Mechanical Engineering

Department

Fluid Mechanics
(MEng 2113)

Chapter 4
Diffrential Relations For A Fluid Flow

Prepared by: Addisu Dagne April, 2017

1
 Contents of the Chapter
❖ Introduction
❖ Acceleration Field
❖ Differential equation Conservation of mass
❖ Stream function
❖ Differential equation of Linear momentum
❖ Inviscid flow
❖ Vorticity and Irrotationality
❖ Velocity Potential
❖ Basic Plane Potential Flows
❖ Superposition of Basic Plane Potential Flows
❖ Solved Problems

2
 Introduction
 In analyzing fluid motion,
we might take one of two
paths:
1. Seeking an estimate of
gross effects (mass flow,
induced force, energy
change) over a finite
region or control volume
or
2. Seeking the point-by-
point details of a flow
pattern by analyzing an
infinitesimal region of
the flow.
3
 Introduction
 The control volume technique is useful when we are
interested in the overall features of a flow, such as mass
flow rate into and out of the control volume or net forces
applied to bodies.
 Differential analysis, on the other hand, involves
application of differential equations of fluid motion to any
and every point in the flow field over a region called the
flow domain.
 When solved, these differential equations yield details
about the velocity, density, pressure, etc., at every point
throughout the entire flow domain.

4
 The Acceleration Field of a Fluid
 Velocity is a vector function of position and time and thus
has three components u, v, and w, each a scalar field in
itself.

 This is the most important variable in fluid mechanics:

Knowledge of the velocity vector field is nearly equivalent
to solving a fluid flow problem.
 The acceleration vector field a of the flow is derived from
Newton’s second law by computing the total time
derivative of the velocity vector:

5
 The Acceleration Field of a Fluid
 Since each scalar component (u, v , w) is a function of
the four variables (x, y, z, t), we use the chain rule to
obtain each scalar time derivative. For example,

 But, by definition, dx/dt is the local velocity

component u, and dy/dt =v , and dz/dt = w.
 The total time derivative of u may thus be written as
follows, with exactly similar expressions for the time
derivatives of v and w:

6
 The Acceleration Field of a Fluid

 Summing these into a vector, we obtain the total

acceleration:

7
 The Acceleration Field of a Fluid
 The term δV/δt is called the local acceleration, which
vanishes if the flow is steady-that is, independent of time.
 The three terms in parentheses are called the convective
acceleration, which arises when the particle moves through
regions of spatially varying velocity, as in a nozzle or
diffuser.
 The gradient operator is given by:

8
 The Acceleration Field of a Fluid
 The total time derivative—sometimes called the
substantial or material derivative— concept may be
applied to any variable, such as the pressure:

 Wherever convective effects occur in the basic laws

involving mass, momentum, or energy, the basic
differential equations become nonlinear and are
usually more complicated than flows that do not
involve convective changes.

9
 Example 1. Acceleration field
Given the eulerian velocity vector field

find the total acceleration of a particle.

Solution step 2: In a similar manner, the convective acceleration

terms, are

10
 Solution step 2: In a similar manner, the convective acceleration
terms, are

11
 Example 2. Acceleration field
 An idealized velocity field is given by the formula

 Is this flow field steady or unsteady? Is it two- or three

dimensional? At the point (x, y, z) = (1, 1, 0), compute the
acceleration vector.
Solution
 The flow is unsteady because time t appears explicitly in the
components.
 The flow is three-dimensional because all three velocity
components are nonzero.
 Evaluate, by differentiation, the acceleration vector at (x, y, z)
= (−1, +1, 0).

12
 Example 2. Acceleration field

13
 Exercise 1
 The velocity in a certain two-dimensional flow field is given
by the equation

where the velocity is in m/s when x, y, and t are in meter and

seconds, respectively.
1. Determine expressions for the local and convective
components of acceleration in the x and y directions.
2. What is the magnitude and direction of the velocity and the
acceleration at the point x = y = 2 m at the time t = 0?

