Chapter 9

Flow Over Immersed Bodies

Charbel Bou-Mosleh, Ph.D.

Mechanical Engineering Department
Notre Dame University

Spring 2011
 Note to Students

These slides were developed during the spring semester of 2011 (for
MEN 321) at the Mechanical Engineering Department at Notre Dame
University, and provided to you through blackboard in PDF format. The
book that was used in preparing these slides is entitled “Fundamentals of
Fluid Mechanics” by Munson, Young and Okiishi. Most of the figures,
pictures and tables are taken from the book companion site provided by J.
Wiley & Sons, Inc.

These slides are intended to help you study the course by guiding you
through reading the book. They should NOT be used as your only source
of information since they are not complete and MAY contain typographical
errors.

Charbel Bou-Mosleh, Ph.D.

Notre Dame University, Louaize
Spring 2011

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 1 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Getting Started:
• Flow over airplanes, snowflakes, ski jumpers, cars, submarines
classified as external flow
• External flows involving air  aerodynamics
• Fluid forces very important (less drag  less fuel consumption)
• Other applications  objects not completely surrounded by
fluid (buildings, ships …)

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Getting Started:
• Different approaches to solve external flow problems:
– Theoretical  Navier-Stokes equations and others
– Experimental  wind (or water) tunnel
– Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 General External Flow Characteristics:
• Body immersed in moving fluid experiences resultant force due
to interaction with surrounding fluid

• Two instances of external flows:

– Fluid is stationary, body is moving
– Fluid is moving, body is stationary (flow over buildings)

• In both cases, fix coordinate system to body and treat

situation as flow around body with velocity U or upstream
velocity (constant w.r.t. time & space)

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 General External Flow Characteristics:
• Structure of external flow depend on nature of body:
a) Two-dimensional bodies (L = , cross-section  constant)
b) Axisymmetric bodies (pipes, bullets …)
c) Three-dimensional bodies

• Another classification:
1. Blunt bodies (trucks, buildings, …)
2. Streamlined bodies (airfoils, racing cars, …)

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 5 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 General External Flow Characteristics:
• Lift and drag concepts:
– Interaction of body with fluid
described in terms of forces at
the fluid-structure interface:
pressure and wall shear stress

– Distribution of p and w not

always easy  only resultant
effects are needed i.e. lift and
drag (and side force for 3-D
objects)

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 6 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 General External Flow Characteristics:
• Lift and drag concepts:
Consider the following:

dFx  ( pdA) cos   ( w dA) sin 

dFy  ( pdA) sin   ( w dA) cos 

Drag and Lift:

Drag   dFx & Lift   dFy

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 General External Flow Characteristics:
• Lift and drag concepts:
– Integrating requires knowledge of body shape and pressure
and shear stress distribution (only available for simple
geometries)

– Instead, define lift and drag coefficient

L D
CL  1 CD  1
2 U 2
A 2 U 2
A

– Typically, A  frontal area

– Sometimes, A  planform area
MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 8 Chapter 9
 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 General External Flow Characteristics:
• Characteristics of flow past an object:
– Character of flow field function of shape of body and
depends on size, orientation, speed and fluid properties

– Typical external flows depend on Re (ratio of inertial effects

to viscous effects) and Ma (speed of body / speed of sound)

– External flows are associated with a characteristic length

in the order of 0.01 m <  < 10m  10 < Re < 109

– Re > 100  inertia effects dominate

Re < 1  viscous effects dominate (creeping flow)

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 General External Flow Characteristics:
• Characteristics of flow past a flat plate:

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 General External Flow Characteristics:
• Characteristics of flow past a cylinder:

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 11 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Boundary layer structure and thickness on a flat plate:
– Size of boundary layer depends on shape of object
– Consider infinitely long flat plate:
 x  coordinate distance along plate from leading edge
 Re = Ux/  (x extends from 0 to )

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Boundary layer structure and thickness on a flat plate:
– Transition from laminar to turbulent BL occurs at
Rexcr = 2105  3106 (depending on surface roughness
and amount of turbulence in upstream flow)
– Purpose of BL  allow fluid to change velocity from U to
zero:
V0 at y  0
V  Uˆi at y   BL thickness
– Typically,
  y where u  0.99U

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Boundary layer structure and thickness on a flat plate:

– Boundary layer displacement thickness *  represents

the outward displacement of streamlines caused by viscous
effects on the plate

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Boundary layer structure and thickness on a flat plate:

– Boundary layer displacement thickness *  amount the

thickness of wall must be increased so fictitious uniform
inviscid flow has same mass flowrate properties of actual
viscous flow
MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 15 Chapter 9
 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Boundary layer structure and thickness on a flat plate:


 *bU   (U  u )bdy
0

 u
  *   1  dy
0
U
MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 16 Chapter 9
 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Boundary layer structure and thickness on a flat plate:

– Displacement thickness * is the imaginary increase in

thickness of the wall (or body), as seen by the outer flow,
and is due to the effect of a growing BL.

