CIVL2611/CIVL9611 Introductory Fluid Mechanics

9. Dimensional Analysis
9.1 Preamble
Motion of fluids must comply with several conservation laws. We have developed the conservation
of ____________, _____________ and ____________ equations in integral forms. It is also possible to
develop differential forms of these equations. In principle, we can solve any fluid mechanics problem
using these equations. The reality is that there are actually very few exact solutions of these equations,
and computational solutions are often needed. However, the flows may be complicated by the
presence of turbulence, or particles, or other reacting fluids, which make the equations even more
complicated and difficult to solve numerically.
So, often we resort to doing experiments to try to develop models of the flow behaviour. However,
there may be many parameters affecting the flow, which may mean that we need to do a large
number of experiments. For example, consider flow in a horizontal, rough and circular pipe.

, p

l
Assume the pipe is long enough so that the end effects can be ignored. We expect that Q will depend
on the pressure difference from end to end p , the length , the diameter D, the roughness of the
pipe and the viscosity of the fluid . In mathematical terms,

Q = ___________________________
where f is a function.
We now want to do some experiments to find out
what the function f is. Suppose we choose a
particular pipe (that is, fix the values of D, ,

),

and choose a particular fluid (say water, that is, fix

the value of ). We then vary the pressure
difference p and measure Q at each value of

p . Say we do this 5 times and plot the result.

We get a graph on which each of the data points
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Lecture Notes for CIVL2611/CIVL9611

corresponds to one pair of measurements. By curve-fitting we can obtain a formula for how the flow
rate Q depends on the pressure drop p for the particular values of the other parameters.

Now we choose a different fluid, and do the same experiment. We can plot some new data on the
figure. Then we choose a third fluid, a fourth fluid, and a fifth fluid. For each fluid, we do the same
experiment, and we finish up with a set of 5 lines on the graph.

To get to this point we have done a total of 25 experiments, and all we have is some very inexact idea
about how the value of affects the behaviour.
Now we change the diameter D through 5 different values, for each of the 5 fluids, and produce
another figure like the one above for each value of D. This means we have to do 125 experiments.
Then change the roughness through 5 values, for each of the 5 diameters. This gives 625
experiments. Then change the length through 5 values etc. to give over 3000 experiments.
So over 3000 experiments were needed to map the behaviour for a fairly limited range of possible
values of the parameters. Clearly there is a need for a more systematic way to do this. The answer lies
in a method in which the variables must go together called dimensional analysis.

9.2 Dimensional analysis

Recall that the basic dimensions include __________(M), __________(L), _________(T), and
temperature (). __________, __________, __________ and temperature are referred to as primary
quantities. All other quantities are referred to as secondary quantities, which can be described using
the primary quantities. Note that dimensions are not the same as units. In SI unit system, the unit of
length is ______, the unit of mass is ______, and the unit of time is ______. The units of most other
variables are made up of combinations of these three basic units. For example, the unit of force is N,
which is the same as kgm/s2. The notation for the dimension of an arbitrary variable is []. For
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Lecture Notes for CIVL2611/CIVL9611

instance, the dimension of force is represented as [F] = MLT2. Here are units and dimensions of some
typical quantities which are frequently used:
Quantity
Force (F)
Pressure (p)
Velocity (v)
Flow rate (Q)
Acceleration (a)
Dynamic Viscosity ()
Kinematic viscosity ()

SI units
N (=kg m/s2)
N/m2 (=kg/ms2)
m/s
m3/s
m/s2
Ns/m2 (=kg/ms)
m2/s

Dimensions
[F] = MLT 2
[p] = ML1T 2
[v] = LT 1
[Q] = L3T 1
[a] = LT 2
[] = ML1T 1
[] = L2T 1

Dimensional analysis can be carried out by Trial and Error method. Take the above example. To keep
it brief, we drop the roughness . So the parameters include pipe length , pipe diameter D, pressure
difference p , flow rate Q, and fluid viscosity .

Q
p

We expect that Q = _________________ and we would like to know what the function f is, without
doing 3000+ experiments.
Through Trial and Error, we can obtain the following equation

Now we have reduced the number of variable from 5 (___________________) to 2 (__________ and
_________). This means that we are only looking for one curve in our experiments which relates these
two variables, and therefore greatly reduces the number of experiments that we have to do. So, we
can do a series of experiments, and get something like:

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Lecture Notes for CIVL2611/CIVL9611

We can get the experimental values on the horizontal axis from any combination of and D, and we
can interpret the value of

Q
with any combination of values of Q, , D, Dp . This means that we
Dp D 3

can span a wide range of possible values for very little effort.
Note that there is more than one right answer. What we did was to reduce 5 variables to 2. These two
variables had no dimensions, i.e. were _______________. We did it by trial and error. However
there is a systematic way for doing this, i.e. the Buckingham Theorem, which is described below.

9.3 Buckingham Theorem

If there are k variables with r basic (reference) dimensions, then there are ___________ dimensionless
groups that can be formed. These dimensionless groups are called groups. In the example above we
have 5 variables Q, Dp, , D, , which have 3 basic dimensions M, L, T. According to the theorem, we
can form 2 (= 53) groups, which were

and
. The Buckingham theorem arises from a
3
Dp D
D

branch of pure mathematics called Group Theory and can be proved mathematically.
In general we write:
If there are k variables u1 , u 2 , u3 , 3 , u k and

u1 = f (u 2 , u3 , 3 , u k )
where f is some function, then we can form (k r) groups 1 , 2 , 3 , 3 , k r , so that

1 = g ( 2 , 3, 3 , k r )
where r is the number of basic dimensions and g is a different function.
Procedures:
1.

Determine the relevant variables for the problem. Use intuition, experience, and prior knowledge.
If you choose too few, it will not demonstrate the complete behaviour, though that may not be
immediately apparent. Seek variables from the following sets of information:

__________________, e.g. D, above;

__________________, e.g. , ;

__________________, e.g. p, Q .

Only use independent variables, i.e. do not use ones which are made up of combinations of others
already listed. The total number of these variables is k.
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Lecture Notes for CIVL2611/CIVL9611

2.

Determine their dimensions, and the number of basic dimensions r.

3.

Determine the number of groups, which is ______________.

4.

Select r ____________ variables. Call these u k r +1 , u k r + 2 , , u k . These can be chosen from

anywhere in the k variables, subject to the rules below. These are called ____________ variables
as they will be repeated in every group that is formed. They will be put together with the
remaining ____________ variables (one by one) to make the _____________ groups.

Do not choose the variable that is being sought as the ______________ variable (e.g. Q in
the above example; if that were chosen then it would appear on both sides of the
function and could not be extracted);

5.

The variables must be __________________;

Do not choose ones which by themselves can make _________________;

Must in combination use all the ____________ dimensions;

With all the above conditions satisfied, the simpler the better.

Form the groups

1 = u1 u k r +1 u k r +2 u k
1

2 = u 2 u k r +1 u k r +2 u k
1

= u u k r +1 u k r +2 u k
1

k r = u k r u k r +1 u k r +2 u k
1

6.

Check that the resulting groups are in fact non-dimensional.

7.

Express the final form as a relationship among the groups, typically in the form of

1 = g ( 2 , 3, 3 , k r )
These procedures, although slightly clumsy, always work. The only difficult part is determining
repeating variables and their exponents.

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Lecture Notes for CIVL2611/CIVL9611