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The drag force Viscous boundary layer

The surrounding fluid exerts pressure forces and viscous forces An originally laminar flow is affected by
on an object. the presence of the walls.
Flow over flat plate is visualized by introducing
p<0 tw bubbles that follow the local fluid velocity.
U U
Most of the flow is unaffected by the presence
p>0 of the plate.
However, in the region closest to the wall, the
The components of the resultant force acting on the object velocity decreases to zero.
immersed in the fluid are the drag force and the lift force. The flow away from the walls can be treated as inviscid, and can sometimes be
The drag force acts in the direction of the motion of the fluid approximated as potential flow.
The region near the wall where the viscous forces are of the same order as the
relative to the object. inertial forces is termed the boundary layer.
The lift force acts normal to the flow direction. The distance over which the viscous forces have an effect is termed the
boundary layer thickness.
Both are influenced by the size and shape of the object and the
The thickness is a function of the ratio between the inertial forces and the
Reynolds number of the flow. viscous forces, i.e. the Reynolds number. As Re increases, the thickness
decreases.

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Drag prediction Moving plate boundary layer

The drag force is due to the pressure and shear forces acting on An impulsively started plate in a
the surface of the object. stagnant fluid.
The tangential shear stresses acting on the object produce When the wall in contact with the
friction drag (or viscous drag). Friction drag is dominant in flow still fluid suddenly starts to move,
the layers of fluid close to the
past a flat plate and is given by the surface shear stress times the
wall are dragged along while the
area: Fd ,viscous A.t w layers farther away from the wall
Pressure or form drag results from variations in the the normal move with a lower velocity.
pressure around the object: Fd , pressure p da n The viscous layer develops as a
In order to predict the drag on an object correctly, we need to result of the no-slip boundary
A

correctly predict the pressure field and the surface shear stress. condition at the wall.
This, in turn, requires correct treatment and prediction of
boundary layers and flow separation.

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Flow separation Drag on a smooth circular cylinder

Flow separation occurs when: At low Reynolds numbers (Re < 1), the inertia effects are small
the velocity at the wall is zero or negative and an inflection point relative to the viscous and pressure forces. In this flow regime
exists in the velocity profile, the drag coefficient varies inversely with the Reynolds number.
and a positive or adverse pressure gradient occurs in the direction of For example, the drag coefficient CD for a sphere is equal to
flow. 24/Re.

no separation

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Drag on a smooth circular cylinder Drag on a smooth circular cylinder

The drag coefficient is defined as follows: Fdrag C 1
D 2 v A
2
At moderate Reynolds numbers (1<Re<103), the flow begins to
separate in a periodic fashion

no separation

steady separation
steady separation
unsteady vortex shedding
unsteady vortex shedding
laminar BL
wide turbulent wake

turbulent BL
narrow turbulent wake

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Drag on a smooth circular cylinder The turbulent boundary layer

At higher Reynolds numbers (103 <
Re < 105),
the flow becomes In turbulent flow, the boundary layer is defined as the thin region on the
surface of a body in which viscous effects are important.
fully separated. An adverse pressure gradient exists over the rear
portion of the cylinder resulting in a rapid growth of the laminar The boundary layer allows the fluid to transition from the free stream
velocity Ut to a velocity of zero at the wall.
boundary layer and separation
The velocity component normal to the surface is much smaller than the
As the Reynolds number increases, the boundary layer
velocity parallel to the surface: v << u.
transitions to turbulent, delaying separation and resulting in a
The gradients of the flow across the layer are much greater than the
sudden decrease in the drag coefficient. gradients in the flow direction.
The boundary layer thickness is defined as the distance away from the
surface where the velocity reaches 99% of the free-stream velocity.
laminar BL
wide turbulent wake

turbulent BL y , where u 0.99

narrow turbulent wake U
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Development and characteristics of boundary The turbulent boundary layer

layer
The flow past an object can be treated as a combination of viscous flow in
the boundary layer and inviscid flow elsewhere.
Inside the boundary layer the friction is significant and across the width of
which the velocity increases rapidly from zero (at the surface) to the value
inviscid flow theory predicts.
Outside the boundary layer the velocity gradients normal to the flow are
relatively small, and the fluids acts as if it were inviscid, even though the
viscosity is not zero.

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The turbulent boundary layer Approaches to External Flows

Important variables: Two approaches are used to obtain information of external flows:
Distance from the wall: y. Theoretical (analytical and numerical) approaches:
Wall shear stress: tw. The force exerted on a flat plate is the area Because of the complexities of the governing equations and the
times the wall shear stress. complexities of the geometry of the objects involved, the amount of
Density: . information obtained from purely theoretical methods is limited. With
current and anticipated advancements in the area of computational fluid
Dynamic viscosity: .
mechanics, computer predication of forces and complicated flow
Kinematic viscosity: . patterns will become more readily available.
Velocity at y: U.
The friction velocity: ut = (tw/)1/2. Experimental approaches:
We can define a Reynolds number based on the distance to the Much information is obtained.
wall using the friction velocity: y+ = yut/.
We can also make the velocity at y dimensionless using the
friction velocity: u+ = U/ ut.

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Boundary layer structure Flow visualization

For a given-shaped object, the characteristics of the flow

depend very strongly on various parameters such as size,
u+=y+ orientation, speed, and fluid properties.

y+=1
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How to Solve Boundary Layer

By Blasius (called Blasius solution)
Limited to laminar boundary layer only, and for a flat plate only (without a
pressure gradient).
Since the boundary layer is thin, it is expected that the component of
velocity (v) normal to the plate is much smaller than stream-wise velocity
component and that the rate of change of any parameter across the
boundary layer should be much greater than that along the flow direction.
By solving the governing Navier-Stokes equation.

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Momentum integral equation

Used to obtain approximate information on boundary layer growth for
the general case ( laminar or turbulent boundary layers, with or without
a pressure gradient).

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