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Boundary layer structure and thickness on a flat plate:
– Displacement thickness * is very useful in the design of
ducts, wind tunnels(1) …
1. Start by assuming an inviscid flow
2. Enlarge walls by the displacement thickness to allow
same flow rate

(1) Kundu and Cohen (2004)

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Boundary layer structure and thickness on a flat plate:
– By definition, the deficit in momentum flux due to the
presence of BL is the deficit in momentum flux in a layer of
uniform speed U and thickness , the boundary layer
momentum thickness

u u
   1  dy
0
U U

– Often used when determining drag

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Boundary layer structure and thickness on a flat plate:
– Usually,  << x, * << x
&  << x

– Structure and properties

of BL flow depend on
whether flow is laminar or
turbulent

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Prandtl/Blasius boundary layer solution:
– For steady, 2D laminar flow (neglecting gravity), N-S
equations reduce to:
u u 1 p   2u  2u 
u     2  2 
x y  x  x y 
  1 p   2  2 
u     2  2 
x y  y  x y 
– Continuity equation reduces as follows:
u 
 0
x y

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Prandtl/Blasius boundary layer solution:
– Since BL is thin, i.e.
 
  u & 
x y
Equations reduce to:
u 
 0
x y
u u  2u
u   2
x y y

BOUNDARY LAYER EQUATIONS

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 22 Chapter 9
 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Prandtl/Blasius boundary layer solution:
– Flow over flat plate represents balance between viscous &
inertial effects with pressure playing no role

– Boundary Conditions:
y0 u   0
y u U

– Solution of BL equation very hard obtain  Blasius reduced

the equation by using coordinate transformation and
change of variables

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 23 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Prandtl/Blasius boundary layer solution:
– In dimensionless form, velocity profiles on flat plate are
similar regardless of location along plate  self-similar flow
u  y
 g 
U  
– Using order of magnitude analysis, it can be shown that

 x 
12

 ~ 
U 

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Prandtl/Blasius boundary layer solution:
– Introduce similarity variable and stream function:
12
U 
 
    y and   xU f ( )
12

 x 
– Recall,
 
u and   
y x
 U 
12

 u  Uf ( )    f   f 
 4x 

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Prandtl/Blasius boundary layer solution:
– Substitute in BL equations,

2 f   ff   0
– B.C.
f  f   0 at   0
f  1 as   

– Reducing PDE to an ODE using similarity variable is not

always possible

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 26 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Prandtl/Blasius boundary layer solution:
– Equation cannot be solved analytically but numerically

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 27 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Prandtl/Blasius boundary layer solution:
– Equation cannot be solved analytically but numerically

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 28 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Prandtl/Blasius boundary layer solution:
– From solution,
u
 0.99 where   5.0
U
x  5.0
  5.0 or 
U x Re x
– Also,

* 1.721  0.664 
   w  0.332U 32

x Re x x Re x x

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 29 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Momentum integral boundary layer equation for a flat plate:
– Approximate alternative to Blasius (exact) solution

– Used to determine drag caused by shear forces using

momentum integral equation

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Momentum integral boundary layer equation for a flat plate:
– Apply x-component of momentum equation to the following:

F
x    uV  nˆ dA    uV  nˆ dA
(1) (2 )

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 31 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Momentum integral boundary layer equation for a flat plate:

F x    uV  nˆ dA    uV  nˆ dA
(1) (2 )

  D    U (U ) dA    u 2 dA  U 2bh  b  u 2 dy
(1) (2 ) 0

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 32 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Momentum integral boundary layer equation for a flat plate:

– Conservation of mass gives:

 
Uh   udy  U 2bh  b  Uudy
0 0

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 33 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Momentum integral boundary layer equation for a flat plate:
– Combining both equations to get:

Valid for laminar
D  b  u (U  u )dy  bU 2
0
and turbulent flows

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 34 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Momentum integral boundary layer equation for a flat plate:
– Combining both equations to get:

