Wachemo University

College of Engineering and Technology

Electromechanical Engineering

Fluid Mechanics (EMEng4201)

CHAPTER 6
BOUNDARY LAYER CONCEPT
LECTURE
Lidiya A.
2023
 OUTLINE
1. Introduction
2. Reynolds Number and Geometry Concept
3. Momentum Integral Equations
4. Boundary Layer Equations
5. Flow Over A Flat Plate
6. Flow Over Cylinder
7. Pipe Flow
 Fully Developed Laminar Pipe Flow
 Turbulent Pipe Flow
 Losses in Pipe Flow
 INTRODUCTION
The concept of boundary layer was first introduced by a German engineer, Prandtl in
1904.
According to Prandtl theory, when a real fluid flows past a stationary solid boundary at
large values of the Reynolds number, the flow will be divided into two regions.
1. A thin layer adjoining the solid boundary, called the boundary layer, where the viscous
effects and rotation cannot be neglected.
2. An outer region away from the surface of the object where the viscous effects are very
small and can be neglected. The How behavior is similar to the upstream flow. In this
case a potential flow can be assumed.
Cont….

Fig. 6.2 The development of the boundary layer for flow over a
flat plate, and the different flow regimes.
 Cont…
Since the fluid at the boundaries has zero velocity, there is a steep velocity gradient from the
boundary into the flow. This velocity gradient in a real fluid sets up shear forces near the
boundary that reduce the flow speed to that of the boundary.
That fluid layer which has had its velocity affected by the boundary shear is called the
boundary layer.
For smooth upstream boundaries the boundary layer starts out as a laminar boundary layer
in which the fluid particles move in smooth layers.
 As the laminar boundary layer increases in thickness, it becomes unstable and finally
transforms into a turbulent boundary layer in which the fluid particles move in haphazard
paths.
When the boundary layer has become turbulent, there is still a very thon layer next to the
boundary layer that has laminar motion. It is called the laminar sublayer.
 Reynolds Number and Geometry Concept
The technique of boundary layer (BL) analysis can be used to compute viscous effects near
solid walls and to “patch” these onto the outer inviscid motion.
This patching is more successful as the body Reynolds number becomes larger, as shown
If the Reynolds number is low (Fig. b of next slide) If the Reynolds number is High (Fig. b of next
slide)

 the viscous region is very broad and extends  The viscous layers, either laminar or turbulent,
far ahead and to the sides of the plate. are very thin
 The plate retards the oncoming stream greatly, and  Boundary layer theory not applied in this region
 Small changes in flow parameters cause large changes in
the pressure distribution along the plate. We define the boundary layer thickness as the
 There is no existing simple theory for external locus of points where the velocity parallel to the
flow analysis at plate reaches 99 percent of the external velocity
 Boundary layer theory not applied in this region U.
 Such thick-shear-layer flows are typically studied by Within the boundary layer:
experiment or by numerical modeling of the flow field on
a computer and
 Cont…
Comparison of How past a sharp flat plate at low
and high Reynolds numbers:
(a) laminar, low-Re flow;
(b) high-Re flow.
 Cont…
The accepted formulas for flat-plate How, and their approximate ranges, are

where is called the local Reynolds number of the

flow along the plate surface.

Some computed values are shown below

• The blanks indicate that the formula

is not applicable.

In all cases these boundary layers are so thin that their displacement effect on the outer inviscid layer is
negligible.
 Thus the pressure distribution along the plate can be computed from inviscid theory as if the boundary layer were not even there.
 Example 1
A long, thin flat plate is placed parallel to a 20-ft/s stream of water at 68. At what distance x
from the leading edge will the boundary layer thickness be l in?
 Boundary layer thickness
The boundary layer thickness is defined as the vertical distance from a flat plate to a point where the
flow velocity reaches 99 per cent of the velocity of the free stream.
Another definition of boundary layer are the
1. Boundary layer displacement thickness,
2. Boundary layer momentum thickness,
 Displacement thickness,
Via the no-slip condition, the streamwise velocity in the boundary layer is smaller than it
would have been in an inviscid flow.
As a consequence, the transport of mass also becomes smaller.
The displacement thickness denotes how much the wall has to be shifted for an inviscid
flow past the displaced wall to have the same mass transport as the viscous flow along the
original wall.

