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GAS DYNAMICS
FIFTH EDITION

Ethirajan Rathakrishnan
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Delhi-110092
2013
GAS DYNAMICS, Fifth Edition
Ethirajan Rathakrishnan

© 2013 by PHI Learning Private Limited, Delhi. All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission in writing
from the publisher.

The Schlieren picture of the underexpanded circular sonic jet at nozzle pressure ratio 4 on the cover of this
book was taken at the gas dynamics lab of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tokyo Denki University,
Akihabara Campus, Tokyo, Japan, by my friend Professor Junjiro Iwamoto.

ISBN-978-81-203-4839-4

The export rights of this book are vested solely with the publisher.

Thirteenth Printing (Fifth Edition) … … … September, 2013

Published by Asoke K. Ghosh, PHI Learning Private Limited, Rimjhim House, 111, Patparganj
Industrial Estate, Delhi-110092 and Printed by Rajkamal Electric Press, Plot No. 2, Phase IV,
HSIDC, Kundli-131028, Sonepat, Haryana.
 To
my parents
Mr. Thammanur Shunmugam Ethirajan
and
Mrs. Aandaal Ethirajan
Contents

Preface ................................................................................................ ix
Preface to the Fourth Edition ................................................................ xi
Preface to the Third Edition ................................................................ xiii
Preface to the Second Edition ............................................................... xv
Preface to the First Edition ................................................................ xvii

1. Some Preliminary Thoughts ................................................... 1–17

1.1 Gas Dynamics—A Brief History .............................................. 1
1.2 Compressibility ........................................................................... 2
1.3 Supersonic Flow—What Is It? ................................................. 5
1.4 Speed of Sound .......................................................................... 6
1.5 Temperature Rise ..................................................................... 10
1.6 Mach Angle .............................................................................. 12
1.7 Summary ................................................................................... 15
2. Basic Equations of Compressible Flow ................................. 18–42
2.1 Thermodynamics of Fluid Flow ............................................. 18
2.2 First Law of Thermodynamics (Energy Equation) .............. 19
2.3 The Second Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy Equation).... 23
2.4 Thermal and Calorical Properties .......................................... 24
2.5 The Perfect Gas ...................................................................... 26
2.6 Summary ................................................................................... 35
Problems ...................................................................................... 39
3. Wave Propagation ................................................................ 43–46
3.1 Introduction .............................................................................. 43
3.2 Wave Propagation .................................................................... 43
3.3 Velocity of Sound .................................................................... 44
3.4 Subsonic and Supersonic Flows .............................................. 44
3.5 Summary ................................................................................... 45
4. Steady One-Dimensional Flow .............................................47–105
4.1 Introduction .............................................................................. 47
4.2 The Fundamental Equations ................................................... 47
4.3 Discharge from a Reservoir .................................................... 51
4.4 Streamtube Area–Velocity Relation ....................................... 61
v
vi Contents

4.5 De Laval Nozzle ...................................................................... 64

4.6 Supersonic Flow Generation ................................................... 72
4.7 Diffusers .................................................................................... 82
4.8 Dynamic Head Measurement in Compressible Flow ............ 86
4.9 Pressure Coefficient ................................................................. 91
4.10 Summary ................................................................................... 93
Problems ...................................................................................... 96
5. Normal Shock Waves ......................................................... 106–152
5.1 Introduction ............................................................................. 106
5.2 Equations of Motion for a Normal Shock Wave ................. 107
5.3 The Normal Shock Relations for a Perfect Gas ................. 108
5.4 Change of Stagnation or Total Pressure across the Shock ... 112
5.5 Hugoniot Equation .................................................................. 117
5.6 The Propagating Shock Wave ............................................... 120
5.7 Reflected Shock Wave ............................................................ 129
5.8 Centred Expansion Wave ....................................................... 134
5.9 Shock Tube .............................................................................. 137
5.10 Summary .................................................................................. 144
Problems .................................................................................... 147
6. Oblique Shock and Expansion Waves ................................ 153–224
6.1 Introduction ............................................................................. 153
6.2 Oblique Shock Relations ........................................................ 154
6.3 Relation between b and q ........................................................... 157
6.4 Shock Polar ............................................................................. 162
6.5 Supersonic Flow over a Wedge ............................................. 165
6.6 Weak Oblique Shocks ............................................................. 167
6.7 Supersonic Compression ......................................................... 169
6.8 Supersonic Expansion by Turning ......................................... 170
6.9 The Prandtl–Meyer Expansion .............................................. 171
6.10 Simple and Nonsimple Regions ............................................. 179
6.11 Reflection and Intersection of Shocks and
Expansion Waves .................................................................... 179
6.12 Detached Shocks ..................................................................... 195
6.13 Mach Reflection ...................................................................... 196
6.14 Shock-Expansion Theory ........................................................ 200
6.15 Thin Aerofoil Theory ............................................................. 205
6.16 Summary .................................................................................. 214
Problems .................................................................................... 217
7. Potential Equation for Compressible Flow ........................ 225–243
7.1 Introduction ............................................................................. 225
7.2 Crocco’s Theorem ................................................................... 225
7.3 The General Potential Equation for
Three-Dimensional Flow ......................................................... 229
7.4 Linearization of the Potential Equation ............................... 231
 Contents vii

7.5 Potential Equation for Bodies of Revolution ...................... 234

7.6 Boundary Conditions .............................................................. 236
7.7 Pressure Coefficient ................................................................ 239
7.8 Summary .................................................................................. 240
Problems .................................................................................... 243
8. Similarity Rule .................................................................. 244–281
8.1 Introduction ............................................................................. 244
8.2 Two-Dimensional Flow: The Prandtl–Glauert Rule
for Subsonic Flow ................................................................... 244
8.3 Prandtl–Glauert Rule for Supersonic Flow:
Versions I and II .................................................................... 252
8.4 The von Karman Rule for Transonic Flow ......................... 255
8.5 Hypersonic Similarity ............................................................. 258
8.6 Three-Dimensional Flow: The Gothert Rule ........................ 261
8.7 Critical Mach Number ........................................................... 271
8.8 Summary .................................................................................. 276
Problems .................................................................................... 280
9. Two-Dimensional Compressible Flows .............................. 282–294
9.1 Introduction ............................................................................. 282
9.2 General Linear Solution for Supersonic Flow ...................... 283
9.3 Flow along a Wave-Shaped Wall .......................................... 288
9.4 Summary .................................................................................. 292
Problems .................................................................................... 293
10. Prandtl–Meyer Flow ......................................................... 295–301
10.1 Introduction ............................................................................. 295
10.2 Thermodynamic Considerations ............................................. 296
10.3 Prandtl–Meyer Expansion Fan .............................................. 296
10.4 Reflections ............................................................................... 299
10.5 Summary .................................................................................. 300
Problems .................................................................................... 300
11. Flow with Friction and Heat Transfer ............................... 302–330
11.1 Introduction ............................................................................. 302
11.2 Flow in Constant-Area Duct with Friction ......................... 302
11.3 Adiabatic, Constant-Area Flow of a Perfect Gas ............... 304
11.4 Flow with Heating or Cooling in Ducts .............................. 314
11.5 Summary .................................................................................. 322
Problems .................................................................................... 325
12. Method of Characteristics ................................................. 331–355
12.1 Introduction ............................................................................. 331
12.2 The Concepts of Characteristics ........................................... 331
12.3 The Compatibility Relation ................................................... 332
12.4 The Numerical Computational Method ................................ 335
12.5 Theorems for Two-Dimensional Flow ................................... 343
viii Contents

12.6 Numerical Computation with Weak Finite Waves .............. 345

12.7 Design of Supersonic Nozzle .................................................. 349
12.8 Summary .................................................................................. 354
13. Measurements in Compressible Flow ................................ 356–428
13.1 Introduction ............................................................................. 356
13.2 Pressure Measurements .......................................................... 356
13.3 Temperature Measurements ................................................... 363
13.4 Velocity and Direction ........................................................... 367
13.5 Density Problems .................................................................... 369
13.6 Compressible Flow Visualization ........................................... 369
13.7 High-Speed Wind Tunnels ..................................................... 387
13.8 Instrumentation and Calibration of Wind Tunnels ............. 413
13.9 Summary .................................................................................. 420
Problems .................................................................................... 428
14. Rarefied Gas Dynamics ..................................................... 429–436
14.1 Introduction ............................................................................. 429
14.2 Knudsen Number .................................................................... 430
14.3 Slip Flow ................................................................................. 433
14.4 Transition and Free Molecule Flow ...................................... 433
14.5 Summary .................................................................................. 435
15. High Temperature Gas Dynamics ..................................... 437–439
15.1 Introduction ............................................................................. 437
15.2 The Importance of High-Temperature Flows ....................... 437
15.3 The Nature of High-Temperature Flows .............................. 438
15.4 Summary .................................................................................. 439
Appendix A ........................................................... 541–509
Table A1 Isentropic Flow of Perfect Gas (g = 1.4) ................... 441
Table A2 Normal Shock in Perfect Gas (g = 1.4) ..................... 454
Table A3 Oblique Shock in Perfect Gas (g = 1.4) .................... 464
Table A4 One-Dimensional Flow with Friction ( g = 1.4) .......... 498
Table A5 One-Dimensional Frictionless Flow with
Change in Stagnation Temperature (g = 1.4) ............ 504
Appendix B ............................................................ 510–514
Listing of the Method of Characteristics Program ...................... 510
Appendix C ............................................................ 515–518
Output for Mach 2.0 Nozzle Contour ............................................ 515
Appendix D ........................................................... 519–520
Oblique Shock Chart 1 .................................................................... 519
Oblique Shock Chart 2 .................................................................... 520
Selected References ................................................. 521–522
Index .................................................................... 523–528
Preface

