External Forced Convection

Dr. Shrutidhara Sarma

Assistant Professor, Dept. of
Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur
PI: FERN Lab
Pressure Drag and Heat Transfer in External Flows
Friction and Pressure Drag

Drag - The force a flowing fluid exerts on a body in the flow direction
Lift - The sum of components of the pressure and wall shear forces in
the normal direction to flow tend to move the body in that direction

• A stationary fluid exerts only normal pressure forces on the surface of an immersed body.
• A moving fluid exerts tangential shear forces also on the surface because of the no-slip
condition caused by viscous effects.
• Both the skin friction (wall shear) and
pressure contribute to the drag and the lift.

Drag and Lift force acting on a Car

FERN Lab, IIT Jodhpur 2
Friction and Pressure Drag

The drag force FD depends on the density ρ of the fluid, the upstream velocity V, and the size,
shape, and orientation of the body
The drag characteristics of a body is represented by the
dimensionless drag coefficient CD defined as

The drag force is the net force exerted by a fluid on a body in

the direction of flow due to the combined effects of wall shear
(skin friction drag) and pressure forces (pressure drag).

(a) Drag force acting on a flat plate parallel to the flow depends on
wall shear only. (b) Drag force acting on a flat plate normal to the
flow depends on the pressure only and is independent of the wall
shear, which acts normal to the free-stream flow.
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Friction and Pressure Drag
• At low Reynolds numbers, most drag is due to friction drag. This is especially the case for
highly streamlined bodies such as airfoils.
• The friction drag coefficient is independent of surface roughness in laminar flow, but is a strong
function of surface roughness in turbulent flow
• Friction drag is zero for a surface normal to the flow and maximum for a surface parallel to
the flow.
HIGHLIGHT POINT
For parallel flow over a flat plate, the pressure drag is zero,
and thus the drag coefficient is equal to the friction
coefficient and the drag force is equal to the friction force

Separation during flow over a tennis ball and

the wake region.
Larger separated region=larger drag

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Pressure Drag and Heat Transfer in External Flows
Heat Transfer
• The phenomena that affect drag force also affect heat transfer; appears in the Nusselt number
• The experimental data for heat transfer is often represented by
Where m and n are constant exponents, and the value
of the constant C depends on geometry and flow

• For calculating the heat transfer coefficients, the fluid properties are usually evaluated at the
film temperature Where Ts is surface temperature and T∞ is free stream temperature

• Average friction coefficient :

• Average heat transfer coefficient :

• Rate of heat transfer to or from an isothermal surface

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Parallel Flow Over Flat Plates
The flow in the velocity boundary layers starts out as laminar and if the length is sufficiently long,
the flow becomes turbulent at a distance xcr
The transition from laminar to turbulent flow depends on the surface geometry, surface roughness,
upstream velocity, surface temperature, and the type of fluid which is characterized by Reynold Number

The Reynolds number at a distance x from the leading edge of a

flat plate is expressed as,

The critical Reynolds number is expressed as,

Laminar and turbulent regions of the

boundary layer during flow over a flat plate.

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Parallel Flow Over Flat Plates
Friction Coefficient
The boundary layer thickness and the local friction coefficient at location x for laminar flow over
a flat plate can be determined by,

The average friction coefficient over the entire plate is determined by integrating the local
friction coefficient over the entire surface.

Valid when flow is turbulent over the entire plate,

or laminar flow region is too small relative to the
turbulent flow region (that is, xcr << L)
FERN Lab, IIT Jodhpur 7
Parallel Flow Over Flat Plates
Friction Coefficient
If a flat plate is sufficiently long for the flow to become turbulent, but not long enough to
disregard the laminar flow region, the average friction coefficient for combined laminar and
turbulent flow over a flat plate:

Taking the critical Reynolds number to be Recr = 5 x 105 and performing the integrations,

• Laminar flow: Cf depends on only Re, and the surface roughness has no effect.
• Turbulent flow: surface roughness causes Cf to increase manifold and Cf is a function of
surface roughness alone, and independent of Re .
• The average Cf is given by Schlichting (1979): ε= surface roughness
valid for Re>l06, when ε/L > 10-4
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Parallel Flow Over Flat Plates
Heat Transfer Coefficient
The local Nusselt number at a location x for flow over a flat plate is given by,

Average Nusselt number is given by,

The variation of the local friction and heat

transfer coefficients for flow over a flat plate.