14
 The Differential Equation of Mass Conservation

 Conservation of mass, often called the continuity relation,

states that the fluid mass cannot change.
 We apply this concept to a very small region. All the basic
differential equations can be derived by considering either
an elemental control volume or an elemental system.
 We choose an infinitesimal fixed control volume (dx, dy,
dz), as in shown in fig below, and use basic control volume
relations.
 The flow through each side of the element is approximately
one-dimensional, and so the appropriate mass conservation
relation to use here is

15
 The Differential Equation of Mass Conservation

 The element is so small that the volume integral simply

reduces to a differential term:

16
 The Differential Equation of Mass Conservation

 The mass flow terms occur on all six faces, three inlets and
three outlets.
 Using the field or continuum concept where all fluid
properties are considered to be uniformly varying functions
of time and position, such as ρ= ρ (x, y, z, t).
 Thus, if T is the temperature on the left face of the element,
the right face will have a slightly different temperature

 For mass conservation, if ρu is known on the left face, the

value of this product on the right face is

17
 The Differential Equation of Mass Conservation

 Introducing these terms into the main relation

 Simplifying gives

18
 The Differential Equation of Mass Conservation

 The vector gradient operator

 enables us to rewrite the equation of continuity in a

compact form

 so that the compact form of the continuity relation is

19
 The Differential Equation of Mass Conservation
Continuity Equation in Cylindrical Coordinates
 Many problems in fluid mechanics are more conveniently
solved in cylindrical coordinates (r, θ, z) (often called
cylindrical polar coordinates), rather than in Cartesian
coordinates.

20
 The Differential Equation of Mass Conservation

 Continuity equation in cylindrical coordinates is given

by

Steady Compressible Flow

 If the flow is steady , and all properties are
functions of position only and the continuity equation
reduces to

21
 The Differential Equation of Mass Conservation

Incompressible Flow
 A special case that affords great simplification is
incompressible flow, where the density changes are
negligible. Then regardless of whether the
flow is steady or unsteady,
 The result

 is valid for steady or unsteady incompressible flow. The

two coordinate forms are

22
 The Differential Equation of Mass Conservation

 The criterion for incompressible flow is

 where Ma = V/a is the dimensionless Mach number of
the flow.
 For air at standard conditions, a flow can thus be
considered incompressible if the velocity is less than
about 100 m/s.

23
 Example 3
 Consider the steady, two-dimensional velocity field given by

 Verify that this flow field is incompressible.

Solution
 Analysis. The flow is two-dimensional, implying no z component of
velocity and no variation of u or v with z.
 The components of velocity in the x and y directions respectively are

 To check if the flow is incompressible, we see if the

incompressible continuity equation is satisfied:

 So we see that the incompressible continuity equation is indeed

24 satisfied. Hence the flow field is incompressible.
 Example 4
 Consider the following steady, three-dimensional velocity
field in Cartesian coordinates:

where a, b, c, and d are constants. Under what conditions is

this flow field incompressible?
Solution
Condition for incompressibility:

 Thus to guarantee incompressibility, constants a and c must

satisfy the following relationship:
a = −3c
25
 Example 5
 An idealized incompressible flow has the proposed three-
dimensional velocity distribution

 Find the appropriate form of the function f(y) which satisfies

the continuity relation.
 Solution: Simply substitute the given velocity components
into the incompressible continuity equation:

26
 Example 6
 For a certain incompressible flow field it is suggested that the
velocity components are given by the equations

Is this a physically possible flow field? Explain.

27
 Example 7
 For a certain incompressible, two-dimensional flow field
the velocity component in the y direction is given by the
equation

 Determine the velocity in the x direction so that the

continuity equation is satisfied.

28
 Example 7 - solution

29
 Example 8
 The radial velocity component in an incompressible, two
dimensional flow field is

 Determine the corresponding tangential velocity component,

required to satisfy conservation of mass.
Solution.
 The continuity equation for incompressible steady flow in
cylindrical coordinates is given by

30
 Example 8

31
 The Stream Function
 Consider the simple case of incompressible, two-dimensional
flow in the xy-plane.
 The continuity equation in Cartesian coordinates reduces to

(1)
 A clever variable transformation enables us to rewrite this
equation (Eq. 1) in terms of one dependent variable (ψ) instead
of two dependent variables (u and v).
 We define the stream function ψ as

(2)

32
 The Stream Function
 Substitution of Eq. 2 into Eq. 1 yields

 which is identically satisfied for any smooth function ψ(x, y).