My sincere thanks to the students and instructors who adopted this book for both
undergraduate and postgraduate courses. In this edition, catchy worked examples
are added to both stationary and moving shocks. Also, an example highlighting
the application of shock-expansion theory and thin aerofoil theory is added. The
new exercise problems added to different chapters will be of immense use to the
students to practice application of the theory studied.
The computer program to calculate the coordinates of contoured nozzle, with
the method of characteristics, has been given in C-language. This will be of
immense value to the present generation of students. The program listing along
with a sample output is given in the Appendix.
My sincere thanks to my undergraduate and postgraduate students at Indian
Institute of Technology Kanpur and the University of Tokyo, who are directly
and indirectly responsible for the development of this book. I sincerely thank
Mr. Yasumasa Watanabe, doctoral student of Aerospace Engineering, the
University of Tokyo, Japan, for writing the method of characteristics program in
C-language.
For instructors, a companion Solutions Manual is available from the publisher
that contains typed solutions to all the end-of-chapter problems. The financial
support extended by the Continuing Education Centre of Indian Institute of
Technology Kanpur for the preparation of the Solutions Manual is gratefully
acknowledged.

E. Rathakrishnan

ix
Preface to the Fourth Edition

My sincere thanks to the students and instructors who adopted this book for both
undergraduate and graduate courses. In the fourth edition, the subject matter has
been given a fine tuning, clarifying the vital aspects of the flow processes
associated with the compression and expansion waves. This exercise is made to
make the book effective for both theory and application. A considerable number
of worked examples are added, focusing attention on the design aspects. Some
new problems along with answers are also added at the end of many chapters. A
brief section on critical Mach number is added in Chapter 8, to gain an insight
into this important parameter, which influences the aerodynamic efficiency of
flying machines.
For instructors only, a companion Solutions Manual, which contains typed
solutions to all the end-of-chapter problems, is available from PHI Learning,
New Delhi. I am grateful for the financial support extended by the Continuing
Education Centre of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, for the preparation
of the manuscript.
My sincere thanks to my undergraduate and graduate students at Indian
Institute of Technology Kanpur and The University of Tokyo, who are directly
and indirectly responsible for the development of this book.

E. Rathakrishnan

xi
Preface to the Third Edition

It gives me great pleasure to express my sincere thanks to the students and

instructors who have been patronizing this book for both undergraduate and
graduate courses. In the third edition, the subject matter has been appropriately
revised throughout the book. Several new problems along with answers have
been added at the end of many chapters. The chapter titled Measurements in
Compressible Flow has been augmented with high speed wind tunnels, covering
the types of supersonic tunnels, their design features, calibration and
instrumentation and operating principles.
A companion Solutions Manual for instructors is available from PHI Learning,
New Delhi. It contains typed solutions to all the chapter-end problems. The
financial support extended by the Continuing Education Centre of Indian Institute
of Technology Kanpur for the preparation of the Solutions Manual is gratefully
acknowledged.
My heartfelt thanks to my undergraduate and graduate students at Indian
Institute of Technology Kanpur, who have directly or indirectly contributed to
the development and revision of this book. My special thanks go to my doctoral
student Mrinal Kaushik for checking the Solutions Manual.

E. Rathakrishnan

xiii
Preface to the Second Edition

This book was originally developed to serve as a text to introduce gas dynamics
to students, engineers, and applied physicists. The book includes topics of interest
to aerospace engineers, mechanical engineers, chemical engineers and applied
physicists.
Throughout the book, considerable emphasis is placed on the physical
phenomena of gas dynamics, and the limitations of applicability of such
phenomena are stressed as well. A large number of solved numerical examples
are presented to demonstrate the application of basic principles. Problems with
answers are included at the end of each chapter to provide the students with an
opportunity to test and augment their understanding of the fundamental principles
of the subject. A list of selected references is given to serve as a guide for those
students who wish to indulge in in-depth study of various branches of Gas
Dynamics.
In this revised augmented edition, special attention has been given to the
chapters on Basic Equations of Compressible Flows, Steady One-Dimensional
Flow, Normal Shock Waves, Oblique Shock and Expansion Waves and
Measurements in Compressible Flows. A number of new worked examples, direct
definitions and descriptions of the concepts introduced are provided to let students
gain an insight into the subject in an easy and effective manner.
For instructors only, a companion Solutions Manual is available from
Prentice-Hall of India that contains typed solutions to all the end-of-chapter
problems. The financial support extended by the Continuing Education Centre of
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur for the preparation of the Solutions Manual
is gratefully acknowledged.
The first edition has been used as a text for a course on Gas Dynamics (or
Compressible Flows or High-speed Aerodynamics) over a number of years, both
by undergraduate and postgraduate students at several universities in the world.
My sincere thanks to the students and instructors who adopted this book and
inspired me with their feedback about the book. An important feedback has been
that students and readers having a background of basic fluid mechanics are able
to understand and apply the subject material covered in this text comfortably.
Considerable additional details on the fundamentals have been included in this
edition so that the text can be used for self study as well, extending its usefulness
xv
xvi Preface to the Second Edition

to scientists and engineers working in the field of gas dynamics in industries and
research laboratories. In this context, a large number of new and involved exercise
problems added to this edition would enable all categories of readers to enhance
their understanding of the concepts discussed.
I wish to thank my colleagues and friends who are using this book as the text
for their teaching, in particular, Professor S. Elangovan, Department of Aerospace
Engineering, Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chennai, India,
who urged me to revise this book and helped me in checking the manuscript at
various stages of its development. My sincere thanks to my undergraduate and
postgraduate students at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, who have
been directly and indirectly responsible for the development of this second edition.
My special thanks to my doctoral students Ignatius John, S. Elangovan, C.
Senthilkumar, K. Vijayaraja, S. Thanigaiarasu, Sher Afgan Khan, P. Jeyajothiraj,
P. Lovaraju, B. R. Vinoth, R. Kalimuthu, Dhananjaya Rao, K.L. Narayana, and
V.N. Sukumar for their help during the course of development of this book. My
appreciation goes to my graduate students Preveen Throvagunta, Hemant Sharma
and Ashish Vashishtha for checking the Solutions Manual.

E. Rathakrishnan
Preface to the First Edition

This book covers the subject of gas dynamics which deals with the behaviour of
fluid flows where compressibility and temperature changes play a significant
role. It is the outcome of a series of lectures delivered by me, over several years,
to the undergraduate and postgraduate students of Aerospace Engineering at the
Madras Institute of Technology, Madras and the Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur, besides the many invited lectures delivered by me at several universities
and research laboratories in India and abroad. It is also in response to the keenly
felt need to provide a basic text on gas dynamics, which clearly enunciates the
fundamental principles associated with the subject.
Designed as a self-contained teaching instrument, this book treats a subject
which has flourished during the past three decades due, in a large measure, to its
applications in Aerospace Engineering. Besides, gas dynamics plays a key role
in numerous non-aerospace applications too, for there is practically no limit to
the variety of problems that need the application of principles of gas dynamics
for their solution. The principles of gas dynamics have been applied to solve
problems in a wide variety of areas, ranging from high speed aerodynamics to
the transport of gases along considerable distances. It should be borne in mind
that the principles of gas dynamics are based on the four basic laws, namely the
conservation of mass, the conservation of momentum, the conservation of energy,
and the second law of thermodynamics and, therefore, the notion that gas dynamics
is a difficult subject is rather misconceived.
The book is organized in a logical order and the topics have been discussed
in a systematic way. First, the various concepts are reviewed and some new ones
are defined in order to establish a firm basis for the development of gas dynamic
principles. Then the thermodynamics of the flow process is discussed. At this
point the perfect gas approximation is introduced, together with the state equation.
After the introduction of thermodynamic principles, the wave propagation,
highlighting its characteristics, is described. Following a discussion of the basic
principles and the thermodynamic concepts, steady one-dimensional isentropic
flow processes are analyzed, developing the area-Mach number relation. The
development of normal and oblique shock relations follow the same order, with
special emphasis given to entropy generation. The concepts of potential flow and
similarity rules are developed and applied to different flow problems. Following
xvii
xviii Preface to the First Edition

