Boundary Layer

Prandtl, 1905

High Reynolds Number Flow.
Two length scales
1. Far from surface, viscous forces are unimportant
and inertial forces dominate.
2. Near the surface, viscous forces are comparable
to inertial forces

Boundary Layer
Approach:
1. Perform scaling for two dimensional flow for a
boundary layer of thickness o in y direction and a
length scale L in the x direction.
2. Derive the boundary layer equations
3. Examine approximate solutions to obtain boundary
layer thickness and shear stress
4. Apply to mass transfer boundary layers
5. Estimate mass transfer coefficients
Boundary Layer
cv
x
cx
+
cv
y
cy
= 0
v
x
cv
x
cx
+ v
y
cv
x
cy
|
\

|
.
|
= -
cP
cx
+
c
2
v
x
cx
2
+
c
2
v
x
cy
2
|
\

|
.
|
v
x
cv
y
cx
+ v
y
cv
y
cy
|
\

|
.
|
= -
cP
cy
+
c
2
v
y
cx
2
+
c
2
v
y
cy
2
|
\

|
.
|
Conservation of mass and Navier-Stokes equation for 2-D
High Re laminar flow over a plate
Length scales - o in y direction
L in the x direction; expect o << L

Velocity scales - U
0
in x direction
V in y direction; expect V << U
0

Will deduce magnitude of o, V and scaling for pressure from
an order of magnitude analysis
Conservation of mass
X-component
Y-component
Scaling

x
*
=
x
L
y
*
=
y
o

v
x
*
=
v
x
U
o
v
y
*
=
v
y
V
p*=
p
P
U
o
L
cv
x
*
cx
*
+
V
o
cv
y
*
cy
*
= 0
Conservation of mass becomes:
Velocity gradient in x and y direction are proportional. Thus
the following terms must balance to maintain validity of the
conservation of mass
V ~ U
o
o
L
<< U
o
or
V
o
~
U
o
L

So, we now have a relation for V and can use it in the
conservation of linear momentum to find o.

U
o
2
L
v
x
*
cv
x
*
cx
*
+ v
y
*
cv
x
*
cy
*
|
\

|
.
|
= -
P
L
cP
*
cx
*
+
U
o
o
2
o
2
L
2
c
2
v
x
*
cx
*2
+
c
2
v
x
*
cy
*2
|
\

|
.
|
x component of the conservation of linear momentum
Can neglect underlined term since o
2
<< L

Simplifying and rearranging

U
o
o
2
L
v
x
*
cv
x
*
cx
*
+ v
y
*
cv
x
*
cy
*
|
\

|
.
|
= -
Po
2
U
o
L
cP
*
cx
*
+
c
2
v
x
*
cy
*2
Since viscous and inertial forces are equally important in
the boundary layer
U
o
o
2
L
~ 1
Rearranging and solving for o yields
o ~
L
U
o
|
\

|
.
|
1/ 2
~ LRe
L
-1/2
where Re
L
= U
o
L/
This is the correct scaling for the boundary layer. Almost
all subsequent efforts are involved in finding the numerical
coefficients to make the relation exact.
Since the pressure cannot be neglected either, Po
2
/U
o
L
must be of order 1. This leads to:

P ~ U
o
2
This result should not be too surprising since we had used
it before.
Use the assumption that o
2
/L
2
<<1. The y component of the
conservation of linear momentum yields
cP
*
cy
*
~ 0
That is, the pressure varies only in the direction of flow
(P = P(x) only).

The pressure in the boundary layer at a given x position
is the same inside and outside the boundary layer.

To find this pressure and the x dependence of pressure,
apply Bernoullis equation along a horizontal streamline
far above the boundary layer.

P(x) +
1
2
U(x)
2
= constant
Take the x derivative and rearrange to obtain an expression
for the pressure gradient
dP
dx
= -U(x)
dU(x)
dx
For a flat plate, U(x) = U
0
and the pressure gradient is zero.
The boundary layer equations
cv
x
cx
+
cv
y
cy
= 0
Conservation of mass
x-component
v
x
cv
x
cx
+ v
y
cv
x
cy
|
\

|
.
|
= U(x)
dU(x)
dx
+
c
2
v
x
cy
2
Options: Solve numerically, or approximate by integrating
along the length L.
t
w
=
cv
x
cy
y=0
=
c
cx
v
x
U v
x
( )
dy
0
o
}

(
+
dU
dx
U v
x
( )
dy
0
o
}
By integrating, derive the von Karman integral momentum
equation for boundary layer of thickness o.
Approach
1. Assume an expression for v
x
that satisfies the
boundary conditions
y = 0, v
x
= 0
y = o, v
x
= U(x)
Depending on the expression used, additional
criteria can be used such as the first and
second derivatives must be continuous at
y = o , v
x
= U(x)
2. Insert into equations and solve for o.
3. Compute shear stress
Example, Flow over a flat plate

Models hemodialysis membranes for many geometries,
since curvature can be neglected since o is small.

A uniform flow field with velocity U
o
approaches a flat
plate of length L which is oriented in the direction of flow.
For this flow, U(x) = U
o
.
The von Karman Momentum integral reduces to:

t
w
=
cv
x
cy
y=0
=
d
dx
v
x
U v
x
( )
dy
0
o
}

(

The simplest expression that can be used and that
simplifies the boundary conditions is
v
x
=U
0
y
o
Inserting this expression into the momentum integral yields
t
w
=
cv
x
cy
y=0
=
U
o
o
=
U
o
2
6
do
dx
So, now we have a first order ODE for o. We just need
an initial which is that at x = 0, o = 0.
This yields the following results
o(x) =
12x
U
o
= 3.464xRe
x
-1/2

t
w
=
-0.289U
o
x
Re
x
1/2

Comparing different expressions for the velocity, let
o(x) = ax Re
x
-1/2

t
w
=
-bU
o
x
Re
x
1/2

Conclusion: Even relatively simple approximations work well