A Quick Guide to Dimensional Analysis

Adam Powell
June 19, 2007
Dimensional analysis is a powerful tool for reducing complex engineering problems to
their most basic components. Typically, a functional relationship involving five to eight
parameters can be reduced to just two to four dimensionless groups. This allows one to
more concisely represent the solution, whether analytical, numerical or empirical. Its result
is akin to the phase rule in its simplicity and power.
For example, suppose a flat solid sheet with thermal conductivity k and thickness is
in contact with a fluid with heat transfer coefficient h. The fluid temperature is Tf l , the
temperature on the side of the sheet away from the fluid is T0 , and the temperature at the
interface is unknown. The heat flux through this system is given by the driving force divided
by the sum of resistances:
T0 Tf l
(1)
q= 1 .
+h
k
This is certainly not a complicated equation, but as the flux is a function of four parameters
(the temperature difference, heat transfer coefficient, sheet thickness and conductivity), visualizing the five-dimensional space would be a great challenge. Dimensional analysis reduces
this to just two parameters, as described below.
Procedure Before beginning, it is necessary to define a couple of terms:
Dimensions are material properties, geometric dimensions, etc. The above example
has dimensions of heat flux q, temperature T0 and Tf l , length , conductivity k, and
heat transfer coefficient h.
Base units are the smallest set of units from which all units of all dimensions can be
derived. In the example above, those units can be expressed in terms of watts, meters,
and degrees Kelvin or Celsius.
Derived units are the products and quotients of the base units, such as W/m2 for
heat flux.
Based on these definitions, dimensional analysis proceeds as follows.

1. Postulate desired behavior as a function of the other variables. In this example, the
goal is to calculate heat flux q, and it is postulated to be a function of T0 Tf l , , k
and h. The number of parameters is the number of dimensions n, in this case n = 5,
for heat flux and the four dimensions of which it is considered a function. This is done
by intuition, and is very often the hardest step in the process.
2. Find the number of independent units in the system r. As identified above, there are
four base units: m, s, kg, K; but kg and s are always linked in watts, so theyre not
independent for this problem. In this case, all of the units can be expressed in terms
of: W, m and K, so there are three independent units.
3. Calculate the number of dimensionless groups which completely characterize the system. The Buckingham Pi theorem states that the number of dimensionless groups is
n r, in this case 5 3 = 2 dimensionless groups.
4. Choose r dimensionally-independent variables to eliminate, which will make the others
dimensionless. Here it is convenient to choose T0 Tf l , k and . As a counterexample,
one cant use h, k and because they are not independent: the units of h (W/m2 K)
can be multiplied by those of (m) to give those of k (W/mK). Very often there are
multiple right answers, and one should choose the one which is most convenient, as
will be discussed further below.
5. Form groups from whats left, these are unit-less versions of the remaining parameters. Dimensionless flux q, called q , is:
q = q [T0 Tf l ]a [k]b []c .

(2)

The exponents a, b and c must make the resulting q dimensionless. To calculate these
exponents, one can construct a table of unit exponents, whose columns must add to
zero. The table on the left has the unknown exponents, and on the right, the equations
bringing totals to zero have been solved to give a = 1, b = 1 and c = 1:
W
m
Dimension
q
1
-2
[T0 Tf l ]a
0
0
b
k
b
b
c
0
c
Total
1 + b 2 b + c

K
0
a
b
0
ab

Dimension
q
[T0 Tf l ]1
k 1
1
Total

W m
1 -2
0 0
-1 1
0 1
0 0

K
0
-1
1
0
0

This gives the result:

q
.
(3)
k(T0 Tf l )
This is readily recognized as the ratio of total flux to flux in the absence of a fluid
layer. Likewise there is a dimensionless h :
q =

h = h [T0 Tf l ]d [k]e []f ,

2

(4)

the exponents which make this dimensionless are d = 0, e = 1, f = 1 giving h =

h/k, the Biot number.
6. Rewrite Step 1 in dimensionless terms, and were done:
q = f (h ).

(5)

Interpreting the result Whats this? So simple? Cant be. Check it against the analytical equation above:
T0 Tf l
q= 1 ;
+k
h
q =

q
T0 Tf l

= 1
=
k(T0 Tf l )
+ k k(T0 Tf l )
h

k
h

1
=
+1

1
h

1
1
=1
.
h + 1
+1

(6)

So the dimensional analysis works, the dimensionless flux is indeed only a simple function of
the dimensionless heat transfer coefficient; that function looks like:

