Laminar Flow Across a Flat Plate

Numerical Analysis for Engineering April 10, 2001 MEAE-4960

Anya Brunschwig Carrie-Anne Rondi

Table of Contents

List of Symbols ...3 Introduction .4 Problem Description and Background ...5 Numerical Approaches .6 Runge-Kutta Numerical Method .6 ANSYS Method .9 Results and Error Analysis .10 Results of Runge-Kutta Method .10 Comparison of Runge-Kutta and Howarth ...12 Results of ANSYS 13 Comparison of ANSYS and Howarth 14 Conclusion 15 References 15 Appendix 1 . 16 Appendix 2 17

List of Symbols
x = Length of the plate U = Free-stream velocity u = Velocity measured y = Distance away from plate = Boundary layer thickness = Viscosity = Kinematic viscosity t = Time fluid travels = Density f( ) = Dimensionless stream function du/dy = Velocity gradient = Stream function = Constant

Introduction
Laminar flow over a flat plate is a fundamental problem of fluid mechanics. The boundary layer is defined as the thin layer between the transition from zero velocity at the flat plat to full magnitude at some distance from it. Boundary layer equations for flow along a flat plat have small viscosity or large Reynolds numbers. Boundary layer thickness decreases with viscosity and an increasing Reynolds number. For two-dimensional flow of a fluid with small viscosity adheres to the flat plate. A simplified Navier-Stokes equations yields approximate solutions of viscosity at high Reynolds numbers. The original 3 Navier-Stokes equations find u, v, and p. The simplified version, which has been derived by Blasius, only uses 2 unknowns u and v. This problem can not be solved analytically so a numerical method must be used to get a solution. In this project, two different numerical methods will be used to solve the Blasius equation for laminar flow across a flat plate. These solutions will be compared with the results of Howarth.

Problem Description and Background

The boundary-layer flow across a flat plate can be expressed using boundary-layer equations defined by Blasius. These equations are :

u v + =0 x y

u v 2 u +v =v x y y 2

The boundary conditions for these equations are: y=0, u=v=0, y= , and u= U , assuming that the leading edge of the plate is x=0 and the plate is infinity long. This system of equations can be simplified further to an ordinary differential equation. To do this we use an equation that reads:

vx U

To make this quantity dimensionless it can be divided by y to obtain:

=y

U vx

The stream function can be found from the equation of continuity as:

= vxU

f ()

where f(n) is the dimensionless stream function. The velocity component u which is equal to can be expressed as follows: y

u=

= y y

since

= vxU

f ' () , and

U = y vx

. So,

u = U f ' ()
Also the transverse velocity component can be expressed as:

v =

1 = x 2

vU (f ' f ) x

Now inserting these equations into the second boundary layer flow equation:
2 2 2 U U U f ' f ' '+ (f ' f ) = v f ''' 2x 2x xv

and with furthur simplification we have the Blasius ordinary differential equation.
ff ' '+ f ' ' ' = 0 2

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where the boundary conditions are: when = 0 , f = 0 and f ' =0 ; and when = , f '= . 1 Accuracy in boundary layer solutions can be obtained using numerical analysis methods. One method that we have learned in class is the Runge Kutta method for high order systems. Another method is solutions in series. This particular method is broken down into different subcatigories. Many different people adapted this method to form their own solutions, they included Howarth (Power series), Falkners (transformation followed by series expansion), Piercy and Preston (Iterative method). Other methods such as finite element methods can be used to solve these types of problems. In this project, the Runge-Kutta method for higher order systems and a finite element method using ANSYS will be used to solve for the velocity profile of laminar flow across a flat plate. These solutions will be compared with Howarth's solutions to assess their accuracy.

Numerical Approachs
Runge-Kutta Numerical Method The Runge-Kutta method for systems of differential equations was used to solve the Blasuis equations for laminar flow over a flat plate. This method is used to solve higher order initial value problems by transforming the higher order equations into systems of first order differential equations. The first step in using this method was to formulate the first order differential equations. The third order Blasius equation is: ff ' '+ f ' ' ' = 0 2 First the new parameters are defined:

u1 = f
u2 = du df = 1 d d

11 12 13

u3 =
so,

d 2 f du 2 d 2 u1 = = = f '' d d 2 d 2
d3 f du 3 = d d3

f '' =

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Substituting these new parameters into the original Blasius equation,

u1u 3 + 2

du 3 =0 d

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And splitting it up into three first order equations,

du 1 = u2 d

16 17 18

du 2 = u3 d
du 3 uu = 1 3 d 2

This yeilds the three first order equations that will be input into the Runge-Kutta program in Maple. Each of the equations must have an initial condition in order for the program to be able to find a solution. The Blasius equation gives three boundary conditions which are as follows. f(0)=0, f'(0)=0, and f'()=1

