Paper ENCN342 Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics

Topic Basic Fluid Mechanics

Assessment Assignment 1

Due Date 5pm Friday 30 September, 2016

Assignment Coverage

This assignment covers modules 1, 2 and 3 of the Basic Fluid Mechanics section of
the course.

Assignment Aims

This assignment aims

give you experience in simplifying the Navier-Stokes equations through

physical and mathematical reasoning,

give you experience in solving the simplified equations for an actual problem,

give you experience in performing a scale analysis of the NS equations,

give you experience performing dimensional analysis on a realistic problem,

and using the concept of dynamic similarity to analyse experimental data.

Problem A [14 marks]

An oil storage facility is comprised of a number of large rectangular storage tanks

constructed from lined concrete with walls that are T thick. An earthquake causes one
of the tanks to rupture along the connection between the base of the tank and one of
the vertical walls - see figure. The result of the rupture is a thin crack of uniform
thickness Tc that extends a distance Wc along the base of the wall (into the page in the
figure). It can be assumed that Wc >> Tc and T >> Tc.

Due to the rupture oil, of viscosity and density , seeps from the oil tank, through
the crack, and onto the surrounding ground. You have been asked to analyse the flow
through the crack in order to calculate the rate at which oil is lost from the tank.

1. Draw a diagram of the crack indicating your choice of coordinate system and
list all assumptions you can make about the flow. You can assume that the surface
area of the oil in the tank is so large that the depth of the oil does not change
appreciably over time. You should explicitly state what simplifying assumption can
be made due to the fact that Wc >> Tc and T >> Tc.

[2 marks]

ENCN342 Basic Fluid Mechanics - Assignment 1 1 Copyright Dr Roger Nokes 2016

2. Based on your assumptions in part 1 deduce how the number of dependent and
independent variables can be reduced for this problem and clearly state which
variables remain after these simplifications have been made.

[1 mark]

Figure. Ruptured oil tank.

3. Based on your simplifications given in part 2 solve the Navier-Stokes equations

for the velocity and pressure fields. Be sure to show your working (without it you will
lose marks), and in your analysis clearly state the boundary conditions for this flow.

[9 marks]

4. Calculate the discharge (m3/s), Q, from the crack.

[2 marks]

Problem B [6 marks]

The majority of water bodies on the surface of the earth tend to be relatively shallow.
This means that their horizontal length scale, L, is very much greater than their
vertical length scale, H. For example a tidally driven estuary may be hundreds, or
thousands, of metres long and wide, but only a few metres deep. Thus, any scale
analysis of the equations of motion for these flows needs to consider that the length
and velocity scales in the horizontal and vertical directions are quite different.

The governing equations for steady, two-dimensional, flow in a shallow estuary are

ENCN342 Basic Fluid Mechanics - Assignment 1 2 Copyright Dr Roger Nokes 2016

 u v
+ =0
x y

u u 1 p 2 u 2 u
u +v = + 2 + 2
x y x x y

v v 1 p 2 v 2 v
u +v = g + 2 + 2
x y y x y

where x is the coordinate along the estuary in the direction of flow, and y is the
vertical coordinate.

1. Using L and H as typical horizontal and vertical length scales, and U as a typical
horizontal velocity scale, perform a scale analysis of the continuity equation to deduce
the vertical velocity scale V. If

L ~ 500m
H ~ 1m
U ~ 1 m/s

deduce an approximate magnitude for V.

[2 marks]

2. Perform a scale analysis of the x-momentum equation, again using L and H as

typical horizontal and vertical length scales, and U and V (as found in part 1) as
typical horizontal and vertical velocity scales. Using the estimates for L, H and U
given in part 1 deduce which terms, if any, can be neglected in the x-momentum
equation based on your analysis, and hence deduce the simplified equations.

You can assume that the viscosity of the estuary water is 1x10-6 m2/s.

[4 marks]

Problem C [40 marks]

This problem is concerned with turbulent jets. It provides you with an opportunity to
analyse a problem using dimensional analysis and then to use the results of that
dimensional analysis to analyse a set of experimental data that is provided for you.