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Parallel Flow Over Flat Plates
Heat Transfer Coefficient
The average heat transfer coefficient for combined laminar and turbulent flow over the plate is given
by,

Liquid metals (e.g. Hg), have high thermal conductivities but have very
small Prandtl numbers, and thus the thermal boundary layer develops
much faster than the velocity boundary layer. There, Nusselt number
can be determined by,

where Pex = RexPr is called Peclet number

Churchill and Ozoe (1973) proposed the following relation

which is applicable for all Prandtl numbers and all fluids
Average heat transfer coefficient for a flat plate
with combined laminar and turbulent flow
FERN Lab, IIT Jodhpur 10
Parallel Flow Over Flat Plates
Flat Plate with Uniform Heat Flux
When a flat plate is subjected to uniform heat flux instead of uniform temperature, the local
Nusselt number is given by,

When heat flux 𝑞ሶ 𝑠 is prescribed, the rate of heat transfer to or from

the plate and the surface temperature at a distance x are determined 𝑸ሶ
from,
Flow over a flat plate with
uniform heat flux

Where, As is the heat transfer surface area

FERN Lab, IIT Jodhpur 11

Numerical
Q1. Engine oil at 60 ºC flows over a 5-m-long flat plate whose temperature is 20ºC with a
velocity of 2 m/s . Determine the total drag force and the rate of heat transfer per unit width of
the entire plate. Assume, the critical Reynolds number is Recr= 5 x 105. The properties of
engine oil at the mean temperature of 40 ºC are ρ= 876 kg/m3, Pr = 2962, k=0.1444 W/m.K
and ν=2.485x10-4 m2/s
Solution: Start with calculating Re to determine flow type.

Calculate Cf

Since pressure drag is zero, thus CD = Cf for parallel flow over a flat plate.
Therefore, the drag force acting on the plate per unit width becomes

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Nusselt number is determined using the laminar flow relations
for a flat plate

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Flow Across Cylinders And Spheres
• The characteristic length for a circular cylinder/sphere is taken to be the external diameter D.
• Thus, the Reynolds number is defined as, Re = ReD = ρVD/μ
where V is the uniform velocity of the fluid as it approaches the cylinder or sphere

• The critical Reynolds number for flow across a circular cylinder /sphere is ~ Recr =
෥ 2 x 105
• The boundary layer remains laminar for about Re < ෥ 2 x 105 and becomes turbulent for Re > ෥
2 x 105.

Laminar boundary layer separation with a turbulent wake; flow over a circular cylinder at Re = 2000
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Flow Across Cylinders And Spheres
• For flow over a circular cylinder and a sphere, both the friction drag and the pressure drag can
be significant.
• High pressure in the vicinity of the stagnation point and the low pressure on the opposite side in
the wake produce a net force on the body in the direction of flow.

• The drag force is primarily due to friction drag

at low Reynolds numbers (Re < 10) and to
pressure drag at high Reynolds numbers (Re >
5000).
• The average drag coefficients CD for a smooth
single circular cylinder and a sphere is a function
of Reynolds number, CD = f (ReD)