What have we gained by this transformation?
 First, as already mentioned, a single variable (ψ) replaces two
variables (u and v)—once ψ is known, we can generate both u
and v via Eq. 2 and we are guaranteed that the solution
satisfies continuity, Eq. 1.
 Second, it turns out that the stream function has useful
physical significance . Namely, Curves of constant ψ are
streamlines of the flow.

33
 The Stream Function
 This is easily proven by
considering a streamline in
the xy-plane

Curves of constant stream function

represent streamlines of the flow

34
 The Stream Function
 The change in the value of ψ as
we move from one point (x, y) to
a nearby point (x + dx, y + dy) is
given by the relationship:

 Along a line of constant ψ we

have dψ = 0 so that

 and, therefore, along a line of

constant ψ

35
 The Stream Function
 Along a streamline:

 where we have applied Eq. 2, the definition of ψ. Thus along a

streamline:

 But for any smooth function ψ of two variables x and y, we

know by the chain rule of mathematics that the total change of
ψ from point (x, y) to another point (x + dx, y + dy) some
infinitesimal distance away is

36
 The Stream Function
 Total change of ψ:

 By comparing the above two equations we see that dψ = 0

along a streamline;

37
 The Stream Function
 In cylindrical coordinates the continuity equation for
incompressible, plane, two dimensional flow reduces to

 and the velocity components, and can be related to

the stream function, through the equations

38
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum
 Using the same elemental control volume as in mass
conservation, for which the appropriate form of the linear
momentum relation is

39
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum

 Again the element is so small that the volume integral

simply reduces to a derivative term:

 The momentum fluxes occur on all six faces, three inlets

and three outlets.

40
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum
 Introducing these terms

 A simplification occurs if we split up the term in brackets

as follows:

 The term in brackets on the right-hand side is seen to be the

equation of continuity, which vanishes identically

41
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum
 The long term in parentheses on the right-hand side is the
total acceleration of a particle that instantaneously occupies
the control volume:

 Thus now we have

 This equation points out that the net force on the control
volume must be of differential size and proportional to the
element volume.

42
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum
 These forces are of two types, body forces and surface
forces.
 Body forces are due to external fields (gravity, magnetism,
electric potential) that act on the entire mass within the
element.
 The only body force we shall consider is gravity.
 The gravity force on the differential mass ρ dx dy dz within
the control volume is

 The surface forces are due to the stresses on the sides of the
control surface. These stresses are the sum of hydrostatic
pressure plus viscous stresses τij that arise from motion with
velocity gradients
43
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum

44
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum

Fig. Elemental Cartesian fixed

control volume showing the surface
forces in the x direction only.
45
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum
 The net surface force in the x direction is given by

 Splitting into pressure plus viscous stresses

 where dv = dx dy dz.
 Similarly we can derive the y and z forces per unit volume
on the control surface

46
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum
 The net vector surface force can be written as

47
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum
 In divergence form

 is the viscous stress tensor acting on the element

 The surface force is thus the sum of the pressure gradient
vector and the divergence of the viscous stress tensor

48
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum
 The basic differential momentum equation for an
infinitesimal element is thus

 In words

49
 The Differential Equation of Linear Momentum
 the component equations are

 This is the differential momentum equation in its full glory,

and it is valid for any fluid in any general motion, particular
fluids being characterized by particular viscous stress
terms.
50
 Inviscid Flow: Eulers’ Equation

 For Frictionless flow τij =0, for which

 This is Eulers’ equation for inviscid flow

51
 Newtonian Fluid: Navier-Stokes Equations

 For a newtonian fluid, the viscous stresses are proportional

to the element strain rates and the coefficient of viscosity.

 where μ is the viscosity coefficient

 Substitution gives the differential momentum equation for a
newtonian fluid with constant density and viscosity:

52
 Newtonian Fluid: Navier-Stokes Equations

 These are the incompressible flow Navier-Stokes

equations named after C. L. M. H. Navier (1785–1836) and
Sir George G. Stokes (1819–1903), who are credited with
their derivation.

