Aerodynamics

Lecture 6:
Boundary Layer Solutions
G. Dimitriadis
Momentum Integral Equation
In the previous lecture it was shown that
the momentum integral equation can be
written as
or

x
u
2
dy
0

U
e

x
udy
0

U
e
U
e
x
=

(1)
d
dx
+ H + 2 ( )

U
e
dU
e
dx
=
c
f
2
(2)
Solutions
In this lecture, solutions of the momentum integral will
be presented.
The equation has three unknowns:
Momentum thickness
Displacement thickness
Wall shear
Additional information is needed in order to solve the
equation.
Two methods for obtaining such information will be
discussed:
Pohlhausens polynomial solution
Thwaites correlation method
Assumed profiles
Both methods are based on the same
premise:
A family of profile functions is chosen,
such that it can describe the entire
boundary layer velocity field, u(x,y):
u x, y
( )
U
e
= f ;P
( )
=
y
x ( )
P is a profile
parameter that
determines the shape
of the local velocity
profile
Pohlhausen polynomial
solution
Ernst Pohlhausen (another one of
Prandtls researchers) used an
approximate fourth order polynomial
profile function.
The boundary conditions are:
u x, y
( )
U
e
= f
( )
= a
1
+ a
2

2
+ a
3

3
+ a
2

4
y = 0 : u = v = 0
y = : u = U
e
,
u
y
= 0
= 0 : f 0 ( ) = 0
=1: f 1 ( ) =1, f 1 ( ) = 0
or
More Conditions
More conditions are needed in order to
calculate the unknown coefficients a
1
, a
2

etc.
Consider the case where y=0. The
boundary layer equation is:
Then a further condition is:
u y = 0 ( )
u
x
y=0
+ v y = 0 ( )
u
y
y=0
= U
e
U
e
x
+

2
u
y
2
y=0

2
u
y
2
y=0
=
U
e

U
e
x
f 0 ( ) =

U
e
x
=
or
Even More Conditions
Now differentiate the boundary layer
equation with respect to y:
At y=0 this becomes:
Additionally, continuity at y= requires
that:
u
y
u
x
+ u

2
u
xy
+
v
y
u
y
+ v

2
u
y
2
=

3
u
y
3

3
u
y
3
= 0 or f 0 ( ) = 0
=1: f 1 ( ) = f 1 ( ) = f 1 ( ) == f
n ( )
1 ( ) = 0
Substitution
Substituting the polynomial in these
conditions yields:
f 1 ( ) = a
1
+ a
2
+ a
3
+ a
4
=1
f 1 ( ) = a
1
+ 2a
2
+ 3a
3
+ 4a
4
= 0
f 1 ( ) = 2a
2
+ 6a
3
+12a
4
= 0
f 1 ( ) = 6a
3
+ 24a
4
= 0
f
iv
1 ( ) = 24a
4
= 0
f 0 ( ) = 2a
2
=
f 0 ( ) = 6a
3
= 0
Now theres too many conditions.
We need to choose to satisfy only
four of them. The form of function
f() is determined by the conditions
we choose.
Note: This choice is dictated by the
fact that the polynomial is 4
th
order.
For a 12
th
order polynomial we can
satisfy 12 conditions. The higher
the order the less approximate the
function.
Pohlhausens polynomial
Pohlhausen chose to satisfy the
following conditions:
With the following polynomial:
For this polynomial:
f 0 ( ) = 0, f 0 ( ) = -, f 1 ( ) =1, f 1 ( ) = f 1 ( ) = 0
f
( )
= 2 2
3
+
4
+
1
6
1
( )
3
t
w
p
=

p
ou
oy
y=0
=
vU
e
o
f 0 ( ) =
vU
e
o
2 +
A
6


_
,
Substitution in
Momentum Integral
The momentum integral equation is
In terms of f and :
Or:

x
u
2
dy
0

U
e

x
udy
0

U
e
U
e
x
=

o
ox
oU
e
2
f
2
dq
0
1
[


_
,
U
e
o
ox
oU
e
fdq
0
1
[


_
,
oU
e
oU
e
ox
=
vU
e
o
f 0 ( )
do
dx
f 1 f ( )dq
0
1
[
+ o
d
dx
f 1 f ( )dq
0
1
[