this, Fanno and Rayleigh flow processes are analyzed from one-dimensional point
of view. The method of characteristics is introduced starting from basic principles,
and the design of a supersonic nozzle is illustrated. The principles of pressure,
temperature, velocity and flow direction measurements in compressible flow
streams are discussed. Finally, some basic features of rarefied and high-
temperature gas dynamics are outlined.
The order of coverage is gradual: it starts with the simplest case and then
proceeds to the complex cases, one at a time. Thus, the basic principles are
repeatedly applied to different problems, and the student is drilled in applying
the principles. All derivations in the text are based on physical principles, and are
easy to follow. A short summary is included at the end of each chapter for quickly
recapturing the basic concepts and important relations. A large number of diagrams
have been provided to illustrate the concepts introduced. The problems at the end
of chapters are so arranged under specific topics that they correspond to the order
in which they are covered. This makes problem selection easier for both instructors
and students. Besides, my aim in this book has been to make the average student
follow the text easily. It is self instructive, thus making the instructor free to use
the lecture hours more effectively.
The book is intended primarily as an introductory text for undergraduate and
postgraduate students offering courses on gas dynamics. In addition, it would be
of assistance to professional engineers and physicists.
I wish to thank my colleagues who reviewed this text during the course of its
development and, in particular, Professor S. Elangovan who assisted me in
checking the manuscript as well as the proofs. The financial support provided by
the Continuing Education Cell of The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur for
the preparation of the manuscript is gratefully acknowledged.
I also wish to thank my undergraduate and graduate students at Madras
Institute of Technology, Madras and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur,
who urged me to write this text; my Ph.D. students T.J. Ignatius, Himanshu
Agrawal, K. Srinivasn and S. Elangovan, and my postgraduate students
K. Selvaraj, Atul Rathore, R. Srikanth, K.S. Muralirajan, Khalid Sowaud,
R. Kannan, A. Soliappan, and A. Palanisamy for the many useful suggestions
and assistance given by them during the preparation of the manuscript. My sincere
thanks are due to Himanshu Agrawal and K. Srinivasan for preparing detailed
solutions to end-of-chapter problems. Finally, I would like to thank G. Narayanan
and Sushil Kumar Tiwari for typing the manuscript and A.K. Ganguly for
preparing the diagrams.
Any constructive comments for improving the contents will be highly
appreciated.

E. Rathakrishnan
 1 Some Preliminary Thoughts

1.1 GAS DYNAMICS—A BRIEF HISTORY

Until the nineteenth century very little knowledge of gas dynamics had been
assimilated by man. The motion of air, its effects and power were felt by human
beings only through storms or from the disturbances created for lighting fires
and other similar natural phenomena. Only those who were gifted with
imagination beyond their times observed the flying of birds and dreamt of flying
machines. Many efforts were made in those directions, costing priceless human
lives. The early manned flights like those of Icarus and Bladud were not based
on any aerodynamic concept.
The theory of air resistance was first proposed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1726.
According to him, aerodynamic forces depend on the density and velocity of the
fluid, and the shape and size of the displacing object. Newton’s theory was soon
followed by other theoretical solutions to fluid motion problems. Fluid motion
was assumed to occur under idealized conditions, i.e. air was assumed to
possess constant density and to move in response to pressure and inertia.
Interest in gaining a deep understanding of dynamics of air motion arose
because of its application to hot air balloon, windmill, ballistic devices (guns
and cannons), and so on. Knowledge was mostly derived by trial and error, and
codes of practice did not exist. The experimental techniques introduced for
measurement during the eighteenth century provided a breakthrough in the
study of aerodynamics. Benjamin Robins in the UK constructed a whirling arm
to determine the air resistance of bodies, and a “ballistic pendulum” to find the
velocity of a bullet or shell. In the former experiment, a horizontal arm was
rotated about a vertical axis by the tension of a string holding a falling weight.
After a few rotations the speed of the end of the whirling arm was constant, at
approximately 7.6 m/s. Test objects were mounted at the end of the arm and
their air resistance altered the speed of rotation. This device was used to
compare the resistance of different shapes, and to show how the resistance of
1
2 Gas Dynamics

the plate changed with the angle of the airflow. In the ballistic pendulum
experiment, a bullet was fired into a heavy suspended block which swung
through a measurable angle. The bullet speed at impact was calculated from the
angle of the swing of block, and the combined mass of the block and the bullet.
From these tests, it was learnt that air resistance increases considerably as the air
speed approaches the speed of sound.
Some uncertain progress towards heavier-than-air flight was made by
gliders and powered models during the nineteenth century. In the same period,
the introduction of blast furnaces required large quantities of gas to be pumped
efficiently at high pressures and temperatures. In civil structures like large
bridges and buildings, reliable calculation of wind forces was needed, and with
the improvement in military artillery, greater precision was essential in
measuring supersonic air resistance and designing bullets and shells for stable
flight. All these developments emphasized the need for better understanding of
gas dynamics.
In the twentieth century, the field of aeronautics made very rapid progress
both in theory and experiment. In military operations, aerodynamics played its
part not only with the airplanes, but also in ballistics, meteorology, and so on.
The demand for designing vehicles, missiles, etc. to travel faster than sound
gave rise to the challenging task of developing theory and experiments to
describe the behaviour of the flows faster than sound wave. This kind of flow is
called supersonic flow. There have been three major advances in aerodynamic
theory; all of these emerged during the first-half of the twentieth century. They
were: 1. Aerofoil theory; 2. boundary layer theory; and 3. theory to describe the
behaviour of air when compressibility and temperature change become
important as in supersonic flow—this is called gas dynamics.

1.2 COMPRESSIBILITY
Fluids such as water are incompressible at normal conditions. But under
conditions of high pressure (e.g. 1000 atmospheres), they are compressible. The
change in volume is the characteristic feature of a compressible medium under
static conditions. Under dynamic conditions, i.e. when the medium is moving,
the characteristic feature for incompressible and compressible flow situations
are: the volume flow rate, Q = AV = constant, at any cross-section of a
streamtube for incompressible flow, and the mass flow rate, m = r AV =
constant, at any cross-section of a streamtube for compressible flow (Fig. 1.1).
In this relation, A is the cross-sectional area of the streamtube, V and r are
respectively the velocity and density of the fluid at that cross-section. The first
equation is called the continuity equation for incompressible flows and the
second is a special form of the general continuity equation.
 Some Preliminary Thoughts 3

2
1

A1 A2
V1 V2
r1 r2

Streamtube .
m = r1A1V1 = r2A2V2

Fig. 1.1 Elemental streamtube.

In general, the flow of an incompressible medium is called incompressible

flow and that of a compressible medium is called compressible flow. Though
this statement is true for incompressible media at normal conditions of pressure
and temperatures, for compressible medium like gases it has to be modified.
As long as a gas flows at a sufficiently low speed from one cross-section to
another, the change in volume (or density) can be neglected and, therefore, the
flow can be treated as an incompressible flow. Although the fluid is
compressible, this property may be neglected when the flow is taking place at
low speeds. In other words, although there is some density change associated
with every physical flow, it is often possible (for low speed flows) to neglect it
and to idealize the flow as incompressible. This approximation is applicable to
many practical flow situations, such as low-speed flow around an airplane and
flow through a vacuum cleaner.
From the above discussion it should be clear that compressibility is the
phenomenon by virtue of which the flow changes its density with change in
speed. Now, it may be asked as to what are the precise conditions under which
density changes must be considered. We will try to answer this question now.
A quantitative measure of compressibility is the volume modulus of
elasticity E, defined as
'#
Dp = –E (1.1)
#i
where Dp is change in static pressure, DV is change in volume, and Vi is the
initial volume. For ideal gases, the pressure can be expressed by the equation of
state as
p = r RT
In particular, if the process is isothermal, then
pV = piVi = constant
where pi is the initial static pressure.
4 Gas Dynamics

The preceding equation may be written as

(pi + Dp) (Vi + DV) = piVi
Expanding the equation and neglecting the second order term (Dp DV), we get
DpVi + DVpi = 0
Therefore,
'#
Dp = – pi (1.2)
#i
For gases, from Eqs. (1.1) and (1.2), we get
E = pi (1.3)
Hence by Eq. (1.2), the compressibility may be defined as the volume modulus
of the pressure.