To satisfy conservation of mass, the outer

streamline must deflect outward by a distance
At the mass inlet we have : & at the outlet
Thus continuity
 Cont…
Momentum thickness,
Next to an equation based on mass transport, we also can compare the viscous and inviscid
flow based on momentum transport.
Thus, the momentum thickness is defined as the additional distance (compared to the δ ∗)
over which the wall has to be displaced such that an inviscid flow produces the same
momentum transport:

The momentum thickness represent the vertical distance

that the solid boundary must be displaced upward so that
the inviscid flow has the same mass momentum as the
viscous flow.
 Cont…
When do we say the boundary layer is thin?
Boundary layer can be said “thin” if the ratio:
This occurs: From laminar boundary layer equation
at
Thus the boundary layer is thin and thus the boundary layer theory applied.
For less than 2500 we can estimate that boundary layer theory fails because the thick
layer has a significant effect on the outside the inviscid flow
 Example 2
Are low-speed, small-scale air and water boundary layers really thin? Consider flow at U =1
ft/s past a flat plate 1 ft long. Compute the boundary layer thickness at the trailing edge for
(a) air and (b) water at 68F.
(At ,)
Cont…
 Momentum Integral Equations
A shear layer of unknown thickness grows along the sharp flat plate as shown in the fig.
The no-slip wall condition retards the flow, making it into a rounded profile which merges
into the external velocity U=constant at a “thickness” .
 DRAG
When a fluid flows around the outside of a body, it produces a force that tends to drag the
body in the direction of flow.
Drag takes two forms: Skin Friction Drag and Form/Pressure Drag.
By utilizing the control volume, we found (without making any assumptions about laminar
versus turbulent flow) that the drag force on the plate is given by the following momentum
integral across the exit plane:

where b is the plate width into the paper and the integration is carried out along a vertical plane x = constant.
Above equation is derived in 1921 by Karman; who wrote it in convenient form of the
momentum thickness:

Where:
Momentum thickness is thus a measure of total plate drag
 Cont…
Skin Friction Drag is due to the wall shear stress,
Karman noted that the drag also equals the integrated wall shear stress along the plate
Or
Also the from
By comparing the two equations, the momentum integral relation for flat-plate boundary
layer flow is given by:

It is valid for either laminar or turbulent flat-plate flow.

Friction Drag Coefficient: dimensionless number
 The Boundary Layer Equations
We consider only steady two-dimensional
incompressible viscous flow with the x
direction along the wall and y normal to the
wall.

In 1904 Prandtl correctly deduced that a shear layer must be very thin if the Reynolds
number is large, so that the following approximations apply
 Cont…
These are to be solved for u(x, y) and v(x, y), with U(x) assumed to be a known function
from the outer inviscid flow analysis.
There are two boundary conditions on u and one on v:
Internal Viscous Flow:
PIPE FLOW
 PIPE FLOW
Introduction
Fluid flow in circular and noncircular pipes is commonly encountered in
practice.
The fluid in such applications is usually forced to flow by a fan or pump
through a flow section.
We pay particular attention to friction, which is directly related to the
pressure drop and head loss during flow through pipes and ducts.
The pressure drop is then used to determine the pumping power requirement.

The terms pipe, duct, and conduit are usually used interchangeably for flow sections. In general,
 flow sections of circular cross section are referred to as pipes (especially when the fluid is a liquid), and
 flow sections of noncircular cross section as ducts (especially when the fluid is a gas) Small diameter
pipes are usually referred to as tubes.
 Average velocity
The fluid velocity in a pipe changes from zero at the surface because of the
no-slip condition to a maximum at the pipe center.
In fluid flow, it is convenient to work with an average velocity , which
remains constant in incompressible flow when the cross-sectional area of the
pipe is constant.
The change in average velocity due to change in density and temperature and due
to friction is usually small and is thus disregarded in calculations.
𝑸
𝑽 𝒂𝒗𝒈 = Where: and
𝑨
 Average velocity is defined as the average speed through a
cross section.
 For fully developed laminar pipe flow is half of maximum
velocity.
 Cont...
The value of the average velocity Vav9 at some streamwise cross-section is
determined from the requirement that the conservation of mass principle be
satisfied. That is,

where is the mass flow rate, is the density, is the cross-sectional area, and is
the velocity profile.
Then the average velocity for incompressible flow in a circular pipe of radius
R can be expressed as

