External flows

Dr. Om Prakash Singh

Asst. Prof., IIT Mandi
www.omprakashsingh.com
External Flows
• The subject of external flows involves both low Reynolds-number flows and high
Reynolds-number flows.
• Low Reynolds-number flows are not of interest in most engineering applications
and will not be considered; flow around spray droplets, river sediment, filaments,
and red blood cells would be examples that are left to the specialists.
• High Reynolds-number flows, however, are of interest to many engineers and
include flow around airfoils, vehicles, buildings, bridge cables, stadiums, turbine
blades, and signs, to name a few.
• It is quite difficult to solve for the flow field external to a body, even the simplest of
bodies like a long cylinder or a sphere. We can, however, develop equations that
allow us to estimate the growth of the thin viscous layer, the boundary layer, which
grows on a flat plate or the rounded nose of a vehicle.
• Also, coefficients have been determined experimentally that allow the drag and the
lift to be approximated with sufficient accuracy.
Basics of External Flows

Blunt shape

Streamline shape

Dimples reduced wake region, fluid

remain attached to the surface due
to turbulent Boundary layer
 Golf ball
Boundary layer separation on a sphere for (A) laminar flow and (B) turbulent flow caused by
roughing the nose. Note separation occurs much downsteam in turbulent flow. This is the reason
dimples are provided on the golf ball. The ball experiences less drag and hence travels long
distance.
Basics of External Flows

Fig. 1 The details of a flow around a blunt body.

Basics of External Flows
• The flow around a blunt body involves a separated region, a region in which the flow
separates from the body and forms a recirculating region downstream, as shown in
Fig.
• A wake, a region influenced by viscosity, is also formed; it is a diffusive region that
continues to grow (some distance downstream the velocity is less than the free-
stream velocity V).
• A laminar boundary layer exists near the front of the body followed by a turbulent
boundary layer as shown in Fig.
• An inviscid flow, often referred to as the free stream, exists on the front of the body
and outside the boundary layer, separated region, and wake.
• The flow around a streamlined body has all the same components as that of Fig.
except it does not have a significant separated region, and the wake is much smaller.
Basics of External Flows
• The free-stream inviscid flow is usually irrotational although it could be a rotational flow with vorticity, e.g., the flow
of air near the ground around a tree trunk or water near the ground around a post in a river; the water digs a
depression in the sand in front of the post and the air digs a similar depression in snow in front of the tree, a rather
interesting observation.
• The vorticity in the approaching air or water accounts for the observed phenomenon.
• It should be noted that the boundary of the separated region is shown at an average location. It is, however, highly
unsteady and is able to slowly exchange mass with the free stream, even though the time-average streamlines
remain outside the separated region.
• Also, the separated region is always located inside the wake.
• Interest in the flow around a blunt object is focused on the drag, the force the flow exerts on the body in the
direction of the flow.
• Lift is the force exerted normal to the fl ow direction and is of interest on airfoils and streamlined bodies. The drag
• FD and lift FL are specified in terms of the drag coefficient CD and lift coefficient CL, respectively, by

where, for a blunt body, the area A is the area projected on a plane normal to the flow direction, and for an airfoil
the area A is the chord (the distance from the nose to the trailing edge) times the length.
Flow Around Bodies of different shapes
Shape effects on Drag
Flow Around Blunt Bodies
Drag coefficients variation with Re
Same frontal area but different drag of the cylinder is much greater

The cylinder (A) and the airfoil (B) have the same frontal area, but the drag on the cylinder is much greater.
 Less frontal area but same drag

The cylinder has much less frontal area than the airfoil, yet the two shapes have the same
drag. If you are wondering about the relevance of this, early biplanes used wire cables to
structurally connect the two wings, but it was eventually recognized that the drag could
be lowered by using streamlined airfoil shaped struts instead of cables.
Flow Around Blunt Bodies
Drag coefficients
• The primary flow parameter that influences the drag around a blunt body is the Reynolds number.
• If there is no free surface, the drag coefficients for both smooth and rough spheres and long cylinders are presented
in Fig. below; the values for streamlined cylinders and spheres are also included.
• Separation always occurs in the flow of a fluid around a blunt body if the Reynolds number is sufficiently high.

Fig. 2 Drag coefficients for flow

around spheres and long
cylinders
Flow Around Blunt Bodies
Drag coefficients
• However, at low Reynolds numbers (it is called a Stokes
flow if Re < 5), there is no separation and the drag
coefficient, for a sphere, is given by

Fig. 3. Laminar and turbulent velocity profiles for the

same boundary layer thickness.