Limiting Conditions for Compressibility

By conservation of mass, we have m = rV = constant, where m is mass flow rate
per unit area, V is the flow velocity, and r is the corresponding density of the
fluid. This can also be written as
(Vi + DV) (ri + Dr) = riVi
After neglecting the second order term (DVDr), this simplifies to
'S
= – 'V
Si Vi
Substituting this relation in Eq. (1.1) and noting that V = V for unit area per unit
time in the present case, we get
'S
Dp = E (1.4)
Si
From Eq. (1.4), it is seen that the compressibility may also be defined as the
density modulus of the pressure.
For incompressible flows, from Bernoulli’s equation,
1
p SV 2 = constant = pstag
2
where the subscript “stag” refers to stagnation condition. The above equation
may also be written as
pstag – p = Dp = 1 r V 2
2
1 2
i.e. the change in pressure is rV . Using Eq. (1.4) in the above relation, we
2
obtain
'p 'S SV2 q
= = i i = i (1.5)
E Si 2E E
 Some Preliminary Thoughts 5

where qi =
1 r V 2 is the dynamic pressure. Equation (1.5) relates the density
2 i i
change with flow speed.
The compressibility effects can be neglected if the density changes are very
small, i.e. if
'S
<< 1
Si
From Eq. (1.5) it is seen that for neglecting compressibility,
q
<< 1
E
For gases, the speed of propagation of sound waves “a” may be expressed in
terms of pressure and density changes as [see Eq. (1.11)]
'p
a2
'S
Using Eq. (1.4) in the above relation, we get

a2 = E
Si
With this, Eq. (1.5) reduces to
'S S i Vi 2
= 1 V
=   2
(1.6)
Si 2 E 2 a
The ratio V/a is called the Mach number M. Therefore, the condition of
incompressibility for gases is
M 2 << 1
2
Thus, the criterion which determines the effect of compressibility for gases is M.
It is widely accepted that compressibility can be neglected when
'S
0.05
Si
i.e. when M £ 0.3. In other words, the flow is treated as incompressible when V
£ 100 m/s, i.e. when V £ 360 kmph under standard sea level conditions; The
above values of M and V are the widely accepted values and they may be refixed
at different levels, depending upon the flow situation and the degree of accuracy
desired.

1.3 SUPERSONIC FLOW—WHAT IS IT?

The Mach number M is defined as the ratio of the local flow speed to the local
speed of sound, i.e.

M V (1.7)
a
6 Gas Dynamics

It is thus a dimensionless quantity. In general, both V and a are functions of

position and time, therefore, the Mach number is not just the flow speed made
nondimensional by dividing by a constant. Thus, we cannot write M µ V. It is,
however, almost always true that M increases monotonically with V.
A flow for which the Mach number is greater than unity is termed
supersonic flow for which V > a. This means that the upstream flow remains
unaffected by changes in conditions at a given point in a flow field.

1.4 SPEED OF SOUND

Sound waves are infinitely small pressure disturbances. The speed with which
sound propagates in a medium is called speed of sound and is denoted by a.
If an infinitesimal disturbance is created by the piston, as shown in Fig. 1.2,
the wave propagates through the gas at the velocity of sound relative to the gas
into which the disturbance is moving. Let the stationary gas in the pipe at
pressure pi and density ri be set in motion by the piston. The infinitesimal
pressure wave created by piston movement travels with speed a, leaving the
medium behind it at pressure p1 and density r 1 to move with velocity V.

Fig. 1.2 Propagation of pressure disturbance.

As a result of the compression created by the piston, the pressure and

density next to the piston are infinitesimally greater than the pressure and
density of the gas at rest ahead of the wave. Therefore,
Dp = p1 – pi, Dr = r1 – ri
are small.
Choose a control volume of length b, as shown in Fig. 1.2.
 Some Preliminary Thoughts 7

Compression of volume Ab causes the density to rise from ri to r1 in time

t = b/a. The mass flow into volume Ab is
m = r1AV (1.8)
For the conservation of mass, m must also be equal to the mass flow rate
through the control volume, i.e. Ab(r1 – ri)/t. Thus,
Ab ( S 1  S i )
= r1 AV
t
or
a(r1 – ri) = r1V (1.9)
since b/t = a.
When the piston moves, the compression wave thus caused travels and
accelerates the gas from zero velocity to V. The acceleration is given by
V =Va
t b
The mass in the control volume Ab is
m = Ab S
where

S = S i  S1
2
The force acting on the control volume is F = A(p1 – pi). Therefore, by Newton’s
law,
A(p1 – pi) = Ab S V(a/b)
S V a = p1 – pi (1.10)

Since the disturbance is very weak, r1 on the right-hand side of Eq. (1.9) may
be replaced by S to give

a (r1 – ri ) = S V
Using this relation, Eq. (1.10) can be written as
p1  pi 'p
a2 = =
S1  Si 'S
In the limiting case as Dp and Dr approach zero, the above equation leads to
dp
a2 = (1.11)
dS
This is Laplace’s equation and is valid for any fluid.
The sound wave is a weak compression wave, across which only
infinitesimal change in fluid properties occurs. Further, the wave itself is
8 Gas Dynamics

extremely thin, and changes in properties occur very rapidly. The rapidity of the
process rules out the possibility of any heat transfer between the system of fluid
particles and its surrounding.
For very strong pressure waves, the travelling speed of disturbance may be
greater than that of sound. The pressure can be expressed as
p = p( r ) (1.12)
For isentropic process of a gas,
p
constant
SH
where the isentropic index g is the ratio of specific heats and is a constant for
a perfect gas. Using the above relation in Eq. (1.11), we get
Hp
a2 = (1.13)
S
For a perfect gas, by the state equation

p S RT (1.14)

where R is the gas constant and T the static temperature of the gas in absolute
units.
Equations (1.13) and (1.14) together lead to the following expression for
the speed of sound:

a H RT (1.15)

The assumption of perfect gas is valid so long as the speed of gas stream is not
too high. However, at hypersonic speeds the assumption of perfect gas is not
valid and we must consider Eq. (1.13) to calculate the speed of sound.
Implication of variation of a with altitude Implication of speed of sound
variation with altitude is explained in the following example.

EXAMPLE 1.1 For an aircraft flying at a speed of 1000 kmph the variations
in speed of sound a, and Mach number M with altitude are as follows:
At sea level altitude From the International Standard Atmosphere (ISA),
T = 15°C at sea level. Therefore, the speed of sound a = H RT is given by

a= 1.4 – 287 – 288 m/s

2 2
with R = 287 m /s -K and g = 1.4 for air

i.e. a 34017
. m/s

The Mach number of the aircraft at sea level is

 Some Preliminary Thoughts 9

M=
V
= 1000    1 
a 3.6 340.17

M 0.817
At 11,000 metres altitude From ISA, temperature T = –56.5°C
T = (273 – 56.5) = 216.5 K
The speed of sound, a = 1.4 – 287 – 216.5 m/s

i.e. a 294.94 m/s

The Mach number of the aircraft at 11,000 m altitude is

M 0.942
Also,
'S 1 V
=  
» M
2 2

Si 2 a 2
Thus, the aircraft experiences different compressibility effects at the above
two altitudes. The compressibility effects are particularly serious in this range
(transonic range) of Mach numbers than any other range.

EXAMPLE 1.2 During a flight, a fighter aircraft attains its cruise speed of
600 m/s at 10 km altitude after taking off at 150 m/s from sea level. Assuming
the speed to have increased linearly with altitude during the climb, compute the
variation in Mach number with altitude.
Solution Let us consider increase in altitude in steps of 2 km. From ISA
tables, we have the following variation in temperature with altitude:
Altitude, H (km) 0 2 4 6 8 10
Temperature, T(K) 288 275 262 249 236 223
For air, g = 1.4 and R = 287 m2/s2-K. The flight velocity at any altitude H
is given by
V = 150 + 45H
where V is in m/s and H in km. The velocity of sound at any altitude is given by
a= H RT
where T is the temperature at the altitude in kelvin.
a= 1.4 – 287 – T m/s
i.e. a = 20.05 T m/s
With the preceding expressions for flight speed and speed of sound, we get
10 Gas Dynamics

the following variation in Mach number with altitude:

H (km) 0 2 4 6 8 10
T (K) 288 275 262 249 236 223
V (m/s) 150 240 330 420 510 600
a (m/s) 340.3 332.5 324.5 316.4 308.0 299.4
M 0.44 0.72 1.02 1.33 1.66 2.0

1.5 TEMPERATURE RISE

For a perfect gas,
p = r RT, R = cp – cv
where cp and cv are specific heats at constant pressure and constant volume,
respectively. Also, g = cp /cv; therefore,
H 1
R= cp (1.16)
H
For an isentropic change of state, an equation not involving T can be written as
p
= constant
H
S
Now, between state 1 and any other state, the relation between the pressures and
densities can be written as
 p  =  S  H

p  S 
1 1
(1.17)

Combining Eq. (1.17) and the equation of state, we get

T  S  H 1
 p  (H 1)/ H

T1 S 
1 p 
1
(1.18)

The above relations are very useful for gas dynamics and they can be expressed
in terms of the Mach number.
Let us examine the flow around a symmetrical body, as shown in Fig. 1.3.

Stagnation point
•

Fig. 1.3 Flow around a symmetrical body.