There are three components to this problem:

Appendix A provides a brief introduction to the behaviour and flow

characteristics of a turbulent jet. You need to read this background material
before starting the problem, and you might even choose to do further research in
order to gain a better grasp of the characteristics of a turbulent jet.

On Learn you will find a spreadsheet file named TurbulentJetData.xls under the
ENCN342 Assignments tab. This spreadsheet contains the experimental data

ENCN342 Basic Fluid Mechanics - Assignment 1 3 Copyright Dr Roger Nokes 2016

 that you will analyse as part of this problem. The spreadsheet contains a
description of the data contained within it. Please be aware that whenever you
undertake experimental work quality control is fundamentally important. Often
this quality control is instigated through careful experimental processes and
measurement techniques. At other times it occurs when the final datasets are
analysed and outliers are identified. While you cannot undertake the first of
these quality control measures, you can undertake the second by carefully
considering all of the data you analyse and noting datasets that look suspicious.

Below you will find the tasks for this problem that lead you through the
dimensional analysis and the processing of the data.

1. From a practical perspective the two most important jet quantities, once it is
fully developed, are the width of the jet and its centreline velocity. With these two
quantities effluent dilution rates are easily computed. It is your task to undertake two
dimensional analyses. In the first dimensional analysis you are seeking an expression
for the centreline velocity, Uc, of the jet as a function of the various independent
parameters. In the second dimensional analysis you are seeking an expression for the
width of the jet, b, as a function of the independent parameters (these are the same
parameters as for the centreline velocity).

As you know the selection of the independent parameters is vitally important. Too
few and you miss crucial dependencies, too many and the problem becomes
unnecessarily complicated. The following hints should help guide you in your
selection.

It is found that the momentum flux, M, alone characterises the jet source. The
jet diameter and the exit velocity are not individually important.

The distance from the orifice, z, is clearly one of the most important parameters
as it is this dependency that provides an engineer with information about the
distance at which acceptable levels of pollutant might be achieved.

Follow the hints in class. Your independent variables can come from 4 sources,
fluid properties, geometry, flow dynamics and universal constants.

The Reynolds number of fully turbulent jets, defined in (C.1), is very high. Can you
use this to simply your dimensional analysis? Explain.

U0d
Re = (C.1)

[5 marks]

2. Using the results of your dimensional analysis, which should provide explicit
dependencies of Uc and b on z, determine how the Reynolds number of the jet, based
on its width and centreline velocity, evolves with distance from the orifice and hence
make a comment about the turbulent nature of the jet. In other words do you expect
the jet to remain turbulent at all distances from its source or might it ultimately
collapse to a laminar jet?

ENCN342 Basic Fluid Mechanics - Assignment 1 4 Copyright Dr Roger Nokes 2016

 [2 marks]

3. Using the fully developed experimental velocity profiles provided for you in the
spreadsheet compute the momentum flux, M, for each dataset at each cross-section by
numerically integrating each profile over the cross-section (remember that the
velocity profile is radially symmetric the integration is defined in the appendix).
From your calculations deduce whether the assumption of a constant momentum flux
is valid. Note that we use positive and negative r values to indicate the two sides of
the jet, but of course in reality r must always be positive. Be careful when performing
this integration.
[6 marks]

4. Plot the centreline velocity in dimensionless form based on the results of your
dimensional analysis and deduce whether the experimental data conforms to the
theoretical relationship. The result of your dimensional analysis should include an
unknown constant, so deduce this constant from the data. (Note: In generating this
plot you should plot the dimensionless velocity against the distance from the orifice
non-dimensionalised by the orifice diameter. While we have stated that this diameter
plays no independent role in the fully developed jet dynamics it is important in
deducing the length of the zone of flow establishment where the orifice size is
important.)
[5 marks]

5. From your plot in part 4 deduce the length of the zone of flow establishment.

[2 marks]

6. From the experimental velocity profiles calculate the width of the jet at each
downstream location. There are a number of ways to do this. Be sure to explain
exactly what process you have followed. Compare your results to the prediction of
your dimensional analysis, and deduce the unknown constant that appears in your
theoretical relationship.
[6 marks]