19
7
1

8
7
1

The first two boundary conditions can be directed placed into the program as the initial values of the first and second (du1/dn and du2/dn) first order equations. The initial condition for the last equation must be computed from the third boundary condition of f' at infinity. By expanding the Blasius equation about the origin, it is found that,

f = F ()

20

) where is determined from f ' =1 and when = 1 , F ( is the solution. Taking the limit of f' as n goes to infinity it is found, 21 lim f ' () = 2 lim F ' () = 2 lim F ' () = 1
solving for

,
f ' () = F ' ()
1/ 2

22

since f ' () 1 as

so,

= F ' ( )

23

Taking the third derivative of the equation [20] and putting into the same format as before,

lim f ' ' () = 3 lim F ' ' () = 3 lim F ' ' ()

when 0 ,

24 25

f ' (0) = 3 F ' ' (0)

F(0)=0, F'(0)=0 and F''(0) = 1 are the initial conditions of the modified differential equation 2F'''+FF''=0. So, solving for f''(0) with

= F ' ( )

as determined above yields,

f''(0)=F'()-3/2

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To find f''(0), the third initial condition needed to solve the Blasius equation, first F ' must be found. To find F ' , the Runge-Kutta Maple program will be run using the initial conditions for the modified differential equation, F(0)=0, F'(0)=0, and F''(0)=1. When f'' goes to zero, the resulting f' is substituted back into equation [26] and the f''(0) initial conditions is found. Using the Maple program, with the boundary conditions stated above, F(0)=0, F'(0)=0, and F''(0)=1, and the three first order equations, it was found at time = 7.676 , f'' is equal to zero. The corresponding f' is equal to 2.08540388. The results of this program are as follows. > alg057(); This is the Runge-Kutta Method for Systems of m equations

Input the number of equations >3 Input the function F[1](t,y1 ... y3) in terms of t and y1 ... y3 (For example: y1-t^2+1) > y2 Input the function F[2](t,y1 ... y3) in terms of t and y1 ... y3 (For example: y1-t^2+1) > y3 Input the function F[3](t,y1 ... y3) in terms of t and y1 ... y3 (For example: y1-t^2+1) > -1*y1*y3/2 Input left and right endpoints separated by blank >09 Input the initial condition alpha[1] >0 Input the initial condition alpha[2] >0 Input the initial condition alpha[3] >1 Input a positive integer for the number of subintervals 34 The output is as follows: RUNGE-KUTTA METHOD FOR SYSTEMS OF DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS T W1 W2 W3 0.000 0.00000000 0.00000000 1.00000000 .265 .03503460 .26460360 .99845615 .529 .13997628 .52778104 .98771985 .794 .31402186 .78593809 .95921206 1.059 .55513367 1.03342601 .90625589 1.324 .85958233 1.26327257 .82582072 1.588 1.22174369 1.46835850 .71999825 1.853 1.63424761 1.64284872 .59631439 2.118 2.08849678 1.78348089 .46630306 2.382 2.57545686 1.89026355 .34259093 2.647 3.08652078 1.96632249 .23560399 2.912 3.61422530 2.01698087 .15127017 3.176 4.15266396 2.04846221 .09052412 3.441 4.69756048 2.06669118 .05044592 3.706 5.24607646 2.07651920 .02617063 3.971 5.79648118 2.08145178 .01264218 4.235 6.34780342 2.08375684 .00569038 4.500 6.89954067 2.08476043 .00238930 4.765 7.45145279 2.08516796 .00093744 5.029 8.00343362 2.08532255 .00034450 5.294 8.55543967 2.08537744 .00011895 5.559 9.10745437 2.08539575 .00003875 5.824 9.65947187 2.08540150 .00001198 6.088 10.21149021 2.08540322 .00000353 6.353 10.76350880 2.08540370 .00000100 6.618 11.31552744 2.08540383 .00000028 6.882 11.86754610 2.08540387 .00000008 7.147 12.41956476 2.08540388 .00000002 7.412 12.97158342 2.08540388 .00000001 7.676 13.52360208 2.08540388 .00000000

