Flow past a Body:

Passing flow exerts pressure forces and viscous forces on a body

The resolved components of these forces produce drag and lift.
The sizes of these forces are affected by the size and shape of the body and the flow
Reynolds number

Figure 1: showing the action of the pressure and viscous forces on an aerofoil

Drag acts parallel to flow velocity

Drag Coefficient:

= 1

2
2

The flow structures and associated forces of various objects are functions of both shape and Re and
therefore: the objects shape, its orientation to the flow and Re determine the drag coefficient.

Lift acts perpendicular to flow velocity

Lift Coefficient:
*Remember (F = the drag (D) and Lift (L) forces: unit N

= 1

2
2

S = representative area for body: unit m2)

Representative area for certain forms:

Shape

Flow diagram

Representative
area

S =d2/4

Sphere
Characteristic length = d

Finite Cylinder

S = bd

Characteristic length = d

Aerofoil

S = cb

c = Chord b = Span
Characteristic length = c
The Total drag (or profile drag) on a body incorporates two different components of drag:

TOTAL DRAG (PROFILE DRAG) = FORM DRAG + SKIN FRICTION

Form Drag: Resultant forces acting normal to the surface due to pressure
distribution/normal stresses. Pressure (p) acts on the surface area of the body (ds) resulting
in the form drag:

FORM DRAG =

Skin Friction: The shear force that acts tangential to the surface (along the stream) due to
velocity gradient normal to the surface. Shear stresses (w) act on the surface area of the
body (ds) resulting in the shear force:

SKIN FRICTION =
Subcritical Re: Laminar separation before the maximum transverse dimension (vertical maximum
looking at cross section) a wide wake at low pressure Large form drag and negligible skin friction

Supercritical Re: Turbulent separation after maximum transverse dimension narrow wake at
higher pressure low form drag and enlarger but still negligible skin friction.

The Pressure Coefficient:

The flow around the body accelerates and decelerates the local static pressure therefore is
different from that of the main stream
This static pressure can be found using Bernoullis outside of the very thin boundary layer due
to its negligible thickness this pressure is transmitted through the un-separated boundary layer
onto the surface.
* Remember Bernoullis

+ 2 = +

For different shapes or forms of body the pressure distribution is described by the pressure
coefficient
2

Pressure Coefficient:

= 1

2
2

=1(

Figure 2: Cp vs angle plots for inviscid theory and experimental data

Inviscid and viscous flow past a body:

Looking at Reynolds number; a high Reynolds number can suggest that viscous forces are
insignificant versus inertia forces but this is NOT the case
Inviscid theory

Experiment at high Re
For Flow past a cylinder:

Predicts no drag ( = 0)

Predicts no Lift ( = 0)
Predicts no Drag ( = 0)
OR

Large drag observed : high form drag, negligible skin

friction CD 1 at high Re
For Flow past an Aerofoil:

Can Predict Lift ( = 0)

Predicts no Drag ( = 0)

Predicts no Drag ( = 0): dominant skin friction, low

form drag CD 0.01 at high Re

*Remember (Inviscid Theory = assuming zero viscosity)

Potential Flow: flow of an incompressible fluid that is assumed to be frictionless and motion to be
irrotational.
The conditions for potential flow are:

Ideal Fluid
o No viscosity, no compressibility, no surface tension, no vaporisation
Irrotational
o No rotation, no vorticity, no circulation

Flow Separation: caused by a reduction of velocity in the boundary layer and a positive
(adverse) pressure gradient. Flow separation leads to a large form drag.

Prandtls boundary layer concept (see topic 1) in high Reynolds flow = Viscous forces are small but
NOT negligible
o The Outer flow : behaves as inviscid - velocity gradients are very small
o The Boundary layer: where viscous effects are limited to a thin layer at the objects/walls
surface (shear stress exists at the wall due to velocity gradients at the surface. The boundary
layer can be considered to have a high momentum deficit.
N:B The thickness of the boundary layer is very small at high Re, no slip condition applies.

Figure 3: Showing the process of flow separation

Before the separation point:

Outer Flow is accelerating: U(x) is increasing and p(x) is decreasing

There is a favourable pressure gradient

>
< (negative)

At and after the separation point:

Outer Flow is Decelerating: U(x) decreasing and p(x) increasing

There is an adverse pressure gradient

<
> (positive)

The adverse pressure gradient slows further the already slowed flow close to the wall
The flow at the wall comes to rest, then it reverses and separates.

N:B Separation occurs around the point where = 0 and = 0 and is caused by

Laminar and Turbulent Flow separation:

Figure 4: Laminar flow separation, left. Turbulent Flow separation, right

Laminar flow is unable to adjust to the increasing pressure and flow separation occurs
Turbulent boundary layers are more resistant to separation
o The chaotic nature of the turbulent boundary layer allows for mixing and absorption
of more energy from the free stream
o The increased mixing increases the transport of momentum (due to turbulent
stresses between the free-stream and the flow near the wall.)
o This transport of momentum from the free-stream to the wall increases stream-wise
momentum in the boundary layer.
o This allows the turbulent boundary layer to overcome the pressure gradient and
resist separation for longer.

Boundary layer control prevention of flow separation: these systems can be expensive and hard to
install, all control methods are specific to situation and condition (advantages maybe be offset by
additional drag)
(1) Surface roughening initiates turbulence in the boundary layer delays separation and
produces a narrower wake of higher pressure
(2) Shape Variation incorporating a flap at the end of a wing and tilting before separation
occurs increasing the top side (of an aerofoil) velocity, reducing the pressure and thus
chance of separation.