_
,
+ 2
o
U
e
dU
e
dx
f 1 f ( )dq
0
1
[
+
o
U
e
dU
e
dx
1 f ( )dq
0
1
[
=
v
oU
e
f 0 ( )
Substitution (2)
Believe it or not, this equation can be
written as:
Remembering that
dA
dx
=
1
U
e
dU
e
dx
g A ( ) +
d
2
U
e
dx
2
dU
e
dx
A
2
g A ( ) =
f 0 ( )
f 1 f ( )dq
0
1
[
A 2
1 f ( )dq
0
1
[
f 1 f ( )dq
0
1
[




_
,


=

2

U
e
x
Substitution (3)
Evaluating the integrals and f(0):
And subbing back into g():
f 1 f ( )d
0
1

=

2
9072


945
+
37
315
1 f ( )d
0
1

=
3
10


120
f 0 ( ) = 2 +

6
g ( ) =
90720 10512 + 282
2
10
3
5328 + 48 + 5
2
Substitution (4)
So that, finally,
Which is a non-linear differential equation in
and U
e
.
The velocity distribution, U
e
, is obtained from
the inviscid solution.
Then, the equation is a nonlinear ODE in
only.
It can be integrated numerically to yield .
From that we can obtain , the thickness of the
boundary layer.
d
dx
=
1
U
e
dU
e
dx
90720 10512 + 282
2
10
3
5328 + 48 + 5
2
+
d
2
U
e
dx
2
dU
e
dx

2
Simple Example: Blasius
For the Blasius flat plate, the inviscid
airspeed is constant, i.e. =0.
The full momentum integral equation
Becomes simply:
Integrating:
do
dx
f 1 f ( )dq
0
1
[
+ o
d
dx
f 1 f ( )dq
0
1
[


_
,
+ 2
o
U
e
dU
e
dx
f 1 f ( )dq
0
1
[
+
o
U
e
dU
e
dx
1 f ( )dq
0
1
[
=
v
oU
e
f 0 ( )
d
dx
f 1 f ( )d
0
1

=

U
e
f 0 ( ) or
d
dx
37
315
=
2
U
e
x ( ) =
5.836x
Re
x
Wedge flow
Flow around a wedge:
Inviscid flow:
Airspeed is zero
at stagnation
point, U
e
(0)=0.
Downstream of
this point the
airspeed
increases
according to:
U
e
(x)=U
1
x
m
where U
1
and m
are constants.

Potential flow
around a wedge
The potential flow around a wedge is
modelled using the following potential or
stream functions:
Notice that (r,) satisfied Laplaces
equation:
The radial and tangential velocities are:
r, ( ) = Cr
m+1
cos m +1 ( ), r, ( ) = Cr
m+1
sin m +1 ( )

r
2
+
1
r
2

+
1
r

r
= 0
q
r
=

r
= m +1 ( )Cr
m
sin m +1 ( ), q

=
1
r

= m +1 ( )Cr
m
cos m +1 ( )
Velocity parallel to surface
Therefore, the total velocity component
at any point in the flow is:
Along the surface of the wedge:
q = m +1 ( )Cr
m
= m +1 ( )C x
2
+ y
2
( )
m
q = m +1 ( )Cn
m
x
y
n
To calculate the boundary layer,
change variable in directions
parallel and perpendicular to
the surface. n is called x, t is
called y and q is called U
e

t
Boundary layer solution
Using U
e
(x)=U
1
x
m
and
We can substitute into:
Which yields a long equation of the form:
Where h is a nonlinear function of both
and x. Numerical integration gives:
=