53
 Inviscid Flow
 Shearing stresses develop in a moving fluid because of the
viscosity of the fluid.
 We know that for some common fluids, such as air and
water, the viscosity is small, therefore it seems reasonable
to assume that under some circumstances we may be able
to simply neglect the effect of viscosity (and thus shearing
stresses).
 Flow fields in which the shearing stresses are assumed to
be negligible are said to be inviscid, nonviscous, or
frictionless.
 For fluids in which there are no shearing stresses the
normal stress at a point is independent of direction—that is
σxx = σyy = σzz.
54
 Inviscid Flow
Euler’s Equations of Motion
 For an inviscid flow in which all the shearing stresses are
zero and the Euler’s equation of motion is written as

 In vector notation Euler’s equations can be expressed as

55
 Vorticity and Irrotationality
 The assumption of zero fluid angular velocity, or
irrotationality, is a very useful simplification.
 Here we show that angular velocity is associated with the
curl of the local velocity vector.
 The differential relations for deformation of a fluid element
can be derived by examining the Fig. below.
 Two fluid lines AB and BC, initially perpendicular at time t,
move and deform so that at t + dt they have slightly different
lengths A’B’ and B’C’ and are slightly off the perpendicular
by angles dα and dβ.

56
 Vorticity and Irrotationality

57
 Vorticity and Irrotationality
 We define the angular velocity ωz about the z axis as the
average rate of counterclockwise turning of the two lines:

 But from the fig. dα and dβ are each directly related to

velocity derivatives in the limit of small dt:

 Substitution results

58
 Vorticity and Irrotationality

 The vector is thus one-half the curl of

the velocity vector

 A vector twice as large is called the vorticity

59
 Vorticity and Irrotationality
 Many flows have negligible or zero vorticity and are called
irrotational.

 Example. For a certain two-dimensional flow field the

velocity is given by the equation

 Is this flow irrotational?

Solution.
 For the prescribed velocity field

60
 Vorticity and Irrotationality

61
 Velocity Potential
 The velocity components of irrotational flow can be
expressed in terms of a scalar function ϕ(x, y, z, t) as

 where ϕ is called the velocity potential.

 In vector form, it can be written as

 so that for an irrotational flow the velocity is expressible as

the gradient of a scalar function ϕ.
 The velocity potential is a consequence of the irrotationality
of the flow field, whereas the stream function is a
consequence of conservation of mass
62
 Velocity Potential
 It is to be noted, however, that the velocity potential can be
defined for a general three-dimensional flow, whereas the
stream function is restricted to two-dimensional flows.
 For an incompressible fluid we know from conservation of
mass that

 and therefore for incompressible, irrotational flow (with

) it follows that

63
 Velocity Potential
 This differential equation arises in
many different areas of engineering
and physics and is called Laplace’s
equation. Thus, inviscid,
incompressible, irrotational flow
fields are governed by Laplace’s
equation.
 This type of flow is commonly called
a potential flow.
 Potential flows are irrotational flows.
That is, the vorticity is zero
throughout. If vorticity is present
(e.g., boundary layer, wake), then the
flow cannot be described by Laplace’s
64 equation.
 Velocity Potential
 For some problems it will be convenient to use cylindrical
coordinates, r,θ, and z. In this coordinate system the
gradient operator is

65
 Velocity Potential

66
 Example 1
 The two-dimensional flow of a nonviscous, incompressible fluid
in the vicinity of the corner of Fig. is described by the stream
function

 where ψ has units of m2/s when r is in meters. Assume the fluid

density is 103 kg/m3 and the x–y plane is horizontal that is, there
is no difference in elevation between points (1) and (2).
FIND
a) Determine, if possible, the corresponding velocity potential.
b) If the pressure at point (1) on the wall is 30 kPa, what is the
pressure at point (2)?

