Aerodynamics

Third Edition

Ashish Garg
(M.E. IISc, Bangalore)

GATE Aerospace Forum Educational Services

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Aerodynamics
Ashish Garg

All right reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and
retrieval system- without permission in writing from GATE Aerospace Forum Educational
Services.

2015 by Author
This book is manufactured in India and is authorized for sale only by GATE Aerospace Forum
Edutional Services.
First Edition : 2013
Second Edition : 2014
Third Edition : 2015

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Dedicated to
My Grandparents
(whose blessings and love have always been with me)

My Teachers and Parents

(who have made me capable of what I am today)

Scientists
(who work throughout their lives in contributing theories to mankind worth applying,
feeling, reading and writing again and again)

My Friends and Colleagues

(whose support enabled me to complete it)

My Students
(who have been my teachers and suggested me to start the project)

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Preface
This book is an attempt to explain fundamental laws of fluids in a simple language as well as
to create a compendium of the concepts of Aerodynamics. It has been principally designed
and documented keeping in mind the course structure and understanding level of students
majoring Aeronautical or Aerospace Engineering in India. This book will definitely
complement their specialist reading of Aerodynamics.
Salient features of the book are as follows :

Includes all important definitions and detailed mathematical explanations.

Derivations are followed by various numerical examples for better understanding.
Covers GATE (AE) Aerodynamics Syllabus.
Covers previous years questions of GATE (AE) Aerodynamics along with their
solutions.
This 3rd edition also includes Simitude, Dynamics of Sport balls, Birds and Fish, more
solved Examples and extended Exercises Questions compare to last edition.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude for my Professor Dr. Joseph Mathew for his
invaluable guidance, continuous support and motivation and Professor Dr. Praveen
Chandrashekar for his precious teachings including computational techniques which can be
beautifully applied to frontier problems in fluid studies. I would like to thank TIFR-CAM and
IISc, Bangalore for providing me an excellent working environment and my seniors who
have been a constant source of inspiration and support for me.
I express sincere and heartfelt thanks to my student Sonakshi Shyam Arora for helping me in
preparing this book.
I would express my deepest gratitude for my parents and other family members for their
whole-hearted affection, inspiration, constant encouragement and support.
Last but not the least, I am very much thankful to some of the greatest prodigies in the field
of Aerospace, Shri J.R.D. Tata (Founder - IISc), Dr. Satish Dawan (Father of Experimental
Fluid Dynamics), Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (Former President of India), Kalpana Chawla
(Indian Astronaut - NASA), Prof. Roddam Narasimha (Director of - JNCASR) for being an
unmatched inspiration for thousands of scholars like me in Aerospace Engineering.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1:

Basics of Fluids ..........................................................................................1

Basic Flow Analysis Techniques ...........................................................................................................1

Computational .............................................................................................................................1
Experimental ................................................................................................................................1
Continuity Equation (Mass Conservation) ...................................................................................1
Types of Fluid flow .........................................................................................................................12
Substantial Derivative ....................................................................................................................14
Streamline, Streakline, Pathline ....................................................................................................15
Streamline ..................................................................................................................................15
Pathline .......................................................................................................................................15
Streakline ....................................................................................................................................15
Newtons Law of viscosity..............................................................................................................19
Shear Stresses in Non-Newtonian Fluids ......................................................................................20
Time Independent Fluids ...........................................................................................................20
Time dependent Fluids...............................................................................................................21
Visco Elastic Fluids .....................................................................................................................21
Conservation of Momentum Equation(Differential form) ..........................................................21
Circulation .......................................................................................................................................25
Kelvin Theorem ...............................................................................................................................27
Bernoullis Equation .......................................................................................................................30
Case 1: Steady irrotational flow...............................................................................................30
Case 2: Steady but rotational flow:- .........................................................................................31
Helmholtz Theorem ........................................................................................................................36
Biot Savarts Law .........................................................................................................................41
Energy Equation .............................................................................................................................49
Simitude ..........................................................................................................................................52
Laws of Similarities ........................................................................................................................52
Geometric Similarity ..................................................................................................................52
Kinematic Similarity ...................................................................................................................52
Dynamic Similarity .....................................................................................................................53
Force ratios Dimensionless Numbers.........................................................................................54
The inertial Force ratio ..............................................................................................................54
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The inertia - Viscous Force ratio Reynolds Number ............................................................54