• Separation occurs for Re≥10 beginning over a small area on the rear of the sphere until the separated region reaches a
maximum at Re ≅1000. The drag coefficient is then relatively constant until a sudden drop occurs in the vicinity of Re
=2 × 105
• This sudden drop is due to the transition of the boundary layer just before separation undergoing transition from a
laminar flow to a turbulent flow.
• A turbulent boundary layer contains substantially more momentum and is able to move the separation region further
to the rear (see the comparison in Fig. above). The sudden decrease in drag could be as much as 80 percent. The
surface of an object can be roughened to cause the boundary layer to undergo transition prematurely; the dimples on
a golf ball accomplish this and increase the flight by up to 100 percent when compared to the flight of a smooth ball.
Flow Around Blunt Bodies
Drag coefficients
• After the sudden drop occurs, the drag coefficient again increases with increased Reynolds number. Experimental
data does not provide the drag coefficients for either the sphere or the cylinder for high Reynolds numbers.
• The values of 0.4 for long smooth cylinders and 0.2 for smooth spheres for Reynolds numbers exceeding 10 6 are
often used (contrary to the data of Fig. 8.2).
• Streamlining can substantially reduce the drag coefficients of blunt bodies. The drag coefficients for streamlined
cylinders and spheres are also shown in Fig. 2.
• The included angle at the trailing edge should not exceed about 20° if the separated region is to be minimized.
• The drag due to the shear stress acting on the enlarged surface will certainly increase for a streamlined body, but
the drag due to the low pressure will be reduced much more so that the total drag will be less.
• Also, streamlining eliminates the vortices that cause vibrations when shed from a blunt body.
• For cylinders of finite length with free ends, the drag coefficient must be reduced using the data of Table 1. If a
finite-length cylinder has one end fixed to a solid surface, the length of the cylinder is doubled.
• Note that the L/D of a cylinder with free ends has to be quite large before the end effects are not significant.
Table 1. Drag Coefficients for Finite-Length Circular Cylinders* with Free Ends†
Flow Around Blunt Bodies
Drag coefficients
Drag coefficients for a number
of common shapes that are
insensitive to high Reynolds
numbers are presented in
Table 2.

Table 2
Problem
A 5-cm-diameter, 6-m-high pole fixed in
concrete supports a flat, circular 4-m
diameter sign. For a wind speed of 30 m/s,
estimate the maximum moment that must
be resisted by the concrete. Take drag
coefficient for a disc as 1.1 and 0.7 for the
pole. air = 1.22 kg/m3.

Ans: M = 61 kN.m
Vortex shedding
• Long cylindrical bodies exposed to a fluid flow can exhibit the phenomenon of vortex shedding at relatively low
Reynolds numbers.
• Vortices are shed from electrical wires, bridges, towers, and underwater communication wires, and can actually
experience significant damage.
• We will consider the vortices shed from a long circular cylinder. The shedding occurs alternately from each side of
the cylinder, as shown in Fig. below.
Vortex shedding
The shedding frequency f, in hertz, is given by the Strouhal number,

• If this shedding frequency is the same, or a multiple of a structure’s frequency, then there is the possibility
that damage may occur due to resonance.
• The shedding frequency cannot be calculated from equations; it is determined experimentally and shown in
Fig. (next slide).
• Note that vortex shedding initiates at Re≈40 and for Re≥300 the Strouhal number is essentially
independent of Reynolds number and is equal to about 0.21. The vortex-shedding phenomenon disappears
• for Re > 104
• .
Cavitation
• When a liquid flows from a region of relatively high
pressure into a region of low pressure, cavitation may
occur, that is, the pressure may be sufficiently low so
that the liquid vaporizes.
• This can occur in pipe flows in which a contraction
and expansion exists: in the vanes of a centrifugal
pump, near the tips of propellers, on hydrofoils, and
torpedoes.
• It can actually damage the propellers and the steel
shafts (due to vibrations) on ships and cause a pump
to cease to function properly. It can, however, also be
useful in the destruction of kidney stones, in
ultrasonic cleaning devices, and in improving the
performance of torpedoes.
Cavitation
Cavitation occurs whenever the cavitation number s, defined by

is less than the critical cavitation number s crit , which depends on the geometry and
the Reynolds number. In above eq. p∞ is the absolute pressure in the free stream and
pv is the vapor pressure of the liquid.
Effect of Cavitation on drag coefficient
The drag coefficient of a body that experiences cavitation is
given by

• where CD(0) is drag coefficient due to zero cavitation, values given in table
• Drag coefficient increases due to cavitation
• Negative pressure on the top surface of the airfoil can reduce the pressure below the
vapor pressure of the fluid, bubble may form which increases drag and reduced lift.
Table: Drag Coefficients for Zero Cavitation Numbers at Re ≅105

Wedge
Drag and Lift Coefficients and Critical
Cavitation Numbers for Hydrofoils for 105 <
Re < 106

Hydrofoils used in passenger boat

Critical cavitation number is high when lift coefficient is high
Potential flow and boundary layer

