Basics of Fluid Flow

Module-3; Lecture 11
CIVE 2331
Khaled Ghannam
Office : 132D Nightingale Hall
Office hours : Tuesdays 3-5pm
Oct. 7, 2024
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Boundary layers and inviscid flows
❑ Fluid statics → concerned with pressure only (normal stress) and associated hydrostatic forces

❑ If shear stresses exists → fluid is in motion (fluid flow)

❑ But fluids can flow even without shear stresses developing, e.g., Newton’s law of viscosity
𝑑𝑢 𝑑𝑢
𝜏=𝜇 𝑑𝑦
; viscous shear stress exists when there exists velocity gradients
𝑑𝑦
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Boundary layers and inviscid flows
❑ Consider a fluid flow with constant velocity approaching a solid boundary (flat plate)

❑ As approaching flow touches the solid boundary (at rest), fluid molecules in contact with
boundary become also at rest. This is called the no-slip condition

❑ No-slip condition results in large velocity gradients near the solid boundary → large shear
𝑑𝑢
stresses 𝜏 = 𝜇 develop
𝑑𝑦

𝑑𝑢
❑ Far from boundary, flow velocity returns to its free stream value, where = 0 and 𝜏 = 0
𝑑𝑦

❑ Hence, far from boundary, the

flow can be considered inviscid
(effects of viscosity are
negligible)

❑ Boundary layer is the thin layer

close to a boundary where
effects of viscosity are most
important
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Examples of inviscid vs. viscous flows
𝑑𝑢
Inviscid flow: =0→𝜏=0 No-slip condition
𝑑𝑦
Also called ideal fluid (zero velocity) Solid boundary

equal velocity

No-slip condition Solid boundary

(zero velocity)
Example of Parabolic
velocity profile (typical in
• Velocity profile refers to the shape of the circular conduits)
flow velocity with distance above a surface
𝑑𝑢
Real flow: ≠0→𝜏≠0
𝑑𝑦
Also called real fluid
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Laminar vs. turbulent flow
❑ Laminar flow occurs when the fluid flow is smooth and well-ordered → fluid layers follow
smooth paths with little interaction (little mixing) between them

▪ Laminar flow occurs at low flow velocity, or in high viscosity fluids (typically low Reynolds
number; to be studied later in the course)

❑ Turbulent flow is irregular, chaotic fluid motion with strong mixing (eddying motion like snow
swirling in windy conditions)

❑ Youtube video on boundary layer development

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Steady flow and uniform flow
❑ Steady flow occurs when the properties of fluid flow, such as velocity, pressure, cross-section
do not change in time, but may vary from point to point (steady means time derivatives of
flow properties at a point are zero)

❑ Unsteady flow is one in which flow conditions at a point change in time

❑ Uniform flow is one in which the flow velocity has the same magnitude and direction at every
point in the flow

❑ Non-uniform flow occurs if at any given instant, the velocity is not the same at every
point in the flow
Can turbulent flow be steady? Can flow near a wall be uniform?

❑ Examples on white board! (classify flow as steady uniform, steady non-uniform, unsteady
uniform, and unsteady non-uniform)
❑ A note on incompressible vs. compressible flow: Although we now know that all fluids are
somewhat compressible (liquids are much less compressible than gases), when the pressure
changes in the flow are not too large to result in large changes in density, the flow can be
considered incompressible (compare wind flow or river flow (incompressible flow) to subsonic
jets (compressible flow))
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Dimensionality of flow
❑ Although fluid flows are typically three-dimensional, with properties such as pressures,
velocities, energy, have different values in x, y, z directions, in many cases such flow
conditions change mostly in two directions or even in only one direction.

❑ Flow is one dimensional if the flow parameters (such as velocity, pressure, depth etc.) at a
given instant in time only vary in the direction of flow and not across the cross-section

❑ Flow in a pipe with fixed diameter is an example of one-dimensional flow?

❑ Flow is two-dimensional when flow parameters vary in the direction of flow and in one
direction at right angles to this direction

One-dimensional flow weir

two-dimensional flow over a weir
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Pathlines, Streamlines, Streaklines, Streamtubes
❑ A Pathline in a fluid flow is the trajectory that a single fluid particle traces over a period of time
(think of a dyeing a water droplet and recording a video of its trajectory over time, the path it
traces is a pathline of the flow)

❑ A streamline shows the mean direction of a number of particles at a given instant. A streamline
is everywhere tangent to the velocity vector of a particle. Because the velocity at a point in
steady flow must be unique, streamlines cannot intersect

❑ A streakline is the position of all particles that have passed continuously through a particular
spatial point in the past

Example of a streakline
Important note: if the flow is steady (no change in
velocity with time at a given point in the flow),
pathlines, streamlines, and streaklines are
identical
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Flow rate and mean velocity
❑ A quantity of fluid flowing across a cross-section per unit time is called the flow rate
❑ Volume flow rate (commonly referred to as discharge) represents volume of fluid passing
across a section per unit time. Expressed in m3/s, ft3/s, gallons/minute (gpm), million
gallons per day (mgd)

❑ Mass flow rate is how many kilograms pass through a cross section per unit time (e.g.,
kg/s, slugs/s, etc.)

❑ Weight flow rate is in lbf/s, N/s, kN/s, etc.

❑ Volume flow rate (discharge) is most commonly used for incompressible fluids (like river flow)
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Flow rate and mean velocity
❑ Consider a streamline in a steady flow lying in x-z plane (two-dimensional flow)
❑ Element area dA lies in y-z plane. At point P, the time-averaged velocity 𝑢 is tangent to
streamline. The volume flow rate passing through element area dA is given by

𝑑𝑄 = 𝒖. 𝑑𝑨 = (𝑢 cos 𝜃)𝑑𝐴 = 𝑢( cos 𝜃 𝑑𝐴) = 𝑢𝑑𝐴′

where 𝑑𝐴′ is the projection of the area dA on a plane normal to

the direction of 𝑢.

Hence, volume flow rate is equal to the magnitude of the mean

velocity multiplied by flow area at right angles to the direction of
mean velocity.

Since the velocity u can vary across the section, volume flow rate
can be integrated as

𝑄 = න 𝑢𝑑𝐴 = 𝐴𝑉
𝐴
Where A is cross-sectional area, and V is the velocity averaged
over the total area A
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Mass and Weight flow rates
❑ Mass flow rate is

𝑚ሶ = 𝜌𝐴𝑉 = 𝜌𝑄

Weight flow rate

𝐺 = 𝑔𝑚ሶ = 𝛾𝐴𝑉 = 𝛾𝑄

In all of the above analysis, 𝑢 is the time mean velocity through the infinitesimal area dA, while V
is the mean or average velocity (i.e., average of u) over the entire cross-sectional area A

From the above analysis, we can calculate the mean velocity by

𝑄 𝑚ሶ 𝐺
𝑉= = =
𝐴 𝜌𝐴 𝛾𝐴