The limiting cases are instructive here. For a large Biot number h , the dimensionless flux
q approaches one, so q ' k(T0 Tf l )/, the pure conduction result. For a small Biot number,
dimensionless flux is approximately equal to the Biot number q ' h , so q ' h(T0 Tf l ),
the pure convection result.
Again, the purpose of this process is to simplify the functional relationship and characterize it in as few parameters as possible. If the equation has no analytical solution, the
functional relationship could be obtained from a series of experiments, whose results would
then apply to any other conduction-convection problem of the same nature.
Physical modeling Furthermore, this principle forms the basis of physical modeling. For
example, in a wind tunnel model of flow past an aircraft, the dimensionless drag force is a
function of the Reynolds number (inertial/viscous drag), the Mach number (velocity/speed
of sound) and the shape. If the model aircraft shape is right, and the pressure and velocity
are adjusted to give the correct Reynolds and Mach numbers, then every detail of flow past
the model in the wind tunnel will be identical to flow past the full-scale aircraft at its cruising
altitude, and the dimensionless drag force will be identical as well.
A materials processing analogue is water modeling: in many processes, one can use a
water tank with the same Reynolds number to model flow in the real process.
3

Resolving ambiguity There are very often multiple possible choices of variables to eliminate, and choices of parameter forms. For example, in the above case, though one could
not keep only q and T0 Tf l and eliminate h, k and because they are not dimensionally
independent, one could keep q and h as above, or q and k, or q and . The latter two would
have yielded dimensionless pi groups as follows:
Keep q, k : q =

k
q
, k =
;
h(T0 Tf l )
h

(7)

Keep q, : q =

q
h
, =
.
h(T0 Tf l )
k

(8)

Note that these give the same q . The expression is more attractive than k because it
has more parameters in the numerator; this is why the Biot number is written this way. But
which q is better: this or the one obtained above?
q =

T0 Tf l
1
1
q
= 1
=
,
h(T0 Tf l )
1 +
+ k h(T0 Tf l )
h

(9)

which looks like:

Looking at the asymptotics, it is clear here that as (the Biot number) approaches zero,
q 1 so q ' h(T0 Tf l ), the convection-limited case. What is less clear is the asymptotic
behavior for large Biot number: it clearly goes to zero, but that it approaches 1/ , so
q ' k(T0 Tf l )/, is not immediately apparent from the graph. Thus the former nondimensionalization is preferred, as its asymptotic behavior at both ends is more readily apparent.
Second example: drag force In flow past an object with circular cross section, such as
a sphere, ellipsoid, or disc perpendicular to flow, drag force on the object Fd is a function of
fluid density and viscosity , far stream flow velocity U , cross section diameter d,1 and
object shape:
Fd = f (U , , , d, shape).
(10)
1

For some reason, diameter is nearly always used as the length dimension of a sphere, cylinder, etc. in
fluid flow, whereas radius is nearly always used in heat transfer.

Putting aside shape for the moment, which we can assume is dimensionless (aspect ratio,
etc.), one can say a priori that force will probably be proportional to either inertial force
1
U 2 (a.k.a. dynamic pressure), or viscous shear U/d, so the best dimensionless force will
2
be a ratio of Fd to one of those two. Dimensional analysis results in one of three pairs of
dimensionless groups:
Variables kept
Fd ,
Fd ,
Fd , U or Fd , d

Dimensionless Fd
F = UF2dd2
Fd
F = U
d
F = Fd2

Dimensionless other
= U d
= U d
U/d = U d

Based on our initial understanding of the physics, the third dimensionless force Fd2 is clearly
not helpful. And the best dimensionless independent group is clearly U d , also known as the
Reynolds number, the ratio of inertial to viscous force. But the best expression for F , the
dimensionless force, is less clear: should it be the ratio with respect to dynamic pressure and
area U 2 L2 , or viscous drag U L?
As it turns out, at low Reynolds number, viscous drag has an analytical expression
which is not sensitive to shape (or roughness), whereas at high Reynolds number, boundary
layer separation and turbulent flow are very sensitive to them. So using F = Fd /(U 2 d2 )
results in a single curve at low Reynolds number, and multiple nearly flat lines for different
Fd
results in a single flat line at low
shapes at high Reynolds number. In contrast, F = U
d
Reynolds number, and multiple curves at high Reynolds number. Multiple flat lines are
easier to communicate than multiple curves, so dynamic pressure is the better quantity for
normalizing the force. This dimensionless force scaled to the dynamic pressure and cross
section area is called the friction factor given by:
f=

Fd
= f (Re, shape).
14 d2

1
2
U
2

(11)

Thus for low Reynolds number (less than 0.1), f = 24/Re, the analytical result with no
dependence on shape. For high Reynolds number (103 105 ), the friction factor is roughly
independent of Reynolds number, and defines the drag coefficient cd : f = cd (shape). For a
sphere, cd = 0.44; for a disc perpendicular to the flow direction, cd ' 1.
We can draw two lessons from this. First, a brief assessment of the physics beforehand
can inform the process of dimensional analysis. Second, where there are still ambiguities
after dimensional analysis, plotting the dimensionless data can help to determine which is
the most useful choice in the long run.