For this solution, W1=f, W2=f'' (the velocity component, u/Uinfinity) and W3=f'''. The final value for W2 is plugged into the equation [26] to get f''(0)= 0. 332058372. This is the third initial condition for the Blasius equation. ANSYS Method Finite difference methods, such as ANSYS, also can be used to solve the original problem of laminar flow across a flat plate. With this program, a two dimensional grid was set up on a rectangle that depicted the flat plate and its immediate surroundings. The program then solved using the defined boundary conditions. The grid, plate area and boundary conditions are all set in the input file shown below. The grid was chosen so that the divisions corresponded to the divisions used in Howarths soluion for n. /PREP7 !! !! This program models laminar flow over a flat plate. ! This defines the density and kinematic viscosity of air. DENS=1.21 VISC= .0000179 !! !! VARY the VISCOSITY to change the Reynolds number... !! Number of elements on a side is NSIDE !! Element spacing ratio is RATIO NSIDE = 25 RATIO = 1 ! This defines the computational domain which is a rectangle in which ! the boundary layer exits rect,0,1,0,0.25 ! This defines the number of subdivisions on each side of domain ! We have defined a mesh that contains 50 divisions on the x-axis and ! 297 divisions on the y-axis. The last number in each line defines the ! distance between the gridlines. The y-axis is divided so that the grid is ! symetric lesize,1,,,50,1 lesize,2,,,297,1 lesize,3,,,50,1 lesize,4,,,297,1 et,1,141 ! FLOTRAN element type !This creates the mesh amesh,all ! This sets the boundary conditions for the y-axis at the beginning of the plate ! (the LHS). This defines the velocity to be 1 at the furthest distance from ! the plate. lsels,s,,,4 nsll d,all,vx,1.0 d,all,vy,0.0 ! This sets the boundary conditions for the plate (x-axis). lsel,s,,,1, nsll,,1 d,all,vx,0 d,all,vy,0 ! This defines the upper boundary condition far away from the plate where the ! velocity is equal to Uinfinity which is defined as 1. lsel,s,,,3,

nsll,,1 d,all,vx,1 d,all,vy,0 ! This defines the boundary conditions for downstream side of the plate. lsel,s,,,2, nsll,,1 d,all,pres,0 alls ! These commands assign properties and the number of iterations which ANSYS will ! use to compute the solution. flda,nomi,dens,DENS flda,nomi,visc,VISC flda,iter,exec,50 save fini. It is necessary to check the values picked for plate length, freestream velocity and kinematic viscosity to make sure that the fluid is in the laminar flow region. To do this the Reynolds number must be calculated. Laminar flow occurs for Reynolds numbers less than 350,000. The equation for Reynolds number is as follows,

Re =

Ux

Since we have chosen, U =1 m/s,the plate length x=1 m, and the kinematic viscosity, v=14.8e6 PA-s, then substituting back into the formula for Reynolds number, we obtain a Re = 67,567. This confirms that the flow is in laminar regime with the chosen velocity and plate length. After the above command file is read into ANSYS the FLOTRAN solver is run. Once the solution is finished, the postprocessor is used to obtain the boundary layer thickness and velocity profile.

Results and Error Analysis

Results of Runge-Kutta Method Maple was used with the three first order equations derived previously and the three initial conditions, f(0)=0, f'(0)=0 and f''(0)= .332058372. The results are as follows. > alg057(); This is the Runge-Kutta Method for Systems of m equations Input the number of equations >3 Input the function F[1](t,y1 ... y3) in terms of t and y1 ... y3 (For example: y1-t^2+1) > y2 Input the function F[2](t,y1 ... y3) in terms of t and y1 ... y3 (For example: y1-t^2+1) > y3 Input the function F[3](t,y1 ... y3) in terms of t and y1 ... y3 (For example: y1-t^2+1) > (-1*y1*y3)/2 Input left and right endpoints separated by blank > 0 11 Input the initial condition alpha[1] >0 Input the initial condition alpha[2]