In a compressible medium, there will be change in density and temperature at

 Some Preliminary Thoughts 11

point 0. The temperature rise at the stagnation point can be obtained from the
energy equation.
The energy equation for an isentropic flow is
V2
h = constant (1.19)
2
where h is the enthalpy.
Equating the energy at far upstream ¥ and the stagnation point 0, we get
V2 V2
h¥ + ‡ = h0 + 0
2 2
Since V0 = 0,
V2
h0 – h¥ = ‡
2
For a perfect gas, substituting h = cpT in the above equation, we obtain
V2
cp(T0 – T¥) = ‡
2
i.e.
V‡2
DT = T0 – T¥ = (1.20)
2 cp
Combining Eqs. (1.15) and (1.16), we get
2
cp = 1 a‡
H  1 T‡
Hence,
H 1
DT = T M2 (1.21)
2 ¥ ¥
i.e.
 H 1 2 
T0

T‡ 1 
2
M‡
 (1.22)

For air, g = 1.4, and hence

T0 = T¥ (1 + 0.2 M 2¥ ) (1.23)
This is the temperature at the stagnation point on the body. It is also referred to
as total temperature.

EXAMPLE 1.3 A fighter aircraft attains its maximum speed of 2160 kmph at
an altitude of 12 km. The take-off speed at sea level is 270 kmph. If the flight
speed increases linearly with altitude, compute the variation in stagnation
temperature with altitude for a climb up to the maximum speed.
12 Gas Dynamics

Solution For a compressible medium, the stagnation temperature T0 is

given by
V‡2 H 1
T0 = T¥ + = T¥ + T M2
2 cp 2 ¥ ¥
where
T¥ = freestream static temperature
V¥ = freestream velocity
cp = specific heat of fluid at constant pressure
g = ratio of specific heats of the fluid
M¥ = freestream Mach number.
For air,
cp = 1005 m2/s2-K
Therefore,
V‡2
T0 = T¥ + K
2010
The variation of velocity with altitude may be expressed as
 2160  270 

V¥ = 270 
12
H km/h

= (270 + 157.5H) km/h
= (75 + 43.75H) m/s
Considering altitude increase in steps of 3 km, we obtain the values as given in
the following table:

H (km) 0 3 6 9 12

T¥ (K) 288.0 268.5 249.0 229.5 216.5

V¥ (m/s) 75.00 206.25 337.50 468.75 600.0
V‡2
(K) 2.80 21.16 56.67 109.32 179.1
2010
T0 (K) 290.80 289.66 305.67 338.82 395.6

1.6 MACH ANGLE

We know that in a flow field the presence of a small disturbance is felt
throughout the field by means of a wave travelling at the local velocity of sound
relative to the medium.
Let us examine the propagation of pressure disturbance shown in Fig. 1.4.
The propagation of disturbance waves created by an object moving with
velocity V = 0, V = a/2, V = a and V > a is shown in Figs. 1.4(a), (b), (c), (d),
respectively. The disturbance waves reach a stationary observer before the
source of disturbance could reach him in subsonic flow, as shown in
 Some Preliminary Thoughts 13

Figs. 1.4(a) and 1.4(b). But in supersonic flows, it takes considerable amount of
time for an observer to perceive the pressure disturbance, after the source has
passed him. This is one of the fundamental differences between subsonic and
supersonic flows. Therefore, in a subsonic flow, the streamlines sense the
presence of any obstacle in the flow field and adjust themselves ahead of it and
flow around it smoothly. But in the supersonic flow field, the streamlines feel
the obstacle only when they hit it. The obstacle acts as a source and so the
streamlines deviate at the Mach cone as shown in Fig. 1.4(d). The disturbance
due to obstacle is sudden and the flow behind the obstacle has to change
abruptly.

(a) V = 0 (b) V = a/2

Mach cone

m at Zone of action

Vt

Zone of silence
(c) V = a (d) V > a

Fig. 1.4 Propagation of disturbance waves.

Flow around a wedge shown in Figs. 1.5(a) and 1.5(b) shows the smooth
change and abrupt change in flow direction for subsonic and supersonic flow,
respectively.
Shock

M• < 1 M• > 1

(a) Subsonic flow (b) Supersonic flow

Fig. 1.5 Flow around a wedge.

For M¥ < 1, the flow changes its direction smoothly and pressure decreases
with acceleration; for M¥ > 1, there is sudden change in flow direction at the
body and pressure increases downstream of the shock.
14 Gas Dynamics

In Fig. 1.4(d), it is shown that for supersonic motion of an object there is a

well-defined conical zone in the flow field with the object located at the nose of
the cone, and the disturbance created by the moving object is confined only to
the field included inside the cone. The flow field zone outside the cone does not
even feel the disturbance.
For this reason, von Karman termed the region inside the cone as the zone
of action, and the region outside the cone as the zone of silence. The lines at
which the pressure disturbance is concentrated and which generate the cone are
called Mach waves or Mach lines. The angle between the Mach line and the
direction of motion of the body is called the Mach angle m. From Fig. 1.4(d),
sin m =
at = a (1.24)
Vt V
i.e.
sin N 1 (1.25)
M
From the disturbance waves propagation shown in Figure 1.4, we can infer
the following features of the flow regimes.
• When the medium is incompressible [M = 0, Fig. 1.4(a)] or when the
speed of the moving disturbance is negligibly small compared to the
local sound speed, the pressure pulse created by the disturbance
spreads uniformly in all directions.
• When the disturbance source moves with a subsonic speed [M < 1,
Fig. 1.4(b)], the pressure disturbance is felt in all directions and at all
points in space (neglecting viscous dissipation), but the pressure
pattern is no longer symmetrical.
• For sonic velocity [M = 1, Fig. 1.4(c)] the pressure pulse is at the
boundary between subsonic and supersonic flow and the wave front is
in a plane.
• For supersonic speeds [M > 1, Fig. 1.4(d)] the disturbance wave
phenomena are totally different from those at subsonic speeds. All the
pressure disturbances are included in a cone which has the disturbance
source at its apex, and the effect of the disturbance is not felt upstream
of the disturbance source.

Small Disturbance
When the apex angle of wedge d is
m
vanishingly small, the disturbances will be
small, and we can consider these to be d
identical to sound pulses. In such a case, the
deviation of streamlines will be small and
there will be infinitesimally small increase in Mach wave
pressure across the Mach cone, shown in
Fig. 1.6 Mach cone.
Fig. 1.6.
 Some Preliminary Thoughts 15

Finite Disturbance
When the wedge angle d is finite, the disturbances introduced are finite, and
then the wave is not called Mach wave but a shock or shock wave (Fig. 1.7). The
angle of shock, b, is always smaller than the Mach angle. The deviation of
streamline is finite and there is finite pressure increase across the shock wave.

Shock

Fig. 1.7 Shock wave.

1.7 SUMMARY
In this chapter, the basic concepts of Gas Dynamics are introduced and
discussed. Gas Dynamics is a science that primarily deals with the behaviour of
gas flows in which compressibility and temperature change become significant.
Compressibility is a phenomenon by virtue of which the flow changes its
density with change in speed. Compressibility may also be defined as the
volume modulus of the pressure.
Flows with significant compressibility are called compressible flows. To put
it simply, compressible flow is defined as variable density flow; this is in
contrast to incompressible flow, where the density is assumed to be invariant. In
reality, every fluid is compressible to some greater or lesser extent; hence a truly
incompressible flow is a hypothetical flow. However, when flow velocity is very
small, the changes in density may be neglected and the assumption of constant
density can be made with reasonable accuracy. Usually flows with Mach
number less than 0.3 are treated as constant density (incompressible) flows.
The Mach number is defined as the ratio of the local flow speed to the local
speed of sound, i.e.
V
M= (1.7)
a
Flows with Mach number greater than unity are called supersonic flows.
16 Gas Dynamics

Sound waves are infinitesimally small pressure disturbances. The speed

with which sound waves propagate in a medium is called speed of sound a. The
speed of sound is given by
dp
a2 = (1.11)
dS
For a perfect gas, the speed of sound can be expressed as
a= H RT (1.15)
where g is the specific heats ratio, R is the gas constant, and T is the absolute
static temperature.
For a perfect gas, the state equation is
p = r RT (1.14)
and for an isentropic flow of a perfect gas, the relation between the pressure,
temperature, and density between state 1 and any other state can be expressed
as
T = S   H 1
 p  (H  1)/ H

T1 S1   =
p 
1
(1.18)

For supersonic motion of an object, there is a well-defined conical zone in

the flow field with the object located at the nose of the cone. The region inside
the cone is called the zone of action, and the region outside the cone is termed
zone of silence. The lines at which the pressure difference is concentrated and
which generate the cone are called Mach waves or Mach lines. Therefore, Mach
waves may be defined as weak pressure waves across which there is only an
infinitesimal change in flow properties. The angle between the Mach line and
the direction of motion of the body (flow direction) is called the Mach angle m,
given by
1
sin m = (1.25)
M
In classical literature, Fluid Mechanics is broadly divided into Hydro-
dynamics or incompressible flows with freestream Mach number negligibly
small, and Gas Dynamics dealing with compressible flows. Gas Dynamics is
further divided into subsonic flows in the Mach number range from 0 to 1, and
supersonic flows with Mach numbers greater than 1.
The modern classification of the flow regimes is as follows:
1. Fluid flows with 0 < M < 0.8 are called subsonic flow.
2. The flow in the Mach number range 0.8 < M < 1.2 is called transonic
flow.
3. The flow in the Mach number range 1.2 < M < 5 is called supersonic
flow.
4. The flow with M > 5 is called hypersonic flow.
 Some Preliminary Thoughts 17

Linearized theory can be used for studying subsonic and supersonic flows;
the study of transonic and hypersonic flows is, however, complicated.