2

U
e
x
do
dx
f 1 f ( )dq
0
1
[
+ o
d
dx
f 1 f ( )dq
0
1
[


_
,
+ 2
o
U
e
dU
e
dx
f 1 f ( )dq
0
1
[
+
o
U
e
dU
e
dx
1 f ( )dq
0
1
[
=
v
oU
e
f 0 ( )
d
dx
= h , x ( )
Wedge flow boundary layer
More about wedge flows
In fact, wedge flows also have an exact
treatment, similar to that applied to the
Blasius flow.
The governing equation is
Where =2m/(m+1). It is called the Falkner-
Skan equation and has boundary
conditions
It is clear that the Blasius equation is the
special case =0.
f + f f + 1 f
2
( )
= 0
f 0
( )
= f 0
( )
, f
( )
= 0
Effect of value of m
For wedge
flows, m
represents the
pressure
gradient. It
determines
whether the
pressure
drops or
increases with
x.
Correlation method by
Thwaites
This is another method for solving the
momentum integral equation.
It is called correlation because it is
based on correlation with known
analytical and experimental results.
It uses the non-dimensional version of
the momentum integral equation:
d
dx
+ H + 2
( )

U
e
dU
e
dx
=
c
f
2
Shape factor
Rewrite the equation in the form:
And define a shape parameter as:
Such that H=H() and S=S(). The
equation becomes:
U
e

d
dx
+ H + 2
( )

dU
e
dx
=

w

U
e
= S
=

2

dU
e
dx
U
e
d
dx
i
dU
e
/dx



_
,

= 2 S i
( )
i H i
( )
+ 2
( ) ( )
F i
( )
Correlation
The equation is not very useful because
F() is unknown.
Thwaites used known analytical solutions
and experimental results to show that, for
a laminar boundary layer,
Now the equation can be integrated to
yield:
F
( )
= 0.45 6.0

2
=
0.45v
U
e
6
x
( )
U
e
5
x
( )
dx
0
x
[
S =
0.22 +1.57i 1.80i
2
for 0 < i < 0.1
0.22 +1.402i + 0.018
i
i + 0.107
for - 0.1 < i < 0

,



H =
2.61 3.75i + 5.24i
2
for 0 < i < 0.1
2.088 +
0.0731
i + 0.14
for - 0.1 < i < 0

,



Blasius example
As an example, apply the method to
Blasiuss flow. For this flow,
U
e
=constant, =0, S=0.22, H=2.61.
Then,
The solution of the exact equations
gives
So the Thwaites solution is not bad.

2
=
0.45
U
e
x =
0.6708
Re
x

*
=
1.7507x
Re
x

*
=
1.7208x
Re
x
Boundary layer at the
trailing edge
What happens to the boundary layer on
a flat plate at the trailing edge?
The upper and lower
boundary layers merge
to create a single wake.
Methods for airfoils
In practice, the viscous flow over 2D airfoils is solved
using an iterative method.
The method is called viscous-inviscid interaction.
The boundary layer solution requires an inviscid
solution.
However, once the boundary layer is calculated, it has a
thickness that changes slightly the shape of the airfoil.
Then, the inviscid solution must be recalculated for the
airfoil + boundary layer.
The new inviscid solution is used to calculate a new
boundary layer.
The new airfoil+boundary layer give rise to a new
inviscid solution.
Eventually the method converges.
Viscous-Inviscid Interaction
A better approach is to
leave the shape of the
airfoil unchanged.
Calculate an Equivalent
Inviscid Flow (EIF) whose
boundary condition at the
wall is:
i.e. the normal flow at the
wall is not 0.
Such solutions can be
extended beyond the
trailing edge and simulate
the wake.

n
=
d U
e

*
( )
dx
y
u
I
,v
I
u,v

v(x,0)0

Xfoil inviscid solution

Xfoil viscous solution
Xfoil viscous solution (2)
Xfoil viscous solution (3)
Xfoil viscous solution (4)