67
 Example 1

Solution
 The radial and tangential velocity components can be
obtained from the stream function as
68
 Solution

69
70
71
72
 Basic Plane Potential Flows
 For simplicity, only plane (two-dimensional) flows will be
considered. In this case, by using Cartesian coordinates

 Since we can define a stream function for plane flow, we

can also let

73
 Uniform Flow
 The simplest plane flow is one for which the streamlines
are all straight and parallel, and the magnitude of the
velocity is constant. This type of flow is called a uniform
flow.
 For example, consider a uniform flow in the positive x
direction as is illustrated in Fig a.

74
 Uniform Flow
 In this instance, u = U and v = 0, and in terms of the
velocity potential

 These two equations can be integrated to yield

 where C is an arbitrary constant, which can be set equal to

zero.
 Thus, for a uniform flow in the positive x direction

75
 Uniform Flow
 The corresponding stream function can be obtained in a
similar manner, since

 and, therefore,

 These results can be generalized to provide the velocity

potential and stream function for a uniform flow at an angle
α with the x axis, as in Fig. b. For this case

 and

76
 Source and Sink
 Consider a fluid flowing radially outward from a line
through the origin perpendicular to the x–y plane as is
shown in Fig. Let m be the volume rate of flow emanating
from the line (per unit length), and therefore to satisfy
conservation of mass

 or

77
 Source and Sink
 A source or sink represents a purely radial flow.
 Since the flow is a purely radial flow, , the
corresponding velocity potential can be obtained by
integrating the equations

 It follows that

 If m is positive, the flow is radially outward, and the flow is

considered to be a source flow. If m is negative, the flow is
toward the origin, and the flow is considered to be a sink
flow. The flowrate, m, is the strength of the source or sink.
78
 Source and Sink
 The stream function for the source can be obtained by
integrating the relationships

 To yield

 The streamlines (lines of ψ = constant ) are radial lines, and

the equipotential lines (lines of ϕ = constant) are concentric
circles centered at the origin.

79
 Example 2
 A nonviscous, incompressible fluid flows between wedge-
shaped walls into a small opening as shown in Fig. The
velocity potential (in ft/s2), which approximately describes
this flow is

 Determine the volume rate of flow (per unit length) into the
opening.

80
 The negative sign indicates that the flow is toward the opening,
that is, in the negative radial direction
81
 Vortex
 We next consider a flow field in which the streamlines are
concentric circles—that is, we interchange the velocity
potential and stream function for the source. Thus, let

and

where K is a constant. In this

case the streamlines are
concentric circles with
and

This result indicates that the tangential velocity varies inversely

82 with the distance from the origin
 Circulation
 A mathematical concept commonly associated with vortex
motion is that of circulation. The circulation, Γ, is defined
as the line integral of the tangential component of the
velocity taken around a closed curve in the flow field. In
equation form, Γ, can be expressed as

where the integral sign

means that the integration
is taken around a closed
curve, C, in the
counterclockwise
direction, and ds is a
differential length along
83 the curve
 Circulation
 For an irrotational flow

 This result indicates that for an irrotational flow the circulation

will generally be zero.
 However, for the free vortex with , , the circulation
around the circular path of radius r is

 which shows that the circulation is nonzero.

 However, for irrotational flows the circulation around any path
84
that does not include a singular point will be zero.
 Circulation

 The velocity potential and stream function for the free

vortex are commonly expressed in terms of the circulation
as

and

85
 Doublet
 Doublet is formed by combining a source and sink in a
special way. Consider the equal strength, source–sink pair
shown. The combined stream function for the pair is

86
 Doublet
 which can be rewritten as

 From the Fig. above it follows that

 And

 These results substitution gives

87
 Doublet
 So that

 For small values of the distance a

since the tangent of an angle

approaches the value of the angle for
small angles

A doublet is formed by letting a source

and sink approach one another.
88
 Doublet
 The so-called doublet is formed by letting the source and
sink approach one another while increasing the
strength so that the product remains
constant. In this case, since

 where K, a constant equal to is called the strength of

the doublet.
 The corresponding velocity potential for the doublet is

89
 Doublet
 Plots of lines of constant ψ reveal that the streamlines for a
doublet are circles through the origin tangent to the x axis
as shown in fig below.