Internal irrotational Developing Fully developed profile

core (potential flow) velocity profile

Hydrodynamic entrance region Hydrodynamic fully developed region

Potential Flow
• When a body is moving in an otherwise stationary fluid, there is no vorticity present in the undisturbed
fluid.
• To create a steady flow, a uniform flow with the body’s velocity is superimposed on the flow field so that
the vorticity-free flow moves by the stationary body, as in a wind tunnel.
• For high Reynolds-number flows, the viscous effects are concentrated in the boundary layer and the wake
(the wake includes the separated region).
• For a streamlined body and over the front part of a blunt body, the flow outside the boundary layer is free
of viscous effects so it is an inviscid flow.
• The solution of the inviscid flow problem provides the velocity field and the pressure field.
• The pressure is not significantly influenced by the boundary layer so the pressure integrated over the
body’s surface will provide the lift.
• The velocity at the surface of the body from the inviscid flow solution will be the velocity at the outer edge
of the thin boundary layer needed in the boundary-layer solution. So, before the boundary layer can be
analyzed on a body, the inviscid flow must be known.
Potential Flow

The difference between rotational and irrotational flow: fluid elements in a rotational region of the flow
rotate, but those in an irrotational region of the flow do not.
Potential Flow
For a potential flow, the vorticity is zero:

Continuity equation:

A potential flow (or irrotational flow), is one in which the velocity field can be expressed as the gradient of a
scalar function, that is,

where  is the velocity potential.

Potential Flow
Using velocity potential and continuity equation,

which is the famous Laplace equation. In rectangular coordinates it is written as

• Hence, a potential flow satisfies Laplace equation.

• With the required boundary conditions, this equation could be solved. But, rather than attempting to solve the
resulting boundary-value problem directly, we will restrict our interest to plane flows, identify several simple flows
that satisfy Laplace equation, and then superimpose those simple flows to form more complex flows of interest.
Since Laplace equation is linear, the superimposed flows will also satisfy Laplace equation.
Potential Flow
First, however, we will define another scalar function that will be quite useful in our study. For the plane flows of
interest, the stream function , is defined by

The vorticity then provides

So that,

The stream function also satisfies the Laplace equation.

Potential Flow
So, from the above equations we have

(Note in N-S momentum equation can be converted to steam

Function equation as shown above)

• The equations between  and  form the Cauchy-Riemann equations and  and  are referred to as harmonic
functions.
• The mathematical theory of complex variables is thus applicable to this subset of fluid flows: steady,
incompressible, inviscid plane flows.

Three items of interest contained in the above equations are

• The stream function is constant along a streamline.
• The streamlines and lines of constant potential intersect at right angles.
• The difference of the stream functions between two streamlines is the flow rate q per unit depth between the
two streamlines, i.e., q = ψ2 - ψ1.
Several simple flows
• Inviscid flow is valid away from solid surfaces, and this inviscid pattern is “patched”onto the near-wall
viscous layers.
• Various body shapes can be simulated by the inviscid-flow pattern. Here we discuss plane flows, three of
which are illustrated in Fig.

Fig.: Three elementary plane potential flows. Solid lines are streamlines; dashed lines are potential
lines.
Several simple flows
Uniform Stream in the x Direction

A uniform stream V= iU, as in Fig., possesses both a stream function and a

velocity potential, which may be found as follows

We may integrate each expression and discard the constants of integration, which do not affect the velocities in the
flow. The results are

• The streamlines are horizontal straight lines (y = const), and the potential lines are vertical (x = const), i.e.,
orthogonal to the streamlines, as expected
Several simple flows
Line Source or Sink at the Origin

• Suppose that the z-axis were a sort of thin-pipe manifold through which fluid issued at
total rate Q uniformly along its length b. Looking at the xy plane, we would see a
cylindrical radial outflow or line source, as sketched in Fig on right.
• Plane polar coordinates are appropriate (see Fig. below), and there is no circumferential
velocity. At any radius r, the velocity is

where we have used the polar-coordinate forms of the stream function

and the velocity potential. Integrating and again discarding the constants
of integration, we obtain the proper functions for this simple radial flow:

where m = Q/(2b) is a constant, positive for a source, negative for a sink. As shown in Fig. on
top, the streamlines are radial spokes (constant), and the potential lines are circles (constant r).
Several simple flows
Line Irrotational Vortex
• A (two-dimensional) line vortex is a purely circulating steady
motion, v = f(r) only, vr = 0 . This satisfies the continuity equation
identically,
• We may also note that a variety of velocity distributions v (r) satisfy
the -momentum equation of a viscous fluid, We may show, as a
problem exercise, that only one function v(r) is irrotational, i.e.,
curl V = 0, and that is v = K/r, where K is a constant. This is
Tornado, v = K/r
sometimes called a free vortex, for which the stream function and
velocity may be found:

We may again integrate to determine the appropriate functions:

where K is a constant called the strength of the vortex. A free vortex is a sort of
reversed image of a source. The “bathtub vortex,” formed when water drains through Irrotational vortex
a bottom hole in a tank, is a good approximation to the free-vortex pattern.
End