Visualisationofpotentialflows
1. Aim
[Link]
streamlinepatternistoberecordedforthefollowingshapes:
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
Forthepotentialflowaroundacircularcylinder,thevelocityfieldistobecalculatedfromthe
[Link]
comparedwiththepotentialflowsolutionforflowaroundacircularcylinder.
2. Theory
Whenthevelocityfieldofafluidflowcanberepresentedasthegradientofascalarquantitycalled
thevelocitypotential,[Link],
v =
(1)
[Link]
v =0. (2)
=
Eq.(2)showsthatirrotationalityimposesstrictconditionsonvelocitygradients,viz.
w / y= v/ z , u/ z= w / x , v / x = u/ y (3)
whereu,v,warethevelocitycomponentsinthex,y,[Link]
componentsofeq.(1)satisfyeq.(3).Henceifanyflowisirrotational,therestrictionsimposedby
theirrotationalityconditionensurethatthevelocityfieldcanberepresentedbythegradientofa
scalarvelocitypotential.
Iftheflowisincompressible,
v = 0 ; (4)
2 = 0 ; (5)
[Link],
2 =0 whereisthestreamfunctiondefinedas u= / y , v= / x ;thestreamfunction
[Link],whentheflowisirrotationalthevelocityfieldcanbe
obtainedbysolvingalinearsecondorderellipticPDEinonevariable(or)ratherthansolving
theformidableNSequationsinthreevelocitycomponents.
Suchsolenoidalandirrotationalvelocityvectorfields,obtainedasthesolutionofLaplaceequation,
have some unique [Link] of these are: the velocity field is independent of temporal
changes, it is possible to superpose two solutions to obtain a third solution, values of normal
componentofvelocityattheboundariesuniquelydeterminethevalueofvelocityeverywhereand
[Link]
isdeterminedonlybythenormalvelocityattheboundariesthesolutionsofLaplaceequationallow
[Link],thenoslipconditionisnotsatisfiedand
[Link],athighRe,theflowatsomedistanceawayfromthe
rigidboundarieswheretheviscouseffectsarenegligiblecanberepresentedaspotentialflows;a
thinviscousBoundaryLayerwithinwhichthevelocitychangesfromthenoslipvelocitytothe
potentialflowvelocity,occursattheboundary.
However,[Link],andhencepotential
flows,[Link]
[Link]
p1/ 2 v2 gz = v
(6)
v / t
usingthevectoridentities
v=
v 2 / 2 v
,
2 v=
v
. (7)
v
Eq.(6)showsthatwhateverbethevalueofviscosity,therighthandsidevanishesforirrotational
flowsandtheflowobeystheinviscidEulerequations,thepressurebeingrelatedtovelocitybythe
unsteadyBernoulliequation,
/ t p1/2v 2gz =const (8)
[Link]
lowRe,[Link],the
flowisirrotational(why?)[Link]
experimentallowsonetovisualizethehypotheticalinviscidpotentialflowsusingaviscouspotential
flowsetup.
3. Experimentalsetup
Theexperimentalsetupconsistsoftwosectionsofatank,[Link]
theoutletofthepump,[Link]
[Link]
[Link],throughthetest
[Link]
[Link].
4. Procedure
[Link].
[Link].
[Link].
[Link].
[Link],includingthespecimenand
theupstreamregionwherethestreamlinesareparallelinthephotograph.
[Link].
[Link],drainthewater&dyesolutionaftertheexperiment.
5. Analysisofobservations
[Link]
thecircularcylindercaseare
[Link](ml/s)
[Link]&depthdofflowarea(cms)
[Link](cm)
[Link].
The objective of the analysis is to compare the theoretical and experimental potential flow
[Link].
1. Calculatetheuniformupstreamvelocity
=Q/ wd (9)
U
[Link]
streamuniformvelocityregionfrom
= / y/ y (10)
U
Sinceu&yareconstantacrossthewidthofthecellattheupstreamuniformvelocity
region,[Link]=0atr=a
andcalculateforallthestreamlines.
[Link]
atorigininrcoordinatesis
2
=U rsin r a /r (11)
which is obtained as a superposition of uniform flow and doublet solutions. For the
experimentally observed u, plot contours of constant at the same radial distances where
[Link]&experimentalstreamlinepattern
[Link]
(r,theta)=meshgrid(1:0.05:5,0:2pi/50:2pi);
u=0.1;a=1;
psi=usin(theta).(ra2./r);
contour([Link](theta),[Link](theta),psi,50);
[Link]
(a)Makethestreamlineimageintoabinaryimageaftercroppingtheimagetotheareaof
concern
z=imread(imagename,jpg);(12)
zc=imcrop(z);(13)
zbw=im2bw(zc,0.5);imshow(zbw);(14)
Here,changethethresholdleveltoobtainthedarkstreamlinesasblackoverawhite
background.
(b)Labelthedifferentconnectedobjectsintheimageasseparateobjects
zbwl=bwlabel(zbw,4)(15)
zrgb=labelzrgb(zbwl,@jet,'k')(16)
figure;imshow(zrgb,'notruesize')(17)
Nowthestreamlineshouldappearasblacklines([Link]).
(c)Calculatethescalefactor(1pixel=xcms)oftheimagebycountingthepixelsovera
knownlength(say,thecylinderdiameter).isconstantandknownforeachstreamline.
Assuminglinearvariationofintheydirectionbetweenstreamlines,thexvelocity
componentuatdifferentpositionsonastreamlinecanbecalculatedas
u= / y= / y
similarly
v= / x
canbecalculatedforthesamepositionsonthestreamline.(Usematlabcodefor
[Link]
andcalculatelocalgradientorapproximatethegradientastheratioofdifferencein
betweenconsecutivestreamlinesandthedistancebetweenthestreamlines).Plotthe
quiverplot(vectorplotwitharrowlengthindicatingmagnitudeofvelocity&direction
ofarrowthedirectionofvelocity)fromtheu&vcomponentsofvelocitiescalculated
[Link].(11)
[Link]&
[Link].
(d)DerivetheformofthepotentialfunctionfortheHeleShawflowsimplifyingtheNS
equationsintermsofpressure,[Link]
conclusionsabouttheunderlyingphysicsfromthepotentialformandyourexperiments
andthecomparisonwithinviscidpotentialflowsolution.
References
[1][Link],RinehartandWinston,INC.,1988.
[2][Link],5edition,2005.
[3][Link],[Link],[Link]
sons,Inc.,4edition,2002.
[4][Link],2edition,1991.
[5][Link],5edition,2005.