The Inertia - Gravity Force ratio Froude Number .................................................................55
The Inertia Pressure Force ratio Euler Number .................................................................55
The Inertia Elasticity Force ratio Mach Number ................................................................55
The Inertia Surface Tension Force ratio Weber Number ..................................................56
Concept of Dynamic Similarity ......................................................................................................56
Reynolds Model Law ..................................................................................................................56
Froude Model Law .....................................................................................................................57
Euler Model Law ........................................................................................................................57
Mach Model Law .......................................................................................................................57
Weber Model Law ......................................................................................................................57
Exercise Questions .........................................................................................................................60
Chapter 2:

Airfoil Nomenclature ......................................................................................65

NACA Airfoils Nomenclature .........................................................................................................66

Four-digit series..........................................................................................................................66
Five-digit series ..........................................................................................................................66
Modified 4 Digit and 5 Digit Series ...........................................................................................67
1-series........................................................................................................................................67
6-series........................................................................................................................................67
7-series........................................................................................................................................68
8-series........................................................................................................................................68
Objective Questions ...................................................................................................................69
Chapter 3:

Potential Function .......................................................................................78

Stream function()........................................................................................................................78
Potential Function .......................................................................................................................79
Types of flows .................................................................................................................................81
Uniform Flow ..............................................................................................................................81
Uniform Flow inclined at an angle ........................................................................................81
Point Source(+) or Sink(-) ...........................................................................................................82
Vortex Flow.................................................................................................................................84
Combination of Elementary flows.................................................................................................85
Half Rankine Oval ......................................................................................................................85
Full Rankine Oval.......................................................................................................................89
Source Sink Doublet ................................................................................................................90
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Vortex Doublet ..........................................................................................................................92

Stationary or Non-rotating Cylinder (Uniform flow + Source-sink Doublet ...........................94
Rotating Cylinder (Uniform flow + Source-sink Doublet + Vortex) .........................................99
Corner Flows ............................................................................................................................ 110
Spiral Flows.............................................................................................................................. 113
Von Karman Vortex Street ..................................................................................................... 114
Blasius Theorem .......................................................................................................................... 115
Lift and Drag on Stationary cylinder .......................................................................................... 118
Lift and Drag on Rotating cylinder ............................................................................................. 119
Relation between Acceleration and Velocity potential ............................................................ 123
Method of Images ....................................................................................................................... 124
For Plane Boundaries .............................................................................................................. 124
For Spherical and Curvilinear Boundaries ............................................................................ 129
Transformation and Mapping .................................................................................................... 132
Kutta Zhukovsky Transformation ............................................................................................ 133
To transform a circle into a straight line ............................................................................... 134
To transform a circle into an elliptical airfoil ........................................................................ 134
To transform a circle into a symmetrical airfoil profile........................................................ 136
To transform a circle into a cambered airfoil profile ........................................................... 137
To transform a circle into a circular arc ................................................................................ 139
Modified Kutta Zhukovsky Transformation........................................................................... 141
Exercise Questions ...................................................................................................................... 144
Chapter 4 :

Laminar Viscous Flows .................................................................................... 157

Internal Viscous Flows ............................................................................................................... 159

General 2d flow , between two infinite parallel plates ............................................................ 159
Couettes Flow ............................................................................................................................. 162
Plane - Poiseuilles Flow ............................................................................................................. 167
Different Boundary condition on plates.................................................................................... 169
Axisymmetric - Poisueillis Flow ................................................................................................. 171
Velocity profile of fluid between two drums moving in tangential direction ......................... 175
Exercise Questions ...................................................................................................................... 184
Chapter 5 :

Boundary Layer .................................................................................... 192

Boundary layer thickness ............................................................................................................ 194

Displacement Thickness .............................................................................................................. 194
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Momentum Thickness ................................................................................................................. 196

Von Karmanns Momentum Integral Equation ......................................................................... 199
For Boundary layer over a flat plate ...................................................................................... 202
Turbulent Boundary Layer .......................................................................................................... 209
Commonly used boundary layer control method to prevent separation ................................ 212
Cricket Ball Dynamics .................................................................................................................. 212
Tennis Ball Dynamics .................................................................................................................. 214
Baseball Dynamics ...................................................................................................................... 215
Exercise Questions ...................................................................................................................... 216
Chapter 6:

Gas Dynamics ................................................................................. 226

Laws of Thermodynamics ........................................................................................................... 227

0th Law ......................................................................................................................... 227
1st Law ......................................................................................................................... 227
2nd Law ........................................................................................................................ 227
3rd Law ......................................................................................................................... 228
Compressibility() ....................................................................................................................... 230
Speed of Sound ............................................................................................................................ 230
Energy Conservation ................................................................................................................... 231
Shocks........................................................................................................................................... 235
Static Normal Shock .................................................................................................................... 236
Moving Normal Shocks ............................................................................................................... 243
Oblique Shocks ............................................................................................................................ 245
Multiple Shock Waves ................................................................................................................. 253
The Detached Shock Wave ......................................................................................................... 256
Expansion Waves ........................................................................................................................ 256
Nozzles and Nozzle Flows ........................................................................................................... 258
Chocked Flow .......................................................................................................................... 260
Nozzle performance Characteristics .......................................................................................... 266
Nozzle Coefficients .................................................................................................................. 266
Velocity Coefficient ................................................................................................................. 267
Angularity Coefficient ............................................................................................................. 267
Diffusers ....................................................................................................................................... 268
Exercise Questions ...................................................................................................................... 275
Chapter 7: ..................................................................................................................................... 279
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Thin Airfoil & Finite Wing Theory ................................................................................................... 279

Starting Vortex ............................................................................................................................ 279
Kuttas Condition ......................................................................................................................... 280
Thin Airfoil Theory ....................................................................................................................... 281
Thin Cambered Airfoil ................................................................................................................. 286
Prandtls Finite Wing Theory ..................................................................................................... 296
Special Case : Elliptical Lift distribution over finite wing .......................................................... 298
Effect of Aspect Ratio.................................................................................................................. 303
High Lift Devices .......................................................................................................................... 309
Flight of Birds............................................................................................................................... 313
Locomotion of Fish ...................................................................................................................... 313
Exercise Questions ...................................................................................................................... 314
Chapter 8:

Linearized Theory..................................................................................... 317

Linearized Velocity Potential Equation ...................................................................................... 320

Linearized pressure coefficient ................................................................................................... 321
Prandtl Glauert Compressibility Correction............................................................................ 323
Subsonic flow over a Wavy Wall ................................................................................................ 326
Linearized Supersonic Pressure Coefficient ............................................................................... 328
Supersonic flow over Diamond Airfoil ....................................................................................... 333
Case 1 ( = 0 ) ....................................................................................................................... 333
Case 2 ( < ) ....................................................................................................................... 334
Case 3 ( = ) ....................................................................................................................... 336
Case 4 ( > ) ....................................................................................................................... 338
Linearized Pressure Coefficient from oblique shock relation ................................................ 339
Exercise Questions ...................................................................................................................... 341
Chapter 9:

Wind Tunnel Testing ................................................................................... 343

Pressure Measuement ................................................................................................................ 343

Pitot Tube ................................................................................................................................ 345
Flow Rate Measurement ............................................................................................................ 347
Venturi meter .......................................................................................................................... 348
Orifice meter ........................................................................................................................... 349
Temperature Measurement ....................................................................................................... 351
Velocity Measurement ................................................................................................................ 354
Dot Matrix. .............................................................................................................................. 355
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Hot Wire Anemometry ........................................................................................................... 355

Laser Doppler Velocimetry ..................................................................................................... 357
Particle Image Velocimetry .................................................................................................... 358
Density Measurement................................................................................................................. 359
Schlieren Method .................................................................................................................... 363
Shadowgraph Technique ........................................................................................................ 365
The Interferometer.................................................................................................................. 367
Exercise Questions ...................................................................................................................... 370
Questions for Practice .................................................................................................................... 380
Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 392
Appendix A: Glauert Integral Derivation ....................................................................................... 394
Appendix B: Prandtl Meyer Function ............................................................................................ 397
Appendix C: Airfoil Integrals ........................................................................................................... 400

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