Transonic Flow
When a body is kept in transonic flow, it experiences subsonic flow over some
portions of its surface and supersonic flow over other portions. There is also a
possibility of shock formation on the body. It is this mixed nature of the flow
field which makes the study of transonic flows complicated.

Hypersonic Flow
The temperature at stagnation point and over the surface of an object in the
hypersonic flow becomes very high and, therefore, it requires special treatment.
That is, we must consider the thermodynamic aspects of the flow along with gas
dynamic aspects. That is why hypersonic flow theory is also called aero-
thermodynamic theory. Besides, because of high temperature, the specific heats
become functions of temperature and hence the gas cannot be treated as perfect
gas. If the temperature is quite high (of the order of more than 2000 K), even
dissociation of gas can take place. The complexities due to high temperatures
associated with hypersonic flow makes its study complicated.
18 Gas Dynamics

2 Basic Equations of
Compressible Flow

2.1 THERMODYNAMICS OF FLUID FLOW

Entropy and temperature are the two fundamental concepts of thermodynamics.
The energy changes associated with compressible flow, unlike low-speed or
incompressible flow, are substantial enough to strongly interact with other
properties of the flow. Hence, the energy concepts play an important role in the
study of compressible flow. In other words, the study of thermodynamics
which deals with energy (and entropy) is an essential component in the study
of compressible flow.
The following are the broad divisions of the fluid flow studies classified,
based on thermodynamic considerations: Fluid mechanics of perfect fluids, i.e.
fluids without viscosity and heat (transfer) conductivity, is an extension of
equilibrium thermodynamics to moving fluids. The kinetic energy of the fluid
has to be considered in addition to the internal energy which the fluid possesses
when at rest.
Fluid mechanics of real fluids goes beyond the scope of classical thermo-
dynamics. The transport processes of momentum and heat are of primary
interest here. But, even though thermodynamics is not fully and directly
applicable to all phases of real fluid flow, it is often extremely helpful in relating
the initial and final conditions.
For low speed flow problems, thermodynamic considerations are not
needed because the heat content of the fluid flow is so large compared to the
kinetic energy of the flow that the temperature remains nearly constant even if
the whole kinetic energy is transformed into heat.
In modern high-speed problems, the kinetic energy content of the fluid can
be so large compared to its heat content that the variations in temperature can
become substantial. Hence, the emphasis on thermodynamic concepts assumes
importance.

18
 Basic Equations of Compressible Flow 19

2.2 FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

(ENERGY EQUATION)
Consider a closed system, which is a system of gas at rest, across whose
boundaries no transfer of mass is possible. Let d Q be an incremental amount
of heat added to the system across the boundary (by thermal conduction or by
direct radiation). Also, let d W denote the work done on the system by the
surroundings (or by the system on the surroundings). The sign convention is
positive when the work is done by the system and negative when the work is
done on the system. Due to the molecular motion of the gas, the system has an
internal energy U. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that: the heat added
minus the work done by the system equals the change in the internal energy of
the system, i.e.

EQ  EW dU (2.1)

This is an empirical result confirmed by laboratory and practical experience. In

Eq. (2.1), U is a state variable (thermodynamic property). Hence, dU is an exact
differential, and its value depends only on the initial and final states of the
system. In contrast (the nonthermodynamic properties), dQ and d W depend on
the process in going from the initial to the final states.
In general, for any given dU, there are infinite number of ways (processes)
by which heat can be added and work done on the system. In the present course
of study, we will be mainly concerned with the following three types of
processes only.
1. Adiabatic process—a process in which no heat is added to or taken
away from the system.
2. Reversible process—a process which can be reversed without leaving
any trace on the surroundings, i.e. both the system and the
surroundings are returned to their initial states at the end of the reverse
process.
3. Isentropic process—a process which is adiabatic and reversible.
For open systems (e.g. pipe flow), there is always a term (U + pV) present
instead of just U. This term is referred to as enthalpy or heat function H given
by

H = U  p# (2.2)
H2 – H1 = U2 – U1 + p2V2 – p1V1 (2.3)
where (p2V2 – p1V1) is termed flow work and subscripts 1 and 2 represent
states 1 and 2, respectively.
In general, we can say that the following are the major differences between
open and closed systems:
20 Gas Dynamics

1. The mass which enters or leaves an open system has kinetic energy,
whereas there is no mass transfer possible across closed system
boundaries.
2. The mass can enter and leave the open systems at different levels of
potential energy.
3. Open systems are able to deliver continuous work, because the medium
which transforms energy is continuously replaced. This useful work,
which the machine continuously delivers, is called the shaft work.

Energy Equation for an Open System

Consider the system shown in Fig. 2.1. The total energy E at inlet station 1 and
outlet station 2 is given by
1
E 1 = U1 + mV12 + mgz1 (2.4)
2
1
E 2 = U2 + mV22 + mgz2 (2.5)
2
V1

m
z1 1

WS

z2 m V2

Q 2

Fig. 2.1 Open system.

Comparing Eq. (2.1) with Eqs. (2.4) and (2.5) for an open system, U2 and
U1 in Eq. (2.1) have to be replaced by El and E2 in Eqs. (2.4) and (2.5). Hence,
Q12 – W12 = E2 – E1 (2.6)
or

Q12 – W12 = U 2 
1
mV22  mgz2  – U  1 mV
1 1
2
 mgz1  (2.7)
2 2
 Basic Equations of Compressible Flow 21

For an open system, the shaft (useful) work is not just equal to W12, but the
work done to compress pistons at 1 and 2 must also be considered. Work done
with respect to the system by the piston at state 1 is
W 1¢ = –F1D1 (F1 = force and D1 = displacement)
W 1¢ = –p1 A1 D1 (p1 = pressure at 1; A1 = cross-sectional area of piston)
W 1¢ = –p1V1
Work delivered at 2 is W ¢2 = p2V2. Therefore,
W12 = WS + p2V2 – p1V1 (2.8)
In Eq. (2.8), WS is the shaft work, which can be extracted from the system,
and (p2V2 – p1V1) is the flow work necessary to maintain the flow. Substituting
Eq. (2.8) into Eq. (2.7), we get

Q12 – WS = U2  p2 #2 
1   1
mV22  mgz2 – U1  p1#1  mV12  mgz1 
2 2
or

Q12 – WS = H2  1   1
mV22  mgz2 – H1  mV12  mgz1 
2 2
The above equation is the fundamental equation for an open system. If there are
any other forms of energy, e.g. electrical energy, magnetic energy, their initial
and final values should be added properly to this equation. The energy equation

1 1
H1  mV 2  mgz1 H2  mV 2  mgz2  WS  Q12 (2.9)
2 1 2 2
is universally valid. This is the first law of thermodynamics for any open
system. In most applications of gas dynamics, the gravitational energy is
negligible compared to the kinetic energy. For working processes such as flow
in turbines and compressors, the shaft work WS in Eq. (2.9) is finite and, for
flow processes like flow around an airplane, WS = 0. Therefore, for a gas
dynamic working process, Eq. (2.9) becomes
1 1
H1 + mV12 = H2 + mV22 + WS – Q12 (2.10)
2 2
This is usually the case with turbomachines, internal combustion engines,
etc. where the process is assumed to be adiabatic. For a gas dynamic adiabatic
flow process, the energy equation (2.9) becomes
1 1
H1 + mV12 = H2 + mV22 (2.11)
2 2
or
1
H1 + mV12 = H0 = constant (2.12)
2
where H0 is called the stagnation enthalpy. That is, the sum of enthalpy and
kinetic energy is constant in the case of adiabatic flow.
22 Gas Dynamics

Adiabatic Flow Process

For an adiabatic process, Q = 0. Therefore, the energy equation is given by
Eqs. (2.11) and (2.12). Dividing Eqs. (2.11) and (2.12) by m, we can rewrite
them as
V12 V2
h1 + = h2 + 2 (2.13)
2 2
V12
h1 + = h0 (2.14)
2
or, in general
2
h + V = h0 = constant (2.15)
2
where h = H/m is called specific enthalpy and h0 is the specific stagnation
enthalpy. With h = p/r, Eq. (2.15) represents Bernoulli’s equation for
incompressible flow, expressed as
1 2
p+ r V = p0 = constant
2
where p0 is the stagnation pressure. That is, for incompressible flow of air, the
energy equation happens to be the Bernoulli equation, because we are not
interested in internal energy and temperature for such flows. In other words,
Bernoulli’s equation is the limiting case of the energy equation. Here it is
important to realize that even though Bernoulli’s equation for incompressible
flow of a gas is shown to be the limiting case of the energy equation, it is
essentially a momentum equation. For a closed system,
Q12 – W12 = U2 – U1
For the processes of a closed system there is no shaft work, i.e. no useful work
can be extracted from the working medium. There will be only compressive or
expansion work. Therefore, W12 may be expressed as

