Understand the physical laws that form the basis of the fluid equations of motion

Learn how to obtain the equations of fluid motion in both derivative and integral
form
Be able to apply the equations of motion to calculate properties of fluid flows

As we discussed in Chapter 1 , to accurately predict the aerodynamic forces and moments that act on a
vehicle in flight, we will need to be able to describe the pattern of flow around the configuration. The
resultant flow pattern depends on the geometry of the vehicle, the orientation of the vehicle with
respect to the undisturbed free-stream flow, and the altitude and speed at which the vehicle is
traveling. This will require us to solve the fundamental equations of fluid dynamics, in one way or
another.

The fundamental physical laws used to solve for the fluid motion in a general problem are:
1. Conservation of mass (or the continuity equation)
2. Conservation of linear momentum (or Newtons second law of motion)
3. Conservation of energy (or the first law of thermodynamics)

Because the flow patterns are often very complex, it may be necessary to also use experimental
investigations, theoretical analysis, and/or computational simulations to aid in describing the resultant
flow. The theoretical and computational descriptions may utilize simplifying approximations in order to
obtain any solution at all, depending on the complexity of the flow field. The validity of the simplifying
approximations for a particular application should always be verified experimentally. That is why it is
important to understand the fundamental laws that govern the fluid motion so that we can relate the
theoretical solutions obtained using approximate flow models with experimental results, which usually
involve scale models.

2.1 INTRODUCTION TO FLUID DYNAMICS

To calculate the aerodynamic forces acting on an airplane, it is necessary to solve the equations
governing the flow field about the vehicle. The flow-field solution can be formulated from the point of
view of an observer on the ground or from the point of view of the pilot. Provided that the two
observers apply the appropriate boundary conditions to the governing equations, both observers will
obtain the same values for the aerodynamic forces acting on the airplane.
To an observer on the ground, the airplane is flying into a mass of air substantially at rest (assuming
there is no wind). The neighboring air particles are accelerated and decelerated by the airplane and the
reaction of the particles to the acceleration results in a force on the airplane. The motion of a typical air
particle is shown in Fig. 2.1 . The particle, which is initially at rest well ahead of the airplane, is
accelerated by the passing airplane. The description of the flow field in the groundobserver- fixed
coordinate system must represent the time-dependent motion (i.e., a nonsteady flow).

As viewed by the pilot, the air is flowing past the airplane and moves in response to the geometry of
the vehicle. If the airplane is flying at constant altitude and constant velocity, the terms of the flowfield equations that contain partial derivatives with respect to time are zero in the vehicle-fixed
coordinate system. Thus, as shown in Fig. 2.2 , the velocity and the flow properties of the air particles

that pass through a specific location relative to the vehicle are independent of time. The flow field is
steady relative to a set of axes fixed to the vehicle (or pilot). Therefore, the equations are usually
easier to solve in the vehicle (or pilot)-fixed coordinate system rather than in the ground-observer-fixed
coordinate system.

Because of the resulting simplification of the mathematics through the Galilean transformation from
the ground-fixed-reference coordinate system to the vehicle-fixed-reference coordinate system, many
problems in aerodynamics are formulated as the flow of a stream of fluid past a body at rest. Note that
the subsequent locations of the air particle that passed through our control volume at time t0 are
included for comparison with Fig. 2.2 .

In this text , we will use the vehicle (or pilot)-fixed coordinate system. Instead of describing the fluid
motion around a vehicle flying through the air, we will examine air flowing around a fixed vehicle. At
points far from the vehicle (i.e., the undisturbed free stream), the fluid particles are moving toward the
vehicle with the velocity U (see Fig. 2.2 ), which is in reality the speed of the vehicle (see Fig. 2.1 ). The
subscript or 1 will be used to denote the undisturbed (or free-stream) flow conditions (i.e., those
conditions far from the vehicle). Since all the fluid particles in the free stream are moving with the
same velocity, there is no relative motion between them, and, hence, there are no shearing stresses in
the free-stream flow. When there is no relative motion between the fluid particles, the fluid is termed a
static medium (as discussed in Section 1.2.4 ) . The values of the static fluid properties (e.g., pressure
and temperature) are the same for either coordinate system.

2.2 CONSERVATION OF MASS

The conservation of mass is one of the most important and useful equations in fluid dynamics. It allows
us to determine if a given flow field conserves mass, and is therefore physically possible. If mass is not
conserved, then we are wasting our time analyzing the details of the flow, since it cannot occur
physically.
First, we will apply the principle of conservation of mass to a small volume of space (a control volume)
through which the fluid can move freely. It is important to understand that the walls of the control
volume are fictitious and do not interfere with the flow. For convenience, we will use a Cartesian
coordinate system ( x , y , z ), as shown in Fig. 2.3 . Furthermore, in the interest of simplicity, we will
look at a two-dimensional flow, that is, one in which there is no flow along the z axis; flow patterns are
the same for any xy plane. As indicated in the sketch of Fig. 2.3 , the component of the fluid velocity in
the x direction will be designated by u , and that in the y direction by v . The net outflow of mass
through the surface surrounding the volume must be equal to the decrease of mass within the volume
(this is the statement required for mass to be conserved). The mass-flow rate through a surface
bounding the element is equal to the product of the density, the velocity component normal to the
surface, and the area of that surface (flow out of the volume is considered positive). A first-order
Taylors series expansion is used to evaluate the flow properties at the faces of the element, since the
properties are a function of position.
We could use many terms in the series (including second-order and third-order terms), but they would
vanish when we assumed that the control volume was small. Referring to Fig. 2.3 , the net outflow of
mass per unit time per unit depth (into the paper) is

The fact that the size of the control volume, x y, vanished at this point means that our choice of
volume was arbitrary (as long as it was larger than a microscopic scale and smaller than the scale of
the airplane).
If the approach had been extended to include flow in the z direction, we would obtain the general
differential form of the continuity equation:

In vector form, the equation is:

As has been discussed, the pressure variations that occur in relatively low-speed flows are sufficiently
small so that the density is essentially constant. For these incompressible flows, the continuity
equation simplifies to:

In vector form, the incompressible continuity equation is:

Using appropriate boundary conditions, such as the requirement that there is no flow through a solid
surface (i.e., the normal component of the velocity is zero at a solid surface), we can solve equation
(2.4) for the velocity field. By doing this, we obtain a detailed picture of the fluid velocity as a function
of position throughout the flow field, which is one of our goals in aerodynamics.
If the details of the flow are not of concern, the mass conservation principle can be applied directly to
the entire region. Integrating equation (2.2) over a fixed finite volume in our fluid space (see Fig. 2.5 )
yields.

The second volume integral can be transformed into a surface integral using Gausss theorem (also
known as the divergence theorem), which relates the volume integral of a vector (in this case rV S ) to
the surface integral of the same vector as:

where n dA is a vector normal to the surface dA which is positive when pointing outward from the
enclosed volume and which is equal in magnitude to the surface area. The circle through the integral
sign for the area indicates that the integration is to be performed over the entire surface bounding the
volume. Since the control volume is fixed in space (and the limits of integration are also fixed), the time
derivative can be moved outside the integral.
The resultant equation is the general integral expression for the conservation of mass:

In words, the time rate of change of the mass within the volume plus the net efflux (outflow) of mass
through the surface bounding the volume must be zero. The volumetric flux Q is the flow rate through a
particular surface and is equal to 4V S # n dA , which we will use in Chapter 3 . For a sample problem
using the integral form of the continuity equation, see Example 2.4 .