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>0 Input the initial condition alpha[3] > .332058372 Input a positive integer for the number of subintervals > 44 The solution is output as follows: RUNGE-KUTTA METHOD FOR SYSTEMS OF DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS T W1 W2 W3 0.000 0.00000000 0.00000000 .33205837 .250 .01037682 .08300562 .33191485 .500 .04149384 .16588576 .33091202 .750 .09328397 .24831956 .32820678 1.000 .16557398 .32978094 .32300820 1.250 .25803537 .40955830 .31463409 1.500 .37014208 .48679040 .30258158 1.750 .50113950 .56052036 .28660027 2.000 .65002910 .62976683 .26675256 2.250 .81557252 .69360674 .24344437 2.500 .99631687 .75126065 .21741250 2.750 1.19064044 .80216870 .18966236 3.000 1.39681501 .84604517 .16136123 3.250 1.61307803 .88290251 .13370369 3.500 1.83770659 .91304074 .10777391 3.750 2.06908455 .93700475 .08443083 4.000 2.30575583 .95551803 .06423635 4.250 2.54645949 .96940482 .04743541 4.500 2.79014514 .97951355 .03398442 4.750 3.03597061 .98665203 .02361446 5.000 3.28328553 .99154097 .01591128 5.250 3.53160594 .99478769 .01039443 5.500 3.78058451 .99687818 .00658309 5.750 4.02998079 .99818312 .00404180 6.000 4.27963409 .99897284 .00240566 6.250 4.52944072 .99943615 .00138808 6.500 4.77933603 .99969966 .00077649 6.750 5.02928105 .99984498 .00042113 7.000 5.27925311 .99992267 .00022146 7.250 5.52923942 .99996294 .00011293 7.500 5.77923300 .99998319 .00005585 7.750 6.02923020 .99999306 .00002679 8.000 6.27922913 .99999773 .00001247 8.250 6.52922887 .99999987 .00000563 8.500 6.77922897 1.00000083 .00000247 8.750 7.02922924 1.00000124 .00000105 9.000 7.27922957 1.00000141 .00000043 9.250 7.52922994 1.00000148 .00000017 9.500 7.77923031 1.00000151 .00000007 9.750 8.02923069 1.00000152 .00000003 10.000 8.27923107 1.00000152 .00000001 10.250 8.52923145 1.00000152 .00000000 10.500 8.77923183 1.00000152 .00000000 10.750 9.02923221 1.00000152 .00000000 11.000 9.27923259 1.00000152 .00000000

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For this solution, W1=f, W2=f'' (the velocity component, u/Uinfinity) and W3=f'''.

Comparison of Runge-Kutta and Howarth L. Howarth solved the laminar flow over a flat plate problem. In the table below, Howarth's solution is compared with the solution obtained using the Runge-Kutta method. This table shows that the two solutions are almost identical. The Howarth values converge to the solution of f''=1 and f'''=0 at = 8.4 while Maple converges at = 10.25. The differences between the solutions becomes less as incrases. One of the reasons for the difference between Maple and Howarth is round off error. The maple program is accurate to the 8th decimal place where as Howarth is accurate to the 5th decimal place. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10.25 f Howarth 0 0.16557 0.65003 1.39682 2.30576 3.28329 4.27964 5.27926 6.27923 f, R-K 0 .16557398 .65002910 1.39681501 2.30575583 3.28328553 4.27963409 5.27925311 6.27922913 % error f'' Howarth f'', R-K % error 0 -9.06E-06 -3.17E-06 -4.83E-06 -1.97E-06 -9.03E-06 -7.16E-06 2.67E-06 -2.27E-06 1.41E-06 1.52E-06 1.52E-06 f''' Howarth 0.33206 0.32301 0.26675 0.16136 0.06424 0.01591 0.0024 0.00022 0.00001 0 0 0 f''', R-K % error

3.98E-06 -9E-07 -5E-06 -4.2E-06 -4.5E-06 -5.9E-06 -6.9E-06 -8.7E-07

0 0 0.32979 .32978094 0.62977 .62976683 0.84605 .84604517 0.95552 .95551803 0.99155 .99154097 0.99898 .99897284 0.99992 .99992267 .99999773 1 1 1.00000141 1.00000152 1 1 1.00000152

.33205837 -1.63E-06 .32300820 -1.8E-06 .26675256 2.56E-06 .16136123 1.23E-06 .06423635 -3.65E-06 .01591128 1.28E-06 .00240566 5.66E-06 .00022146 1.46E-06 .00001247 2.47E-06 .00000043 4.3E-07 .00000001 1E-08 .00000000 0

Results of ANSYS After running the input file, the post processor is used to obtain a velocity profile plot. To generate this plot you need to go into the post processor tab in ANSYS. First you hit the 'last set' button to ensure that the latest solution version is being used. Next you click on 'plot results. This gives you a few choices from which the 'vector plot' option should be choosen. From the next menu you pick 'predefined' and then from the resulting window select 'velocity' from the upper right side. In the space labeled 'scale velocity vectors' you can change the size of the velocity vectors so that they fit on the plot. This is a vector plot of velocity.