Therefore, when we know the flow rate or the velocity profile, the average
velocity can be determined easily.
 Laminar and turbulent flows in a pipe
Fluid How in a pipe is streamlined at low velocities but turns chaotic as the
velocity is increased above a critical value.
A laminar flow is characterized by smooth streamlines and highly ordered
motion, and turbulent flow is characterized by velocity fluctuations and highly
disordered motion.
The transition from laminar to turbulent flow depends on the geometry, surface
roughness, flow velocity, surface temperature, and type of fluid, among other
things.
After exhaustive experiments in the 1880s, Osborne Reynolds discovered that
the flow regime depends mainly on the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces in
the fluid. This ratio is called the Reynolds number and is expressed for internal
flow in a circular pipe as:
 The Entrance Region
Consider a fluid entering a circular pipe at a uniform velocity. Because of the no-slip
condition,
the fluid particles in the layer in contact with the surface of the pipe come to a complete stop.
This layer also causes the fluid particles in the adjacent layers to slow down gradually as a result of friction.

The region of the flow in which the effects of the viscous shearing forces caused by fluid
viscosity are felt is called the velocity boundary layer or just the boundary layer.
The hypothetical boundary surface divides the flow in a pipe into two regions:
1. the boundary layer region: here the viscous effects and the velocity changes are significant, and
2. the inviscide/irrotational (core) flow region: here the frictional effects are negligible and the
velocity remains essentially constant in the radial direction.
 Cont…
The thickness of this boundary layer increases in the flow direction until the boundary layer
reaches the pipe center and thus fills the entire pipe.
The region from the pipe inlet to the point at which the boundary layer merges at the
centerline is called the hydrodynamic entrance region, and the length of this region is called
the hydrodynamic entry length .
Flow in the entrance region is called hydrodynamically developing flow since this is the
region where the velocity profile develops.
The region beyond the entrance region in which the velocity profile is fully developed and
remains unchanged is called the hydrodynamically fully developed region.
The pipes used in practice are usually several
times the length of the entrance region, and
thus the How through the pipes is often
assumed to be fully developed for the entire
length of the pipe.
 This simplistic approach gives reasonable
results for long pipes but sometimes poor
results for short ones
 PRESSURE DROP AND HEAD LOSS IN PIPE
A quantity of interest in the analysis of pipe flow is the pressure drop
since it is directly related to the power requirements of the fan or pump to maintain
flow.
The frictional effect decrease the pressure, causing a pressure ‘loss’ compared to the ideal,
frictionless flow case.
The loss will be divided into
1. major losses (due to friction in fully developed flow in constant area portions of the
system) and
2. minor losses (due to flow through valves, elbow fittings & frictional effects in other
non-constant –area portions of the system).
 Major (Friction) Loss in a Pipe
Pressure Loss
Pressure drop due to viscous effects represents an irreversible pressure loss, and it is called
pressure loss , to emphasize that it is a loss.
Pressure drop is proportional to the viscosity of the fluid, and would be zero if there were
no friction.
Therefore, the drop of pressure from to () in this case is due entirely to viscous effects.
In practice, it is found convenient to express the pressure loss for all types of fully developed
internal flows (laminar or turbulent flows, circular or noncircular pipes, smooth or rough
surfaces, horizontal or inclined pipes) as

 Pressure Loss:
 Cont…
Head Loss
In the analysis of piping systems, pressure losses are commonly expressed in terms of the
equivalent fluid column height, called the head loss .
Noting from fluid statics that and thus a pressure difference of corresponds to a fluid
height of thus pipe head loss is given by:

Head Loss:

The head loss , represents the additional height that the fluid needs to be raised by a pump
in order to overcome the frictional losses in the pipe. The head loss is caused by viscosity,
and it is directly related to the wall shear stress.