(3) Fluid injection accelerates the flow of the boundary layer (but increases turbulence of flow
and thus skin friction)
(4) Fluid removal Suction of fluid through small holes or porous surface thins and speeds up
the downstream boundary layer increasing resistance to an adverse pressure gradient
laminar to turbulent transition is delayed leading to less skin friction
(5) Slotted wing slots in the wing draw air from the higher pressure base area of the wing up
to the top the slow moving air on the upper surface is accelerated, decreasing pressure
and reducing the adverse pressure gradient.
(6) Engine arrangement engine intakes draw slow air from the boundary layer at the rear of
the wing through small holes the boundary layer remains close to the wing and this
produces higher pressure gradients before separation.
Hydrofoils:
-

Most Hydrofoils are used limit the onset of cavitation and boundary layer separation.
Used to lift vessels out of water and also on control surfaces, rudders and stabilisers.
The most important piece of information of hydrofoil design is the location of the minimum
pressure (where cavitation will first occur)

Cavitation: Occurs when the pressure in flow drops local below the vaporisation pressure of the
fluid local boiling (a phase change) of the fluid occurs. The cavitation number is

1
2
2

Streamlining: lowering the form drag by reducing the tendency of the flow to separate, which
essentially lowers the coefficient of drag.

Flow past a cylinder:

Flow separation

Flow accelerates as it moves around the cylinder, reaching a maximum at the vertical axis of
the circular cross section. The pressure has dropped and thus the adverse pressure gradient
created causes flow separation as long as flow is fast enough (Re>2)
At flows of Re 30 - 70 steady flow exists and above this point oscillations start to appear
At flows of Re > 70 90 the separation point moves upstream and the separated zones curl
into vortices which detach and trail on the downstream side of the cylinder: this is known as
a K rm n vortex trail.
This vortex shedding can induce aerodynamic flutter which can have large effects on the
design of structural components

Vortex shedding:
Frequency of vortex shedding is given in terms of the Strouhal number

(Where n = frequency of vortex shedding (Hz), l = the characteristic length of the object (m) and

= free stream velocity ( ))

Drag
-

For a cylinder CD is nearly constant for Re = 103-105 but varies as the boundary layer is
turbulent between Re = 105-106
At Re 2000: CD is at a minimum of approximately 0.9. At Re 30,000: CD rises to
approximately 1.2 (partially due to increasing turbulence in the wake). At Re 200,000: CD
drops suddenly to approximately 0.3 and for Re>200,000 CD increases slowly.
Form drag is approximately 50% of the profile drag as Re tends to 0. By Re 200, the form
drag is approximately 90% of the profile drag. At Re 30,000 skin friction is insignificant.
Drag crisis : Recrit 2 105

For a cylinder: The Pressure coefficient can be related to both the drag and lift coefficients
by:

= 12 0
=

2
1

2
0

Flow past a sphere:

Seperation
- Flow starts to separate from the spheres surface Re 20
- As Re increases a pair of recirculating vortices become visible in the wake region
- At flow up to Re 200 the flow is steady and above this value oscillations start to appear
and the separation point moves upstream of the top of the sphere which increases the drag.
Drag
- For a sphere CD is nearly constant for Re = 103-105 but varies as the boundary layer becomes
turbulent between Re = 105-106 (this transition causes CD to decrease dramatically)
- As Re tends to 0 , CD is given by Stokes law CD=24/Re
- Drag crisis: Recrit 3 105
Drag Reduction: Boundary layer tripping
-

Boundary layer tripping is when a trip wire is deliberately incorporated to turn the boundary
layer from laminar to turbulent this increases skin friction but decreases form drag by
delaying flow separation
The Reduction in form drag > The Increase in skin friction and the overall CD decreases.
Another way to reduce drag is roughening the surface which lowers Re at which the
transition occurs but CD will rise faster once the transition point is passed.

Flow past an aerofoil:

Figure 5 : A geometrically labelled aerofoil

Figure 6: Cp versus position on chord for upper and lowers surfaces of the aerofoil (left) and pressure
pattern on the upper surface (right)
- Velocity increases as air flows over the aerofoil and therefore pressure reduces above the
aerofoil inducing a transverse lift force.
- High Re and low angle of attack a CL and CD depend on a but are relatively insensitive to Re
Angle of Attack
-

The angle of attack is the angle the chord line makes with the approach of fluid flow
For a small angle of attack separation is close to the trailing edge the wake is thin and
there is low form drag
As angle of attack increases separation moves along the top of the aerofoil increasing the
wake width and form drag.
If the angle of attack is too large the boundary layer at the top of the aerofoil separates
(where adverse pressure gradients are large), increases form drag considerably and changes
the pattern of pressure this reduces the lift component to a value lower than the weight of
the aerofoil (the plane drops) known as stalling.
The critical angle of attack is acrit at which CL is a maximum, above which stalling occurs.
The critical angle depends on the type and shape of the aerofoil.

Efficiency the minimum CD does not occur at the maximum CL and therefore the ratio CL/CD can be
taken as a measure of the efficiency of an aerofoil.

Bibliography
[1] A. Bakker, "Lecture 11 : Boundary Layer and Separation," 2002-2006. [Online]. Available:
http://www.bakker.org. [Accessed 04 9 14].
[2] D. P. Aleiferis, Mechanics of Fluids Lecture Notes, London, 2013-2014.
[3] P. J. A. T. Robert W.Fox, Introduction to Fluid Mechanics (seventh edition).
[4] B. M. (. b. J. Ward-Smith), Mechanics of Fluids (8th edition).