. Comparison of flow past a sharp flat plate at low and high Reynolds numbers: (a) laminar, low-Re flow; (b) high-Re flow.
 Con…
• A high-Reynolds-number flow (Fig. b) is much more amenable to boundary layer patching,
as first pointed out by Prandtl in 1904.

• The viscous layers, either laminar or turbulent, are very thin, thinner even than the drawing
shows.

• We define the boundary layer thickness δ as the locus of points where the velocity u parallel
to the plate reaches 99 percent of the external velocity U.

• The accepted formulas for flat-plate flow, and their approximate ranges, are
 Con…
• where = Ux/ν is called the local Reynolds number of the flow along the plate surface. The
turbulent flow formula applies for greater than approximately.

• Some computed values are shown below

• The blanks indicate that the formula is not applicable. In all cases these boundary layers are so
thin that their displacement effect on the outer inviscid layer is negligible.

• Thus the pressure distribution along the plate can be computed from inviscid theory as if the
boundary layer were not even there.
 Prandtl/Blasius Analysis
• Prandtl obtained the simplified equation of fluid motion inside the boundary layer by scaling analysis called a
relative order of magnitude analysis.
• For viscous, incompressible flow past an object the general governing Momentum(Navier-Stokes) equation
and continuity equation are:

Where: , For Incompressible and constant-viscosity flow

• Hence, for steady, 2D laminar flows with negligible gravitational effect, N-S equation along X (Longitudinal)
and Y direction is reduced to the ff:

• Since the boundary layer is thin, it is expected that the component of velocity normal to the plate is much
smaller than that parallel to the plate and that the rate of change of any parameter across the boundary layer
should be much greater than that along the flow direction. That is,
 Con…
• Physically, the flow is primarily parallel to the plate and any fluid property is convicted
downstream much more quickly than it is diffused across the streamlines.
• For A boundary layer flow over a flat plate the pressure is constant throughout the fluid. The
flow represents a balance between viscous and inertial effects with pressure playing no role.
• With these assumptions it can be shown that the governing equations reduce to the following
boundary layer equations:

• From the above N-S equation left term is advective (convective) term
• As shown by the figure below, the boundary conditions for the governing boundary layer
equations (which is non linear) are:
• u=v=0 @ y=0, fluid sticks to the plate
• u U@y ∞, Outside boundary layer the flow is uniform upstream flow
Con…
• Let L be the stream wise distance over which u changes appreciably (from 0 to U). A measure of is therefore U/L, so
that the advective term is estimated as:
• where ∼ is to be interpreted as ”of order”. We can regarded the term as a measure of the inertial forces.
• Similarly, a measure of the viscus term is estimated as:
• The term ( is much smaller than term ( may be drops from the equations.
• Prandtl assumed that within the boundary layer, the viscous forces and inertial forces are the same order. It means
that

• For different length X along the flat plate length L the boundary layer thickness is given by:
•
• Recognizing that =Re, We see immediately that

Figure 4: An order–of–magnitude analysis of the laminar boundary layer equations along a flat plate revels that d grows like √x
Con…

• The coefficient of the proportionality, that correspond to the thickness of boundary layer
according to the definition of δ as u = 0.99U is commonly taken as equal to 5.

• The thickness of the boundary layer along the flat plate depend on x and can be calculated form

• It can also formulate the displacement and momentum thickness as below:

•
 Momentum Integral Boundary Layer Equation for a Flat Plate

• One of the important aspects of boundary layer theory is the determination of the
drag caused by shear forces on a body.
• As was discussed in the previous section, such results can be obtained from the
governing differential equations for laminar boundary layer flow.
• Since these solutions are extremely difficult to obtain, it is of interest to have an
alternative approximate method.
• The momentum integral method described in this section provides such an
alternative.
 Con…

• We consider the uniform flow past a flat plate and the fixed control volume
as shown in Fig below

Fig. Control volume used in the derivation of the momentum integral equation for boundary layer flow.
Con…
• In agreement with advanced theory and experiment, we assume that the pressure is
constant throughout the flow field.
• The flow entering the control volume at the leading edge of the plate [section1] is
uniform, while the velocity of the flow exiting the control volume [section 2] varies
from the upstream velocity at the edge of the boundary layer to zero velocity on the
plate.
• The fluid adjacent to the plate makes up the lower portion of the control surface while
the upper surface coincides with the streamline just outside the edge of the boundary
layer at section 2.
• It need not (in fact, does not) coincide with the edge of the boundary layer except at
section 2.
Con…
• If we apply the x component of the momentum equation to the steady flow of fluid
within this control volume we obtain:

• where for a plate of width b:

• and D is the drag that the plate exerts on the fluid.
• Note that the net force caused by the uniform pressure distribution does not
contribute to this flow.
• Since the plate is solid and the upper surface of the control volume is a streamline,
there is no flow through these areas.