D  b  u (U  u )dy  bU 2
0

where,
D 
plate
w dA

– BL flow over flat plate governed by a balance between

shear drag and decrease in momentum of fluid
– Thickening of BL necessary to overcome the drag of
viscous shear stress on the plate
MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 35 Chapter 9
 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Momentum integral boundary layer equation for a flat plate:
– Combining both equations to get:

D  b  u (U  u )dy  bU 2
0

where,
D 
plate
w dA

– Differentiate,
d Momentum Integral
 w  U 2

dx Equation

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 36 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Momentum integral boundary layer equation for a flat plate:

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 37 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Momentum integral boundary layer equation for a flat plate:

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 38 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Momentum integral boundary layer equation for a flat plate:
– Sometimes it is convenient to use the “Local Friction
Coefficient”
w
cf  1
2 U 2

– Blasius solution:
0.664
cf 
Re x

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 39 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Momentum integral boundary layer equation for a flat plate:
– For a flat plate of length  and width b, the “Friction Drag
Coefficient” (integral of local friction coefficient) is

Df
CDf  1
2 U 2b

– Blasius solution:
1.328
CDf 
Re 

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 40 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Transition from laminar to turbulent flow:

Rexcr = 5105

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 41 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Turbulent BL flow:
– Very complex, random and irregular structure  velocity
profile unsteady in a random fashion
– Mass and momentum convected downstream as well as
across BL
– Considerable net transfer of x-component of momentum
perpendicular to plate because of random motion of
particles
– Particles moving toward plate lose momentum and
conversely  plate acts as momentum sink
– Shear force for turbulent flow larger than in laminar flow

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 42 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Turbulent BL flow:
– No exact solution for turbulent BL flow  only numerical
(shear stress relationship or Navier-Stokes equation)

– Approximate results obtained using momentum integral

equation  need reasonable approximation for velocity
profile and wall shear stress
– For turbulent flow, surface roughness affects shear stress
 drag coefficient function of Re and / (next slide)
– BL flow governed by balance between inertial effects and
viscous effects (pressure constant throughout flow)

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Turbulent BL flow:

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 44 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Turbulent BL flow:

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 45 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Effects of pressure gradient:
– When fluid flows past an object (not flat plate), pressure
field is not uniform
– For flow over cylinder  component of pressure gradient in
streamwise direction is not zero
– Variation of free-stream velocity Ufs (fluid velocity at edge
of BL) is the cause for pressure gradient
– For Flat plate  U = Ufs
– For bodies of nonzero thickness, U  Ufs

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 46 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Effects of pressure gradient:
– Inviscid fluid (Re  )
– Ufs = 0 (stagnation)
– Ufs = 2U (top and bottom)

– Pressure:
p 
– Stagnation: 0 2
1
 U 2

– Top & bottom: p0  32 U

2

– Since w = 0 and pressure

distribution is symmetric  no
drag
MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 47 Chapter 9
 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Effects of pressure gradient:
– There is no purely inviscid fluid
(D0 even if viscosity very small)
– When viscous effects are negligible
 fluid particle flows from A to C
to F with no energy loss
– Decrease of pressure in direction
of flow  favorable pressure
gradient
– Increase of pressure  adverse
pressure gradient

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Effects of pressure gradient:
– Because of viscous effects, fluid
particle does not have enough
energy to travel over cylinder 
BL separation

– Because of BL separation 
pressure drag

– Turbulent BL can flow farther

around cylinder compared with
laminar BL
MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 49 Chapter 9
 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Boundary Layer Characteristics:
• Effects of pressure gradient (Streamlined Bodies):

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 50 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag:
• Most information pertaining to drag on objects is a result of
experiment

• Recall:
D
CD  1
2 U 2
A

where, CD = (shape, Re, Ma, /)

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag:
• Friction drag:
– Part of drag due directly to magnitude of shear stress (w)
on object and orientation of surface:
o Surface parallel to upstream velocity (U)  entire force
contributes to drag
o Surface normal to U  no contribution to drag
– For highly streamlined bodies or for very small Re, drag is
mostly friction drag

D f  12 U 2bCDf To be determined

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag:
• Pressure drag:
– Part of drag due directly to pressure.
– Also called “form drag”  strong dependency on shape or
form of object
– Pressure drag is function of magnitude of pressure and
orientation of surface
o Flat plate parallel to flow  no contribution to drag
o Flat plate normal to flow  provides entire drag