Average drag coefficient for crossflow over a

smooth circular cylinder and a smooth sphere
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Flow Across Cylinders And Spheres
• For Re ≤ 1, creeping flow, CD decreases with increasing Re. For a sphere, CD = 24/Re. No flow
separation in this regime.
• At Re = 10, separation starts on the rear of the body, vortex shedding starts ~ Re = 90. Separation
region increases with increasing Re up to Re = 103. Here, 95% drag is due to pressure drag. CD
decreases with increasing Re in 10<Re<103. (Although CD decreases, FD may not decrease as it is
proportional V2 and V increases with Re.)
• Moderate range 103<Re<105, CD remains relatively
constant (characteristic of blunt bodies). The boundary
layer is laminar, but the flow in the separated region is
highly turbulent with a wide wake.
• 105<Re<106 , CD suddenly drops (usually, at about 2x105).
This is due to the BL becoming turbulent, which moves
the separation point further, reducing the size of the wake.
On contrary, streamlined bodies experience an increase in
CD (mostly due to friction drag) when BL becomes
turbulent.
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Flow Across Cylinders And Spheres
Flow separation occurs at about θ > 80° (measured from the
front stagnation point of a cylinder) when the boundary layer is
laminar and at about θ > 140° when it is turbulent

The delay of separation in turbulent flow is caused by the rapid

fluctuations of the fluid in the transverse direction, which
enables the turbulent boundary layer to travel farther along the
surface before separation occurs, resulting in a narrower wake
and a smaller pressure drag.

Flow separation visualization of laminar and

turbulent BL over a sphere
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Flow Across Cylinders And Spheres
Effect of Surface Roughness

Surface roughness, in general, increases the drag

coefficient in turbulent flow. This is
especially the case for streamlined bodies.

For blunt bodies such as a circular cylinder or

sphere, however, an increase in the surface
roughness may decrease or increase the
drag coefficient depending on Reynolds
number
The effect of surface roughness on the drag coefficient
of a sphere. From Blevins (1984).

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Flow Across Cylinders And Spheres
Heat Transfer Coefficient

Flows across cylinders and spheres, in general, involve

flow separation, which is difficult to handle analytically.

For all cases, the value of Nuθ starts out relatively high
at the stagnation point (θ = 0°) but decreases with
increasing θ as a result of the thickening of the laminar
boundary layer.

Variation of the local heat transfer coefficient along the circumference

of a circular cylinder in cross flow of air. From Giedt, 1949.
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Flow Across Cylinders And Spheres
Heat Transfer Coefficient

The average Nusselt number for cross flow over a cylinder, proposed by Churchill and
Bernstein (1977),
For, RePr > 0.2

Fluid properties calculated at mean temperature

For flow over a sphere, Whitaker (1972) recommended the following comprehensive
correlation,
For, 3.5 < Re < 8 x 104, 0.7 < Pr < 380
and 1.0 < (𝜇∞/ 𝜇𝑠 ) < 3.2
Fluid properties calculated at free stream temperature T∞ , μs calculated at Ts

The average Nusselt number for flow across cylinders can be expressed compactly as,

where n = 1/3
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Empirical correlations for the average Nu for forced convection
over circular and noncircular cylinders in cross flow

Zukauskas, 1972, Jakob 1949, and Sparrow et al., 2004 FERN Lab, IIT Jodhpur 21
 Numerical
Q2. A 25-cm-dia stainless steel ball (ρ= 8055 kg/m3, Cp= 480 J/kg.K) is removed from 300 ºC
oven. The ball is then subjected to air flow at 1 atm and 25 ºC with a velocity of 3 m/s. The
surface temperature of the ball eventually drops to 200 ºC. Determine the average convection
heat transfer coefficient during cooling and estimate time required. Use Whitaker correlation.
The surface temperature of the ball during cooling is changing. Therefore, “h” between ball and air will
also change. To avoid this, assume ball’s surface temperature as constant at (300+200)/2= 250 ºC
Given, properties of air at 25 ºC and 1 atm:
k =0.02551 W/m.K, ν=1.562x10-5 m2/s, μ=1.849x10-5kg/m.s, Pr=0.7296,
and μs at 250 ºC= 2.76 x 10-5kg/m.s

Solution: Calculate Re and Nu

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Average convection heat transfer coefficient:

Apply Newton’s law of cooling

Total heat transferred from the ball (assuming entire ball is at 200 ℃)

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 Key Takeaways
• Correlations for local and average friction
and convection coefficients
• Heat transfer correlations for isothermal
plate and uniform heat flux
• Heat transfer correlations for flow over
cylinders, spheres

Prepared by:
Srinivas M V V
PhD Candidate
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur
Email: [email protected]