• Thus, the drag on a flat plate depends on the velocity profile within the boundary layer.
 Con…
• Although the height h is not known, it is known that for conservation of mass the flowrate through
section 1 must equal that through section 2,

• Or which can be written as:

• Thus, by combining this equation with the drag equation we obtain the drag in terms of the deficit of
momentum flux across the outlet of the control volume as:

Momentum deficit

• Hence, Drag on a flat plate is related to momentum deficit within the boundary layer.
 Con…
• From the above graph and drag equation, If the flow were inviscid, the drag would be zero, since we would

have u=U and the right-hand side of the drag Eq. would be zero. (This is consistent with the fact that =0 if

μ=0)

• Therefore, the above drag Eq. points out the important fact that boundary layer flow on a flat plate is

governed by a balance between shear drag (the left-hand side of Eq. ) and a decrease in the momentum of the

fluid (the right-hand side of Eq. ).

• As x increases, δ increases and the drag increases.

• The thickening of the boundary layer is necessary to overcome the drag of the viscous shear stress on the

plate.

• This is contrary to horizontal fully developed pipe flow in which the momentum of the fluid remains constant

and the shear force is overcome by the pressure gradient along the pipe.
 Con…
• We can also write down the drag as momentum thickness ϴ which is given as,

• Note that this equation is valid for laminar or turbulent flows.

• The shear stress distribution can be obtained from the above Eq. by differentiating both sides
with respect to x to obtain

• The increase in drag per length of the plate,, occurs at the expense of an increase of the
momentum boundary layer thickness, which represents a decrease in the momentum of the
fluid.
• Since, , The wall shear stress is given as
• is called momentum integral relation for the flat plate boundary layer flow
Con…
• The momentum integral equation, can be used along with an assumed velocity profile to
obtain reasonable, approximate boundary layer results.
• The accuracy of these results depends on how closely the shape of the assumed velocity
profile approximates the actual profile.
• Thus, we consider a general velocity profile

• where the dimensionless coordinate varies from 0 to 1 across the boundary layer.
• The dimensionless function g(Y) can be any shape we choose, although it should be a
reasonable approximation to the boundary layer profile, as shown by the figure below.
Con…
• In particular, it should certainly satisfy the boundary conditions u=0 at y=0 and u=U at y=δ
That is,
• For a given g(Y) the drag can be determined as

• where the dimensionless constant has the value

• Also, the wall shear stress can be written as

• where the dimensionless constant has the value
• By combining , ,, , and we can obtain boundary
layer thickness approximation

• which can be integrated from δ=0 at x=0 to give:

Con…
• By substituting this expression back into we obtain:

For any assumed profile shape, the functional dependence of δ and on the physical parameters 𝜌, μ, U,
and x is the same. Only the constants are different. That is, and
• It is often convenient to use the dimensionless local friction coefficient,, defined as to
express the wall shear stress.
• Several assumed velocity profiles and the resulting values of are given in Fig. and Table below.
• The more closely the assumed shape approximates the actual (i.e., Blasius) profile, the more
accurate the final results.
Con…
• We obtain the approximate value
• While the Blasius solution result is given by
• For a flat plate of length L and width b, the net friction drag, can be expressed in
terms of the friction drag coefficient, as:

• Hence, the friction drag coefficient is an integral of the local friction coefficient.
• Substituting = and Integrating gives
• For Blasius solution ( ), the friction drag coefficient is and the
graph is shown below
Con…

• The momentum integral boundary layer method provides a relatively simple

technique to obtain useful boundary layer results.
• This technique can be extended to boundary layer flows on curved surfaces
(where the pressure and fluid velocity at the edge of the boundary layer are
not constant) and to turbulent flows.
Summery
Boundary Layer Thicknesses
 Disturbance Thickness, d
 Displacement Thickness, d*

