MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

2.26 Compressible Fluid Dynamics

COURSE INFORMATION
Spring Term 2006

1. Credit and Content

2.26 is a 6-unit H-level subject serving as the ME department’s sole course in compress-
ible fluid dynamics. The prerequisites for this course are undergraduate courses in
thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and heat transfer. The course will be based on two
hours of lecture and four hours of homework per week.
The goal of this course is to lay out the fundamental concepts and results for the com-
pressible flow of gases. Topics to be covered include: appropriate conservation laws;
propagation of disturbances; isentropic flows; normal shock wave relations, oblique
shock waves, weak and strong shocks, and shock wave structure; compressible flows
in ducts with area changes, friction, or heat addition; heat transfer to high speed flows;
unsteady compressible flows, Riemann invariants, and piston and shock tube problems;
steady 2D supersonic flow, Prandtl-Meyer function; and self-similar compressible flows.
The emphasis will be on physical understanding of the phenomena and basic analytical
techniques.

2. Classes

Lectures: Fridays from 1:00 to 3:00 pm in Room 1-273.

Lecturer: Professor J.H. Lienhard, 3-162, x3-3790, lienhard@mit.edu

Textbook: Compressible Fluid Dynamics, by P.A. Thompson (1972). This book is

available in a reprint edition from the RPI Bookstore: (518)-276-6555, credit cards
accepted, $62.45 including UPS shipping. It should also be at the Coop.

3. Exams and Grading

The grade will be based on homework and class participation (70%) and a term paper
(30%). The homework assignments will apply the material covered in lectures and are
essential to learning that material. They will involve theory, modelling, and a few design
exercises. The term paper will be based on a student-selected topic related to some
aspect of compressible fluid flow.

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4. Lecture Schedule

Lect. Date† Topic Readings‡ Hmwk

1 Feb 10 Mass conservation, Euler’s equation; §§4.1–4.4,

sound speed, Mach number §§5.1–5.2
2 Feb 17 Thermo; ideal gases; steady isentropic §§5.3,5.5
flow, stagnation state
3 Feb 24 Variable area flow, choked flow, subsonic §§6.1–6.3
& supersonic nozzles, restrictors
4 Mar 3 Energy equation; entropy equation; Chpt. 2, #1
flow with friction, Fanno line §6.4
5 Mar 10 Flow with heat addition, Rayleigh line; Handout,
Shock waves: conservation relations §§7.1–7.2
6 Mar 17 Hugoniot relation, normal shocks, §§7.3–7.4 #2
moving shocks, weak & strong shocks
7 Mar 24 Oblique shocks, bow shocks, §§7.5–7.8
wall interactions; detonations.
✵ Mar 31 No class (Spring Break)

8 Apr 7 Continuum shock wave structure; §7.9,

compressible boundary layers Handout
9 Apr 14 Adiabatic wall temperature, recovery Handout #3
factor, heat transfer to high speed flow
10 Apr 21 Unsteady 1D flows: finite amplitude waves, §§8.1–8.5
characteristics, Riemann invariants
11 Apr 28 Unsteady 1D flows: piston problems, §§8.6–8.11 #4
boundary interactions, shock tubes
12 May 5 Steady 2D supersonic flows: Mach waves, §§9.1–9.3,
Prandtl-Meyer function, expansion fans §9.5
13 May 12 Steady flow characteristics. Similarity Chpt. 10 #5
flows: spherical explosion.
❦ May 18 Term papers due
†
Dates and coverage may vary.
‡
The readings refer to chapters in P.A. Thompson’s book.

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5. Some Additional Reference Books

A number of excellent textbooks have been written on compressible fluid dynamics and
related subjects. The following is a selection of such works, several now out of print,
which are on reserve in the Barker Library (10-500).

1. P.A. Thompson, Compressible Fluid Dynamics. McGraw-Hill, 1972.

2. L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz, Fluid Mechanics, 2/e. Butterworth-Heinemann, 1995.

3. H.W. Liepmann and A. Roshko, Elements of Gas Dynamics, Dover Publications,

2001 (originally from Wiley, 1957).

4. P.H. Oosthuizen and W.E. Carscallen, Compressible Fluid Flow. McGraw-Hill, 1997.

5. M.A. Saad, Compressible Fluid Flow, 2/e. Prentice-Hall, 1993.

6. F.M. White, Viscous Fluid Flow, 2/e. McGraw-Hill, 1991.

Good material on compressible boundary layer flows.

7. Ya.B. Zel’dovich and Yu.P. Raizer, Physics of Shock Waves and High-Temperature
Hydrodynamic Phenomena. Dover Publications, 2002 (originally in two volumes
from Academic Press, 1967). A wide range of advanced topics.

8. R. Courant and K.O. Friedrichs, Supersonic Flow and Shock Waves. Springer-Verlag,
1976.

9. A.H. Shapiro, Compressible Fluid Flow, Vols. 1& 2. Ronald Press, 1953.
Good coverage of one-dimensional flow.

10. J.D. Anderson, Modern Compressible Flow with Historical Perspective, 2/e. McGraw-
Hill, 1990. From an aerodynamicist’s perspective.

11. W.G. Vincenti and C.H. Kruger, Introduction to Physical Gas Dynamics. Krieger,
1975. Good on molecular phenomena and shock wave structure.