Dp  12 U 2bCDp To be determined

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag:
• Pressure drag:
– If pressure distribution is known
Dp   p cos  dA
– Therefore

CDp 
Dp

 p cos  dA  C

p cos  dA
1
2 U 2 A 1
2 U 2 A A

where, p  p0
Cp  1 Pressure Coefficient
2 U 2
A

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 54 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag:
• Pressure drag:
– For laminar flows, it is found that CD  1/Re

– For turbulent flows, CD is independent of Re

– If viscosity were zero  Dp = 0 (large forces on front

portion of object = equally large pressure forces on rear
portion)

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag:
• Pressure drag vs Friction drag:

Friction Drag Pressure Drag Friction & Pressure

Drag

Pictures courtesy of Cengel and Cymbala

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Shape dependence:
– Drag coefficient depends on shape  streamlined to blunt

– Amount of streamlining can have a considerable effect on

the drag
– For extremely thin bodies use planform area (computing CD)

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Shape dependence:

Frontal area

Planform area
MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 58 Chapter 9
 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Reynolds number dependence:
1) Low Re flows (Re < 1):
– Balance between viscous and pressure forces (inertia
effects negligible)
2C
D  CU  CD 
Re
Constant that
depends on shape

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Reynolds number dependence:
1) Low Re flows (Re < 1):

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Reynolds number dependence:
2) Moderate Re flows:
– Flows tend to take on a boundary layer flow structure
(CD ~ Re-1/2)
– Blunt bodies drag coefficients are relatively constant
for 103 < Re < 105
– For many shapes  sudden change in character of CD
when BL becomes turbulent

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Reynolds number dependence:
2) Moderate Re flows:

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Reynolds number dependence:
2) Moderate Re flows:

Typical flow patterns for flow

past a circular cylinder

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Reynolds number dependence:
– Effect of streamlining:

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 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Compressibility effects:
– For very large upstream velocity  compressibility effects
become important  CD = f(Re,Ma)
– For low Ma (< 0.5)  compressibility effect unimportant
– For larger Ma (> 0.5)  CD strongly depends on Ma (Re
effects secondary)
– When CD in vicinity of Ma = 1 (sonic flow)  shock waves
exist and can increase drag

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 65 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Compressibility effects:

MEN 321 - Dr. Bou-Mosleh 66 Chapter 9

 Chapter 9 – Flow Over Immersed
Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Compressibility effects:

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Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Surface roughness:
– Drag on flat plate parallel to flow depends on surface
roughness if flow is turbulent
– For streamlined bodies, drag increases with increasing
surface roughness
– For blunt bodies an increase in surface roughness can cause
a decrease in drag

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Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Surface roughness:

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Bodies
 Drag coefficient data and examples:
• Typical drag coefficients for 2D objects:

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Bodies
 Lift:
• Considerable effort  to understand various properties of
generation of lift

• Airfoil  produces lift

• Sometimes it is desirable to
reduce lift (or downforce) – for
racing cars through corners for
example

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Bodies
 Lift:
• Surface Pressure distribution:
– If pressure and shear forces over surface are known  lift
(and lift coefficient) can be determined
L
CL  1
2 U 2
A

Obtained from
experiments, advanced CL   (shape, Re, Ma,  )
analysis or CFD
Most important

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Bodies
 Lift:
• Surface Pressure distribution:
– Most lift generating devices operate in large Re range  BL
exists where viscous effects are important (and in wake)
– Wall shear stress contributes little to the lift  lift comes
from surface pressure pS

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Bodies
 Lift:
• Surface Pressure distribution:

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Bodies
 Lift:
• Flow past a finite length wing:

• CL increases with increasing 

• Objective  achieve maximum CL/CD

ratio

• CL determined from experiment or CFD

• CL/CD increases (up to 100) until stall

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Bodies
 Lift:
• Surface Pressure distribution:
• Aspect Ratio
b2

A
• For rectangular surfaces
b

c
• Long wings  more efficient

• Highly maneuverable fighter 

short wings

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Bodies
 Lift:
• Flow past finite length wings:
– Long wings: losses at tip are
minor compared to short
wings  more efficient

– Short wings: increase in drag

due to the finite length of the
wing  INDUCED DRAG

– Vortices at tip interacts with

free stream

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Bodies
 Lift:
• Surface Pressure distribution:
• Changing AoA  changing shape
 equivalent to having flaps

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Bodies
 Lift:
• Circulation:

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Bodies
 Lift:
• Lift and Drag coefficients for spinning smooth sphere:

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