 Momentum Thickness, q
Laminar Flat-Plate
Boundary Layer: Exact Solution
• Governing Equations
Laminar Flat-Plate
Boundary Layer: Exact Solution
• Boundary Conditions
Laminar Flat-Plate
Boundary Layer: Exact Solution
• Results of Numerical Analysis
Momentum Integral Equation
• Provides Approximate Alternative to Exact
(Blasius) Solution
 Momentum Integral Equation
• Equation is used to estimate the boundary-layer thickness as a function of x:
1. Obtain a first approximation to the freestream velocity distribution, U(x). The
pressure in the boundary layer is related to the freestream velocity, U(x),
using the Bernoulli equation
2. Assume a reasonable velocity-profile shape inside the boundary layer
3. Derive an expression for using the results obtained from item 2
Use of the Momentum Equation for Flow
with Zero Pressure Gradient
• Simplify Momentum Integral Equation
(Item 1)

 The Momentum Integral Equation becomes

Use of the Momentum Equation for Flow
with Zero Pressure Gradient
• Laminar Flow
• Example: Assume a Polynomial Velocity Profile (Item 2)

• The wall shear stress tw is then (Item 3)

Use of the Momentum Equation for Flow
with Zero Pressure Gradient
• Laminar Flow Results
(Polynomial Velocity Profile)

Compare to Exact (Blasius) results!

Use of the Momentum Equation for Flow
with Zero Pressure Gradient
• Turbulent Flow
• Example: 1/7-Power Law Profile (Item 2)
Use of the Momentum Equation for Flow
with Zero Pressure Gradient
• Turbulent Flow Results
(1/7-Power Law Profile)
Pressure Gradients in Boundary-Layer Flow
Drag
• Drag Coefficient

with

or
Drag
• Flow over a Flat Plate Parallel to the Flow: Friction
Drag

Boundary Layer can be 100% laminar,

partly laminar and partly turbulent, or
essentially 100% turbulent; hence
several different drag coefficients are
available
Drag
• Flow over a Flat Plate Parallel to the Flow: Friction
Drag (Continued)

Laminar BL:

Turbulent BL:

… plus others for transitional flow

 Example
Assume a laminar boundary layer has a velocity profile as u(y)=U (y/d) for 0yd and
u=U for y>d, as shown. Determine the shear stress and the boundary layer growth as
a function of the distance x measured from the leading edge of the flat plate.
u=U 
y

u(y)=U(y/d)
x

d
 w   U 2
dx
U
For a laminar flow  w   (u ) y 0   from the profile.
y 
Substitute into the definition of the momentum thickness:
 
u u y y U y
  (1  )dy   (1  )dy , since u 
0
U U 0
  

 .
6
 Example (cont.)
d U 1 d
 w   U 2 ,    U 2
dx  6 dx
6 12  
Separation of variables:   d  , integrate  2  x  12( ) x2 ,
 U  U  U x
  1 U x
 3.46  3.46 , where Re x  
x U x Re x 
x
  3.46 ,  x
U
U U 3 0.289 U 2 1
w    0.289  , w 
 x Re x x
Note: In general, the velocity distribution is not a straight line. A laminar flat-plate
boundary layer assumes a Blasius profile (chapter 9.3). The boundary layer thickness d
and the wall shear stress tw behave as:

5.0 5 .0 x 0.332 U 2
  , (9.13).  w  , (9.14).
U Re x Re x
x
 Laminar Boundary Layer Development
1

• Boundary layer growth: d  x

• Initial growth is fast
( x ) 0.5 • Growth rate dd/dx  1/x,
decreasing downstream.

0
0 0.5 1
x

10

• Wall shear stress: tw  1/x

• As the boundary layer grows, the wall
 w( x ) 5 shear stress decreases as the velocity
gradient at the wall becomes less steep.

0
0 0.5 1
x
Reading Assignments
1) Please write a short note about Pipe flow, fully developed laminar pipe flow
turbulent pipe flow.
2) Determine wall shear stress tw , Boundary layer Thickness ( and friction
coefficient for Cubic velocity profile which is given as:=

3) Derive the differential form of continuity equation and conservation of

linear momentum.

4) Please read about flow over a cylinder.

Thank You!!