Thus,
W12 = I
1
2
pdV

du = d q – pdv (2.16a)
But h = u + pv; dh = du + pdv + vdp. Using relation (2.16a), we can write
dh = d q + vdp (2.16b)
and for adiabatic change of state,
du = –pdv, dh = vdp (2.16c)
where u, q and v in Eqs. (2.16) stand for specific quantities of internal energy,
heat energy and volume, respectively.
 Basic Equations of Compressible Flow 23

2.3 THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

(ENTROPY EQUATION)
Consider a cold body in contact with a hot body. From experience we can say
that the cold body will get heated up and the hot body will cool down. However,
Eq. (2.1) does not necessarily imply that this will happen. In fact, the first law
allows the cold body to become cooler and the hot body to become hotter as
long as energy is conserved during the process. However, in practice this does
not happen; instead the law of nature imposes another condition on the process,
a condition that stipulates in which direction a process should take place. To
ascertain the proper direction of a process, let us define a new state variable,
the entropy, as follows:
E q rev
ds = (2.17)
T
where s is the entropy (amount of disorder) of the system, d qrev is an
incremental amount of heat added reversibly to the system, and T is the system
temperature. The above definition gives the change in entropy in terms of a
reversible addition of heat, d qrev. Since entropy is a state variable, it can be used
in conjunction with any type of process, reversible or irreversible. The quantity
d qrev is just an artifice; an effective value of d qrev can always be assigned to
relate the initial and final states of an irreversible process, where the actual
amount of heat added is d q. Indeed, an alternative and probably more lucid
relation is
Eq
ds  dsirrev (2.18)
T
Equation (2.18) applies in general to all processes. It states that the change in
entropy during any process is equal to the actual heat added, divided by the
temperature, d q/T, plus a contribution from the irreversible dissipative
phenomena of viscosity, thermal conductivity, and mass diffusion occurring
within the system, dsirrev. These dissipative phenomena always increase the
entropy.
dsirrev ³ 0 (2.19)
The equal sign in inequality (2.19) denotes a reversible process where, by
definition, the above dissipative phenomena are absent. Hence, a combination of
Eqs. (2.18) and (2.19) yields
Eq
ds ³ (2.20)
T
Further, if the process is adiabatic, d q = 0, and Eq. (2.20) reduces to
ds ³ 0 (2.21)
Equations (2.20) and (2.21) are forms of the second law of thermodynamics.
The second law gives the direction in which a process will take place.
24 Gas Dynamics

Equations (2.20) and (2.21) imply that a process will always proceed in a direction
such that the entropy of the system plus surroundings always increases, or at
least remains unchanged. That is, in an adiabatic process, the entropy can never
decrease. This aspect of the second law of thermodynamics is important
because it distinguishes between reversible and irreversible processes.
If ds > 0, the process is called an irreversible process, and when ds = 0, the
process is called a reversible process. A reversible and adiabatic process is called
an isentropic process. However, in a nonadiabatic process, we can extract heat
and thus decrease the entropy.

2.4 THERMAL AND CALORICAL PROPERTIES

The equation pv = RT or p/r = RT is called the thermal equation of state, where
p, T and v(l/r ) are called thermal properties and R is called the gas constant.
A gas which obeys the thermal equation of state is called thermally perfect gas.
Any relation between the calorical properties, u, h and s and any two thermal
properties is called a calorical equation of state. In general, the thermodynamic
properties (the properties which do not depend on process) can be grouped into
thermal properties (p, T, v) and calorical properties (u, h, s). From Eqs. (2.16),
u = u(T, v), h = h(T, p)
In terms of exact differentials, the above relations become
 ˜u   ˜u 
du =
˜T v
dT +
 ˜v  T
dv (2.22)

dh =  
˜h  
dT +  ˜h 
 ˜T  p  ˜p  T
dp (2.23)

For a constant volume process, Eq. (2.22) reduces to

du =
˜u
dT  
˜T v

where  ˜u  is the specific heat at constant volume represented as cv and,

˜T v
therefore,
du cv dT (2.24)

For an isobaric process, Eq. (2.23) reduces to

 ˜h 
dh =
 ˜T  p
dT

 ˜h 
where
 ˜T  p
is the specific heat at constant pressure represented by cp and,

therefore,
dh = cp dT (2.25)
 Basic Equations of Compressible Flow 25

From Eqs. (2.16) for a constant volume (isochoric) process, we get

d q = du = cv dT (2.26a)
and for a constant pressure (isobaric) process,
dq = dh = cp dT, dq = dh = cv dT + pdv (2.26b)
For an adiabatic (q = 0) flow process,
dh = vdp (2.26c)
From Eqs. (2.26), it can be inferred that:
1. When heat is added at constant volume, it only raises the internal
energy.
2. If heat is added at constant pressure, it not only increases the internal
energy, but also does some external work, i.e. it increases the enthalpy.
3. If the change is adiabatic, the change in enthalpy is equal to external
work vdp.

Thermally Perfect Gas

A gas is said to be thermally perfect when its internal energy and enthalpy are
functions of temperature alone, i.e. for a thermally perfect gas,
u = u(T), h = h(T) (2.27a)
Therefore, from Eqs. (2.24) and (2.25), we get
cv = cv(T), cp = cp(T) (2.27b)
Further, from Eqs. (2.22), (2.23) and (2.27a), we obtain
 ˜u   ˜h 
˜v T
= 0,
 ˜p  T
=0 (2.27c)

The important relations of this section are

du = cv dT, dh = cp dT
These equations are universally valid so long as the gas is thermally perfect.
Otherwise, in order to have equations of universal validity, we must add
 ˜u   ˜h 
˜v T
dv to the first equation and
 ˜p  T
dp to the second equation.

The state equation for a thermally perfect gas is

pv = RT
In the differential form, this equation becomes
pdv + vdp = RdT
26 Gas Dynamics

Also,
h = u + pv
dh = du + pdv + vdp
Therefore,
dh – du = pdv + vdp = RdT
i.e.
RdT = cp dT – cv dT
Thus,

R cp (T )  cv (T ) (2.28)
For thermally perfect gases, Eq. (2.28) shows that, though cp and cv are
functions of temperature, their difference is a constant with reference to
temperature.

2.5 THE PERFECT GAS

This is still more a specialization than the thermally perfect gas. For a perfect
gas, both cp and cv are constants and are independent of temperature, i.e.
cv = constant ¹ cv (T), cp = constant ¹ cp (T) (2.29)
Such a gas with constant cp and cv is called a calorically perfect gas. Therefore,
a perfect gas should be thermally as well as calorically perfect.
From the above discussions, it is evident that:
1. A perfect gas must be both thermally and calorically perfect.
2. A perfect gas must satisfy both thermal equation of state, p = r RT, and
caloric equations of state, cp = ¶h/¶T, cv = ¶u/¶T.
3. A calorically perfect gas must be thermally perfect and a thermally
perfect gas need not be calorically perfect. That is, thermal perfectness
is a prerequisite for caloric perfectness.
4. For a thermally perfect gas, cp = cp (T) and cv = cv (T); i.e. both cp and
cv are functions of temperature. But even though the specific heats cp
and cv vary with temperature, their ratio, g, becomes a constant and
independent of temperature, i.e. g = constant ¹ g (T).
5. For a calorically perfect gas, cp, cv as well as g are constants and
independent of temperature.