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The different colors represent the different magnitudes of velocity. The plot shows the boundary layer thickness grows when traveling down the length of the plate. Also, a plot of boundary layer thickness and velocity versus distance along the plate was generated. To generate this plot first a path was defined as a straight line at a certain distance x away from the beginning of the plate. Once the path is defined (done by using the 'define path' command), the velocity and boundary layer thickness can be plotted by selecting 'map onto path', choosing the velcoity vx, and then selecting 'plot item on graph'. Also the results can be listed by selecting 'list path results'. The results are as follows,

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This plot shows that velocity increases very sharply with distance until it levels off when it reaches the freestream velocity at 1. The boundary layer thickness, represented by S, increases slowly in a linear fashion as you move down the plate. Through the ANSYS postprocessor it is possible to get a listing of the velocity values over a given path. To find a velocity profile the path is drawn as a veritcal line at the end of the plate. This output listing is included in the Appendices. Comparison of ANSYS and Howarth In order to compare the solution generated by ANSYS to Howarth's solution some calculations must be made. Howarth uses all non-dimensional variables while ANSYS uses actual dimensions. In ANSYS, the user inputs the properties of the working fluid in the desired dimensions. In this case properties for air at 20 deg C were used (in english units). The first step in getting comparable values was to re-dimensionalize the value n. This is done using the formula,

=y

U x

where Uinfinity =1 m/s, x=1 m, and v=17.9 *10e-6 Pa sec. Substituting all these values in and some chosen values for n, y can be found. These results are found in the table below. To find the corresponding values from the ANSYS solution, the solution output values are studied. From the velocity and position values that are listed in the output, as described in the results section, the velocities are picked out to match as closely as possible to the values taken from Howarth. The corresponding ANSYS y values can be compared to the calculated y* values from Howarth's solution. These values are listed below. n y*, Velocity y* from Velocity (f'') Difference between calculated, (f'') from ANSYS, from ANSYS, the velcoity of the m Howarth, m m/s two solutions m/s 0.000846 0.001692 0.002539 0.003385 0.004231 0.008462 0.012693 0.016923 0.021154 0.025385 0.029616 0.033847 0.06641 0.000843 0.13277 0.00168 0.19894 0.00253 0.26471 0.00337 0.32979 0.00421 0.62977 0.00842 0.84605 0.01263 0.95552 0.01684 0.99155 0.0202 0.99898 0.0253 0.99992 0.0295 1 0.0337 0.10107 0.20108 0.29903 0.39378 0.4841 0.83345 0.98967 1.0293 1.0334 1.0316 1.0297 1.0281 0.03466 0.06831 0.10009 0.12907 0.15431 0.20368 0.14362 0.07378 0.04185 0.03262 0.02978 0.0281

0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

This table of results shows that ANSYS has come up with a similar solution to the laminar flow problem as Howarth. The values are closest farthest away from the plate where the solution tends toward Uinfinity (1). The solutions are the farthest apart at the intermediate values of n. The ANSYS solution has a steeper velocity gradient than the Howarth solution. This solution reaches the freestream velocity at n~3.0 while the Howarth solution does not reach the freestream velocity until n~8.0. Both the Howarth and ANSYS solutions are accurate to the 5th decimal place.

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Conclusion As shown in this paper, there are a variety of different numerical methods which can be used to solve a high order differential equation problem such as laminar flow over a flat plate. In this paper, both Runge-Kutta solution method and ANSYS, a finite element solution method were used to obtain a solution for this fluid mechanics problem. These solutions were then compared another numerical solution completed by Howarth. The results for both methods show that the solutions agree with Howarth's solution. However, the Runge-Kutta method seemed to follow the Howarth solution more closely. While the ANSYS did predict the same boundary layer and velocity behavior, the values were not as close to Howarth's as the values from the Runge-Kutta method. Using two completely different methods gave a well-rounded approach in achieving an accurate solution for the problem.

References 1.- Schlichting, H., Boundary Layer Theory, 7th ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1979, pp. 230-233. 2.- Burden, R. L. and Faires, J.D., Numerical Analysis, 7th ed., Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, 2001, chapter 5. 3. Curle, N.,The Laminar Boundary Layer Equations, Oxford University Press, London, 1962.

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Appendix 1.

Howarth's Solution

16

17

Appendix 2

ANSYS List Output (found only in print out of paper)

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