Dept.

of Aerospace Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras

AS 5020-GAS DYNAMICS
TUTORIAL -1
(Assume the gas is air in all the case unless otherwise specified)
1. Compressibility becomes important when the Mach number > 0.3. How fast can a two-
dimensional cylinder travel in sea-level standard air before compressibility becomes
important somewhere in its vicinity? (Ans: 5l m/s)
2. A supersonic aircraft is flying horizontally at 1500 m altitude with a constant velocity of
750 m/s. The aircraft passes directly over a stationary ground observer. how much time
elapses after it has passed over the observer before the latter hears the aircraft?
Assume that the average speed of sound is 335 m/s and that the airplane creates a
small disturbance that may be treated as sound wave. (Ans: 4.006 s)
3. A particle moving at uniform velocity in sea-level standard air creates the two
disturbance spheres shown in Fig.1. Compute the particle velocity and Mach number.
(Ans: 208.3 m/s, 0.6)

Fig.1
4. A large rocket engine delivers hydrogen at 1500C and 3 MPa, k = 1.41, R = 4124 J/kgK,
to a nozzle which exits with gas pressure equal to the ambient pressure of 54 kPa.
Assuming isentropic flow, if the rocket thrust is 2 MN, estimate (a) the exit velocity; and
(b) the mass flow of hydrogen. [Hint: Thrust equation for rocket engine; T= ue+(pe-
pb)Ae] [Ans: 5890 m/s, 340kg/s]
5. If it is known that the air velocity in the duct is 300 m/s, use that mercury manometer
measurement in Fig. 2 to estimate the static pressure in the duct, neglecting the
hydrostatic pressure head due to the air column in the U-tube limbs. (Is this assumption
a good one? What will happen if this pressure head is taken into account?). Density of
Mercury is 13600 kg/m
3
[Ans: 21.9 kPa]

Fig.2
6. Air flows isentropically through a duct with a velocity 182.88 m/s. The mass flow rate is
9.072 kg/s. The area of the duct is 0.0516 m
2
, and the flow Mach number M=0.5 .
Calculate the static pressure of air. [Ans: 91.84 kPa]
7. A large vacuum tank, held at 60 kPa absolute, sucks sea-level standard air through a
converging nozzle of throat diameter 3 cm. Estimate (a) the mass flow rate; and (b) the
Mach number at the throat. [Ans: 0.169kg/s, 0.899]
8. A converging nozzle (Fig.3) has a throat area of 6 cm
2
and stagnation air conditions of
120 kPa and 400 K. Compute the exit pressure and mass flow if the back pressure is (a)
90 kPa and (b) 45 kPa. Assume =1.4.

Fig.3
9. Air flows isentropically through a duct. At section1, the area is 0.05 m
2
, velocity is 180
m/s, pressure is 500 kPa and temperature is 470 K. Compute the stagnation
temperature and pressure, Mach number at section 1, A* and mass flow rate. At section
2 if the area is 0.036m
2
, compute the Mach number and pressure at section 2 when the
flow is (a) supersonic , and (b) subsonic. [Ans: 486K, 563kPa, 0.414,0.0323 m
2
,33.4 kg/s, (a)1.4,
177kPa, (b)0.6758, 414kPa]
10. Air flows isentropically from a reservoir, where p = 300 kPa and T = 500 K, to section 1
in a duct, where A1 = 0.2 m
2
and u1 = 550 m/s. Compute (a) M1; (b) T1; (c) p1; (d) ; and (e)
A
*
. Is the flow choked? [Ans: 1.47, 350 K, 86 kPa, 94kg/s, 0.173 m
2
]
11. A bicycle tire is filled with air at 169.12 kPa (abs) and 30C. The valve breaks, and air
exhausts into the atmosphere of 100 kPa (abs) and 20C. The valve exit is 2-mm
diameter and is the smallest area in the system. Assuming one-dimensional isentropic
flow, (a) find the initial Mach number, velocity, and temperature at the exit plane. (b)
Find the initial mass flow rate. (c) Estimate the exit velocity using the incompressible
Bernoulli equation. How well does this estimate agree with part (a)?
[Ans: 0.9, 291 m/s, 261 K, 0.00122kg/s, 267 m/s]
12. A converging-diverging nozzle exits smoothly to sea-level standard atmosphere. It is
supplied by a 40-m3 tank initially at 800 kPa and 100C. The exit area is 10 cm
2
.
Assuming isentropic flow, estimate(a) the throat area; and (b) the tank pressure after
10 sec of operation. (white9.52) [Ans: 5.9 cm
2
, 773 kPa]
13. A converging-diverging nozzle (Fig.4) has a throat area of 0.002m
2
and an exit area of
0.008m
2
. Air stagnation conditions are p0=1000kPa and T0=500K. Compute the exit
pressure and mass flow for (a) design condition and the exit pressure and mass flow if
(b)pb=300kPa and (c)pb=900 kPa. Assume =1.4.

Fig.4
14. Air flows isentropically through a duct with To =300C. At two sections with identical
areas of 25 cm
2
, the pressures are p1=120 kPa and p2=60 kPa. Determine (a) the mass
flow; (b) the throat area, and (c) M2 [Ans: 0.671 kg/s, 23.3 cm
2
, 1.32]
15. Consider isentropic flow in a channel of varying area, between sections 1 and 2. Given
M1 = 2.0, we desire that V2/V1equal 1.2. Estimate (a) M2 and (b) A2/A1. (c) Sketch what
this channel looks like, for example, does it converge or diverge? Is there a throat?
[Ans: 2.98, 2.46, diverging, No]