These equation (in terms of pressure drop or head loss) is known as pipe-
friction equations, and commonly referred to as the Darcy-Weisbach equation.
And is Darcy friction factor also called Darcy-Weisbach friction factor
 Cont...

required pumping power to overcome the

pressure loss
Once the pressure loss (or head loss) is
known, the required pumping power to
overcome the pressure loss is determined from
˙ 𝑝𝑢𝑚𝑝 , 𝐿=𝑄 ∆ 𝑃 𝐿 =𝑄 𝜌 𝑔h 𝐿 =𝑚
𝑊 ˙ 𝑔 h𝐿
Where is volume flow rate, and is the mass
flow rate
 Darcy’s Friction Factor
Friction factor, f, is dimensionless and is also some function of Reynolds number and

( )
the relative roughness () 𝜺
𝒇 = 𝒇𝒖𝒏 𝑹 𝒆 ,
𝑫

For fully developed laminar flow in a For fully developed laminar flow:
circular pipe solving for gives:

For Transition and Turbulent Flow:

As we can see from the above formulas, it is the laminar one with fully developed flow, that
is easily solved by hand.
Thus if we have Reynold number of the flow, and if , and also if the flow can be assumed fully
developed, we can solve for Darcy’s friction factor easly as:
 Example 3
Water at 40°F ( is flowing through a 0.12-in (= 0.010 ft) diameter 30-ft-long horizontal pipe steadily
at an average velocity of 3.0 ft/s. Determine
a) the head loss,
b) the pressure drop, and
c) the pumping power requirement to overcome this pressure drop.

Solution:
Given: Req:

a) where
 From above equations the only variable we
don’t know is the friction factor,
 Why don’t first check whether the flow is
laminar or turbulent??
 Then If it is Laminar we can use the formula,
Cont...
Cont...
 MOODY CHART

The Moody chart presents the Darcy friction factor for pipe flow as a
function of the Reynolds number and over a wide range.
Cont...
 Example 4
Water at 60°F (is flowing steadily in a 2-in-diameter horizontal pipe made of stainless steel at a rate
of . Determine the pressure drop, the head loss, and the required pumping power input for flow over a
200-ft-long section of the pipe.

Given:
Req:
 Stainless steel
 Cont…
Solution:
a) where

 From above equations the unknown variable is the friction factor,

 To Solve :
 first check whether the flow is laminar or turbulent??
 Then If it is Laminar we can use the formula,
 If the flow is transitional or Turbulent, the friction factor, 𝑓 can be solved with known
variables
 and
 : from material type, in this problem the material is stainless steel, thus from the
material type roughness table ; thus
I. Moody Chart
II. Colebrook equation: using some solver
Cont...
Cont...
 Minor (Friction) Loss in a Pipe
The fluid in a typical piping system passes through various fittings, valves, bends,
elbows, tees, inlets, exits, enlargements, and contractions in addition to the pipes.
These components interrupt the smooth flow of the fluid and cause additional losses
because of the flow separation and mixing they induce.
Loss due to the local disturbances of the flow due to such as changes in cross section,
elbows, valves, and similar items are called minor Losses.
In a typical system with long pipes, these losses are minor compared to the total head loss
in the pipes (the major losses) and are called minor losses.
Although this is generally true, in some cases the minor losses may be greater than the
major losses. This is the case, for example, in systems with several turns and valves in a
short distance.
In the case of a very long pipe or channel, these losses may be insignificant in comparison
with the fluid friction in the length considered.
Cont…
How to Solve Minor Loss
The head loss introduced by a completely open valve, for example, may be negligible. But
a partially closed valve may cause the largest head loss in the system, as evidenced by the
drop in the flow rate.
Flow through valves and fittings is very complex, and a theoretical analysis is generally
not plausible.
Therefore, minor losses are determined experimentally, usually by the manufacturers of the
components.
Minor losses are usually expressed in terms of the loss coefficient , (also called the
resistance coefficient),
Head Loss due to minor losses in the :

Where = minor loss coefficient or resistance coefficient

Cont...
Cont...
Cont...
Cont...
 Example 5
Water at 10°C flows from a large reservoir to a smaller one through a 5-cm diameter cast iron piping
system, as shown in Fig. below. Determine the elevation z, for a flow rate of 6 L/s.

Given:

 Cast iron pipin,

 ()

Fro water at 10°C

Req:
Cont...
Cont...
 Example 6
Water, is pumped between two reservoirs at through 400 ft of 2-in-diameter pipe and several minor
losses, as shown. The roughness ratio is . Compute the pump horsepower required.

Given:

Req:
Cont...

Where:
Cont...
 End of Ch-6

Next: Compressible Flow