Introduction to Flow Control
S.G. Liou
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
NYUST
Fall, 2003
Class Materials
• Text
– Class notes and presentation slides
• Reference
– Gad-el-Hak, M., Ed., “Flow Control-
Fundamental and Practices”, Springer, 1998
Background
• What is flow control ?
– It is the attempt, through some mechanism or
process, to favorably alter the character or
disposition of a flow field.
– The flow field here are mainly referred to
boundary layer, shear layer, and vortex flow
• What benefits can flow control bring ?
– Performance improvement
• Separation delay
• Lift increase
• Drag reduction
– Noise / vibration suppression
– Combustion / heat transfer enhancement
• First two will be the focus of this course
Boundary Layer
• What is a boundary layer ?
– It is a flow region, confined to a thin layer,
attached to the solid boundary, where viscous
effect is most important
• Why needs to understand boundary layer ?
– It’s existence is the main cause to all the
problems focused in this course
Characteristics of Boundary Layer
• The boundary layer is thin ( << x)
• The thickness of the boundary layer increase in the
downstream direction, but /x is always small
• The boundary layer velocity profile satisfies the no-slip
condition at the wall and merges smoothly into the free-
stream velocity at the edge of the layer
• There is a shear stress at the wall
• The streamline of the boundary layer flow are approximately
parallel to the surface. But the outer edge of the boundary
layer is not a streamline (1-1~2)
Governing Equations of Boundary
•
Layer(I)
For two-dimensional, constant density and viscosity, and
neglecting body forces, the Navier-Stokes equation and
continuity equation are
u u 1 p 2u 2u
u v ( 2 2 )
x y x x y
v v 1 p 2v 2v
u v ( 2 2 )
x y y x y
u v
0
x y
• Since << L, and from continuity equation we can get v << U
i.e., , therefore, the final boundary layer equations are
v U with B.C.
L u u 1 p 2u
u v 2 u = v = 0 at y = 0
x y x y
u = U at y =
p u v
0 ; 0
y x y
Governing Equations of Boundary
Layer(II)
• For a flat plate, by introducing the stream function and a new
dimensionless variable , the boundary layer equation can be
transformed into the Blasius equation
y U
y ; u ; v
x y x
xU F ( ); u UF ( )
y y
FF 2F 0 Blasius Eqn.
with B.C. : F = 0, F = 0, at = 0; F = 1 at =
• From Blasius solution, important results can be obtained,
including important boundary layer parameters
– Surface shear stress, friction coefficient and drag force
u L 1
w ( )y 0 ; Cf w2 ; D w dx U 2LCD
y U 2 0 2
– Displacement thickness, momentum thickness and shape factor
u u u *
(1 )dy ; (1 )dy ; H
*
(1-3~7)
0 U 0 U U
Problems Caused by Boundary Layer (I)
• No Pressure Gradient
– Case of flat plate
• no pressure gradient
• Laminar, transition and
turbulent flow
• The transition distance xT
depends on the free stream
velocity, the viscosity, the
pressure gradient, the wall UxT 5 u 2
roughness and the free 3 10 ; 0 . 1
U
stream fluctuation level
Critical Re for rough plate or high fluctuation level
Problems Caused by Boundary Layer (II)
• No Pressure Gradient
– Based on Blasius solution :
• For laminar boundary layer flow
x x x
5.0 ; * 1.721 ; 0.664
U U U
0.664 D 1.328 (L )
Cf ; CD 2C f ( L ) 2
Re x 0.5 U 2L ReL L
• For turbulent boundary layer flow
0.14 x Re x1 7 ; Cf 0.027 Re x1 7 ; CD 0.072 ReL 1 5
• Conclusions after comparison
– Turbulent boundary layer flow has higher
thickness and skin friction drag
Problems Caused by Boundary Layer (III)
• Pressure Gradient
– Example of flow field with pressure gradient : airfoil
favorable pressure gradient : dp/dx <0
adverse pressure gradient : dp/dx >0
2 dU
( )
dx
– Effects of pressure gradient on boundary layer and
velocity distribution
Problems Caused by Boundary Layer (IV)
• Separation
– Means boundary layer
separates from the surface,
forming a broad region of
recirculating flow
– Point of separation
u
( )y 0 0
y
– Conditions for separation
• S-shape velocity profile
• Point of inflection :
second derivative of
velocity u should change
sign, therefore, at the wall
2u
0 ()
y 2
• dp
0 (1-8~12)
dx
Derivation of Boundary Layer Equation()
• From exact solution of Navier-Stoke equation
~
• Reynolds number UL UL 1
Re 2
~ ~
Re
• The dimensionless Navier-Stoke equation and
continuity equation are
u u p 1 2u 2u 1. To non-dimensionalize
u v ( 2 2) the Navier-Stoke
x y x Re x y
equation, divide x, y by L;
v v p 1 2v 2v u, v by U; and p by V2
u v ( 2 2)
x y y Re x y 2. Compare the order of
magnitude of each term in
u v the equations
0
x y
Important Observations()
• The viscous forces in the boundary layer can become of
the same order of magnitude as the inertia forces only if the
Reynolds number is of the order 1/2
• The pressure gradient in the direction normal to the
boundary layer is of the order , which implies that the
pressure is practically a constant across the boundary
layer and may be assumed equal to the value at the outer
edge of the boundary layer
• At the outer edge of the boundary layer, equation can be
further simplified into
dU 1 dp
U
dx dx
which is the same as the Bernoulli’s equation