90
91
 Rankine Ovals
 To study the flow around a closed body, a source and a sink
of equal strength can be combined with a uniform flow as
shown in Fig. below.

92
 Rankine Ovals
 The stream function for this combination is

93
 Rankine Ovals
 Using the stream function for the source–sink pair, the
stream function for Rankine Ovals can be written as

 Or

 The corresponding streamlines for this flow field are

obtained by setting ψ = constant. If several of these
streamlines are plotted, it will be discovered that the
streamline ψ =0 forms a closed body as shown in fig.
above.
94
 Rankine Ovals
 Stagnation points occur at the upstream and downstream
ends of the body. These points can be located by
determining where along the x axis the velocity is zero.
 The stagnation points correspond to the points where the
uniform velocity, the source velocity, and the sink velocity
all combine to give a zero velocity.
 The locations of the stagnation points depend on the value
of a, m, and U.
 The body half-length,
 When y= 0), can be expressed as

or

95
 Rankine Ovals
 The body half-width, h, can be obtained by determining the
value of y where the y axis intersects the ψ = 0 streamline.

 Or

 both are functions of the dimensionless

parameter, . A large variety of body shapes with
different length to width ratios can be obtained by using
different values of Ua/m,
96
 Rankine Ovals

 As this parameter becomes large,

flow around a long slender body is
described, whereas for small values
of the parameter, flow around a more
blunt shape is obtained

97
 Flow around a Circular Cylinder
 When the distance between the source–sink pair
approaches zero, the shape of the Rankine oval becomes
more blunt and in fact approaches a circular shape.
 Since the Doublet was developed by letting a source–sink
pair approach one another, it might be expected that a
uniform flow in the positive x direction combined with a
doublet could be used to represent flow around a circular
cylinder.
 This combination gives for the stream function

 and for the velocity potential

98
 Flow around a Circular Cylinder
 In order for the stream function to represent flow around a
circular cylinder it is necessary that
where a is the radius of the cylinder.

 which indicates that the doublet strength, K, must be equal

to Thus, the stream function for flow around a circular
cylinder can be expressed as

99
 Flow around a Circular Cylinder
 and the corresponding velocity potential is

 The velocity components are

 On the surface of the cylinder it follows

100
 Flow around a Circular Cylinder

Fig. The flow around a circular cylinder.

101
 Solved Problems
1. The velocity potential for a certain flow field is ϕ = 4xy.
Determine the corresponding stream function.

102
103
 2. The stream function for an incompressible, two
dimensional flow field is
  ay2  bx
Where a and b are constants. Is this an irrotational flow?
Explain.

104
105
 3. The stream function for a given two dimensional flow filed
is
  5x y  (5 / 3) y
2 3

Determine the corresponding velocity potential.

106
107
 4. Determine the stream function corresponding to the
velocity potential ϕ = x3 – 3xy2. Sketch the streamline ψ
= 0, which passes through the origin.

108
109
 5. The velocity potential for a certain inviscid,
incompressible flow field is given by the equation
2 3
  2x y  ( ) y
2

3
Where ϕ has the units of m2/s when x and y are in meters.
Determine the pressure at the point x = 2 m, y = 2m if the
pressure at x = 1 m, y = 1 m is 200 kPa. Elevation
changes can be neglected and the fluid is water.

110
111
 6. Water is flowing between wedge-shaped walls into a small
opening as shown in the Fig. below.
The velocity potential with units m2/s for this flow is
ϕ = -2ln r with r in meters.
Determine the pressure differential between points A and B.

112
113
 7. An ideal fluid flows between the inclined walls of a two
dimensional channel into a sink located at origin. The
velocity potential for this flow field is

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 End of Chapter 4

Next Lecture
Chapter 5: Dimensional Analysis And
Similitude

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