58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body

Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009

1
Chapter 7 Bluff Body

Fluid flows are broadly categorized:

1. Internal flows such as ducts/pipes, turbomachinery, open
channel/river, which are bounded by walls or fluid interfaces:
Chapter 8.

2. External flows such as flow around vehicles and structures,
which are characterized by unbounded or partially bounded
domains and flow field decomposition into viscous and
inviscid regions: Chapter 9.

a. Boundary layer flow: high Reynolds number flow
around streamlines bodies without flow separation.


b. Bluff body flow: flow around bluff bodies with flow
separation.

58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
2

3. Free Shear flows such as jets, wakes, and mixing layers,
which are also characterized by absence of walls and
development and spreading in an unbounded or partially
bounded ambient domain: advanced topic, which also uses
boundary layer theory.


Basic Considerations

Drag is decomposed into form and skin-friction
contributions:


( )

=

S
w
S
2
D
dA i

t dA i

n p p
A V
2
1
1
C
C
Dp
C
f

58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
3

( )

=

dA j

n p p
A V
2
1
1
C
S
2
L

c
t
<<1 C
f
>>C
Dp
streamlined body

c
t
1 C
Dp
>>C
f
bluff body

Streamlining: One way to reduce the drag

reduce the flow separationreduce the pressure drag
increase the surface area increase the friction drag

Trade-off relationship between pressure drag and friction drag


Trade-off relationship between pressure drag and friction drag


Benefit of streamlining: reducing vibration and noise
58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
4
Drag of 2-D Bodies

First consider a flat plate both parallel and normal to the
flow



( ) 0 i

n p p
A V
2
1
1
C
S
2
Dp
=

=
S
w
2
f
dA i

t
A V
2
1
1
C

=
2 / 1
L
Re
33 . 1
laminar flow

=
5 / 1
L
Re
074 .
turbulent flow



where C
p
based on experimental data


vortex wake
typical of bluff body flow
flow pattern
58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
5



( )

=

S
2
Dp
dA i

n p p
A V
2
1
1
C
=

S
p
dA C
A
1

=2 using numerical integration of experimental data
C
f
=0

For bluff body flow experimental data used for C
D
.
58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
6

In general, Drag =f(V, L, , , c, t, , T, etc.)
from dimensional analysis
c/L

= . etc , T ,
L
,
L
t
, Ar Re, f
A V
2
1
Drag
C
2
D


scale factor
58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
7
Potential Flow Solution:

=

sin
r
a
r U
2


2 2
U
2
1
p V
2
1
p

+ = +


2
2 2
r
2
p
U
u u
1
U
2
1
p p
C

+
=

=
( ) = =
2
p
sin 4 1 a r C surface pressure


r
u
r
1
u
r

=


=

58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
8


58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
9

58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
10

58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
11

58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
12

58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
13








58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
14

58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
15




58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
16



58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
17
<0.3 flow is incompressible,
i.e., constant
Effect of Compressibility on Drag: CD = CD(Re,
Ma)

a
U
Ma

=
speed of sound =rate at which infinitesimal
disturbances are propagated from their
source into undisturbed medium

Ma <1 subsonic
Ma 1 transonic (=1 sonic flow)
Ma >1 supersonic
Ma >>1 hypersonic

C
D
increases for Ma 1 due to shock waves and wave drag

Ma
critical
(sphere) .6

Ma
critical
(slender bodies) 1

For U >a: upstream flow is not warned of approaching
disturbance which results in the formation of
shock waves across which flow properties
and streamlines change discontinuously






58:160 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics Bluff Body
Professor Fred Stern Fall 2009
18