7. Plot in raw form (velocity against radial position) the experimental velocity
profiles for Dataset 1. Now deduce for yourself a suitable non-dimensionalisation of
the velocity and radius for each downstream location that will lead to a collapse of the
velocity profiles for dataset 1 when plotted together (i.e. they lie on top of one
another). Be sure to explain your choice of dimensionless variables. Comment on
how the graph would look if the profiles from all datasets were presented in non-
dimensional form on this graph.
[8 marks]

8. Provide a brief executive summary of the results of your analysis, and explain
the key results and conclusions. Write this as if the reader had not looked at your
answers to the previous 7 questions.
[6 marks]

Total Marks 60

ENCN342 Basic Fluid Mechanics - Assignment 1 5 Copyright Dr Roger Nokes 2016

ENCN342 Basic Fluid Mechanics - Assignment 1 6 Copyright Dr Roger Nokes 2016
 APPENDIX A Turbulent Jets

A.1 Background

Turbulent jets are important fluid flows for civil and natural resources engineers as
they provide practical design solutions for a number of fundamental engineering
problems. Foremost amongst these problems is the disposal of effluent in the
environment. Turbulent jets provide an effective way of diluting contaminated water
thus reducing the impact of an effluent on its surroundings.

A turbulent jet is the fluid flow that arises when a stream of fluid is discharged into a
body of similar fluid that is stationary. A garden hose discharging water while
submerged in a swimming pool is a good example of a jet. An ideal jet is steady, is
placed well away from any flow boundaries (i.e. the environmental fluid is assumed
to be effectively infinite), and possesses a high Reynolds number so that the jet is
fully turbulent. Figure A.1 provides a schematic representation of the jet flow.

The flow that arises in a jet can be conceptualised in the following way. The exiting
fluid is highly turbulent and draws into itself fluid from its surroundings. This process
is known as entrainment. The impact of this process is to broaden the jet and
increase the volume flux of fluid within the jet as the distance from the orifice
increases. This increased volume flux occurs because the original jet fluid has been
supplemented by the entrained ambient fluid.

The pressures within the jet are effectively hydrostatic, and therefore the nett force on
any control volume enclosing the jet is zero. Thus the momentum flux within the jet
must remain constant along its entire trajectory. The effect of these two jet
characteristics (turbulent entrainment and constancy of momentum flux) is that the
momentum of the original jet fluid gets spread over an increasing mass (volume) of
fluid and the fluid within the jet slows as its spreads. The momentum flux within the
jet is given by

U 02 d 2
M = 2 u r dr =
2
(A.1)
0
4

where d is the diameter of the orifice, U0 is the cross-sectionally averaged velocity

exiting the orifice, and M is the momentum flux per unit mass of the jet, which is
constant along the jet .

ENCN342 Basic Fluid Mechanics - Assignment 1 7 Copyright Dr Roger Nokes 2016

Figure A.1. A schematic of the flow field associated with a turbulent jet.

The usefulness of a jet in diluting an effluent can be easily deduced from the
description provided above. Consider a jet that contains some effluent. As the jet
entrains uncontaminated fluid from the environment the turbulence within the jet
mixes the effluent with the uncontaminated fluid so that effluent concentration within
the jet decreases, and this effluent dilution will increase with distance from the orifice.

This description is rather idealised and does not provide an exact description of what
occurs in practice. In particular, near the jet orifice, the flow velocity requires a short
distance over which it can make the transition from that of a pipe flow to that of a
fully developed turbulent jet. This distance is known as the zone of flow
establishment, or flow development region. Once the jet flow is fully developed it is
observed that the velocity profile in each cross-section normal to the axis of the jet
retains the same shape at all distances from the orifice. Such a velocity profile is
known as self-similar.

A number of quantities are worth denoting at this point as these will arise in your
analysis of the problem. The self-similar velocity profile that occurs in the fully
developed jet is approximately Gaussian in shape with a maximum value along the
centreline designated Uc. A Gaussian profile gradually decays to zero far from the jet
centreline but we require some measure of the width of the jet, as this width
determines things such as the dilution of effluent. This jet width is typically
designated by the symbol b, and for a Gaussian profile it is generally chosen to be the
distance between points on either side of the centreline at which the velocity is e-1 of
the centreline value.

ENCN342 Basic Fluid Mechanics - Assignment 1 8 Copyright Dr Roger Nokes 2016