Calculation of Entropy
Entropy is defined by the relation (for a reversible process)
d q = Tds
 Basic Equations of Compressible Flow 27

Using Eqs. (2.16), we can write

Tds = du + pdv (2.30)
Tds = dh – vdp (2.31)
Equations (2.30) and (2.31) are as important and useful as the original form of
the first law of thermodynamics, viz. Eq. (2.1).
For a thermally perfect gas, from Eq. (2.25), we have dh = cp dT.
Substituting this relation into Eq. (2.31), we obtain
dT vdp
ds = cp – (2.32)
T T
Substituting the perfect gas equation of state, pv = RT, into Eq. (2.32),
we get
dT dp
ds = cp –R (2.33)
T p
Integrating Eq. (2.33) between states 1 and 2, we obtain

s2 – s1 = I
T1
T2
cp
dT
T
p
– R ln 2
p1
(2.34)

Equation (2.34) holds for a thermally perfect gas. The integral can be evaluated
if cp is known as function of T. Further, assuming the gas to be calorically
perfect, for which cp is constant, Eq. (2.34) reduces to

T2 p
s2  s1 cp ln  R ln 2 (2.35)
T1 p1
Using du = cv dT in Eq. (2.30), the change in entropy can also be expressed as
T2 v
s2 – s1 = cv ln + R ln 2 (2.36)
T1 v1
From the above discussions, we can summarize that a perfect gas is both
thermally and calorically perfect. Further, a calorically perfect gas must also be
thermally perfect, whereas a thermally perfect gas need not be calorically
perfect.
For a thermally perfect gas, p = rRT, cv = cv (T ), cp = cp (T ), and for a
perfect gas, p = rRT, cv = const. cp = const. Further, for a perfect gas, all
equations get simplified, resulting in the following simple relations for u, h and s:
u = u1 + cvT (2.37a)
h = h1 + cpT (2.37b)
p S
s = s1 + cv ln  c p ln (2.37c)
p1 S1
where the subscript ‘l’ refers to the initial state.
28 Gas Dynamics

Equations (2.37a), (2.37b) and (2.28) combined with the equation of state
result in

u = u1 +
1 p, h = h + H p
1
H 1 S H 1 S
where g is ratio of specific heats, cp /cv.
For the most simple molecular model, the kinetic theory of gases gives the
specific heats ratio, g , as
n2
g =
n
where n is the number of degrees of freedom of the gas molecules. Thus, for
monatomic gases with n = 3, the specific heats ratio becomes
32
g = = 1.67
3
Diatomic gases like oxygen, nitrogen, etc. have n = 5. Thus,
52
g = = 1.4
5
Gases with extremely complex molecules, such as freon and gaseous
compounds of uranium have large values of n, resulting in values of g only
slightly greater than unity. Thus, the specific heats ratio value g varies from 1
to 1.67, depending on the molecular nature of the gas, i.e.

1 H 1.67

The preceding relations for u and h are important, because they connect the
quantities used in thermodynamics with those used in gas dynamics. With the
aid of these relations, the energy equation can be written in two different forms,
as follows:
1. The energy equation for an adiabatic process, as given by Eq. (2.15),
is
2
h + V = h0 = constant
2
and when the gas is perfect, it becomes
2
cpT + V = cpT0 = constant (2.38a)
2
2. Equation (2.38a), when combined with the state equation, yields
H p V2
 = constant (2.38b)
H 1 S 2

Equation (2.38b) is the form of the energy equation commonly used in gas
dynamics. This is popularly known as compressible Bernoulli’s equation for
isentropic flows.
 Basic Equations of Compressible Flow 29

From Eq. (2.38a), we infer that for an adiabatic process of a perfect gas,
T01 = T02 = T0 = constant (2.39)
So far, we have not made any assumption about the reversibility or
irreversibility of the process. Equation (2.39) implies that the stagnation
temperature remains constant for an adiabatic process of a perfect gas,
irrespective of the process being reversible or irreversible.
Consider the flow of gas in a tube with an orifice as shown in Fig. 2.2. In
such a flow process, there will be pressure loss. But if the stagnation
temperature is measured before and after the orifice plate and if it remains
constant, then the gas can be treated as perfect gas and all the simplified
equations (Eq. (2.37)) can be used. Otherwise, it cannot be treated as perfect
gas, and Eq. (2.37c) can be rewritten as
p2  S  H
 s  s 
=
S  exp
 c  (2.40)
2 2 1
p1 1 v

Flow

Orifice plate

Fig. 2.2 Flow through an orifice plate.

Isentropic Relations
An adiabatic and reversible process is called an isentropic process. For an
adiabatic proess, d q = 0, and for a reversible process, dsirrev = 0. Hence, from
Eq. (2.18), an isentropic process is one in which ds = 0, i.e. the entropy is
constant. Important relations for an isentropic process can be directly obtained
from Eqs. (2.35), (2.36) and (2.40), setting s2 = s1. For example, from
Eq. (2.35), we have
T2 p
0 = cp ln – R ln 2
T1 p1

p2 cp T
ln = ln 2
p1 R T1

p2  T  cp / R
=
T  (2.41)
2
p1 1

From Eq. (2.28),

cp – cv = R
30 Gas Dynamics

cv R
1– =
cp cp

H 1 R
=
H cp
since cp /cv = g. Therefore,
cp H
=
R H 1
Substituting this relation into Eq. (2.41), we obtain
p2  T  H /( H 1)

=
T  (2.42)
2
p1 1

Similarly, from Eq. (2.36),

T2 v
0 = cv ln + R ln 2
T1 v1

v2 c T
ln = – v ln 2
v1 R T1

v2  T   cv / R
=
T  (2.43)
2
v1 1

But, it can be shown that

cv
= 1
R H 1
Substituting the above relation into Eq. (2.43), we get

v2  T   1/(H 1)
=
T  (2.44)
2
v1 1

Since r2/r1 = v1/v2, Eq. (2.44) becomes

S2 T2   1/(H 1)

S1
=
T1   (2.45)

Substituting s1 = s2 into Eq. (2.40), we obtain

p2  S  H

=
S  (2.46)
2
p1 1

This relation is also called Poisson’s equation. Summarizing Eqs. (2.42), (2.45),
and (2.46), we can write

p2   =  T 
S H H /(H 1)

  T 
= 2 (2.47)
2
p1 S1 1
 Basic Equations of Compressible Flow 31

Equation (2.47) is an important equation and is used very frequently in the

analysis of compressible flows.
Using the above discussed isentropic relations, several useful equations of
total (stagnation) conditions can be obtained as follows: From Eqs. (2.38a) and
(1.15),
T0 2
V2 V2
=1+ V =1+ =1+
T 2c p T 2H RT /(H  1) 2a /(H  1)
2

Hence,
T0 H 1 2
=1 M (2.48)
T 2
Equation (2.48) gives the ratio of total to static temperature at a point in an
isentropic flow field as a function of the flow Mach number M at that point.
Combining Eqs. (2.47) and (2.48), we get

p0  H 1 2  H /(H 1)

p 
= 1
2
M
 (2.49)

= 1   1/(H 1)
S0 H 1
 2 M (2.50)
2
S
Equations (2.49) and (2.50) give the ratios of total to static pressure and density,
respectively, at a point in an isentropic flow field as a function of Mach number
M at that point. Equations (2.48) – (2.50) form a set of most important
equations for total properties, which are often used in gas dynamic studies.
Their values as a function of M for g = 1.4 (air at standard conditions) are
tabulated in Table A1 of Appendix A.
At this stage, we may ask as to how Eq. (2.47) which is derived on the basis
of the concept of isentropic change of state (which is so restrictive—adiabatic
as well as reversible—that it may find only limited applications) is so important,
and why it is frequently used. In the compressible flow processes such as flow
through a rocket engine, flow over an airfoil, etc. large regions of the flow fields
are isentropic. In the regions adjacent to the rocket nozzle walls and the airfoil
surface, a boundary layer is formed wherein the dissipative mechanisms of
viscosity, thermal conduction, and diffusion are strong. Hence, the entropy
increases within these boundary layers. On the other hand, for fluid elements
outside the boundary layer, the dissipative effects are negligible. Further, no heat
is being added to or removed from the fluid element at these points; hence the
flow is adiabatic. Therefore, the fluid elements outside the boundary layer
experience adiabatic and reversible processes; hence the flow is isentropic.
Moreover, the boundary layers are usually thin; hence large regions of the flow
fields are isentropic. Therefore, a study of isentropic flow is directly applicable
to many types of practical flow problems. Equation (2.47) is a powerful
relation connecting pressure, density, and temperature, valid for a calorically
perfect gas.
32 Gas Dynamics

Expressing all the quantities as stagnation quantities, Eq. (2.37c) can be

written as
p02 S
s02 – s01 = cv ln – cp ln 02 (2.51)
p01 S 01
Also, by Eq. (2.28),
R = cp – cv
and by the state equation
p01 S T
= 01 01
p02 S 02 T02
Substitution of the above relations into Eq. (2.51) yields
p01 T
s02 – s01 = R ln + cp ln 02
p02 T01
For an adiabatic process of a perfect gas,
T0l = T02
Therefore,
p01
s02 – s01 = R ln (2.52)
p02
From Eq. (2.52) it is obvious that the entropy changes only when there are
losses in pressure. It does not change with velocity, and hence there is nothing
like static and stagnation entropy. Also, by Eq. (2.39), the stagnation
temperature does not change even when there are pressure losses. There is
always an increase in entropy associated with pressure loss. In other words,
when there are losses, there will be an increase in entropy, leading to a drop in
stagnation pressure. These losses can be due to friction, separation, shock, etc.

EXAMPLE 2.1 Air flows through a duct. The pressure and temperature at
station 1 are p1 = 0.7 atmosphere and T1 = 30°C, respectively. At a second
station, the pressure is 0.5 atm. Calculate the temperature and density at the
second station. Assume the flow to be isentropic.
Solution Given
p1 = 0.7 atm = 0.7 ´ 1.0133 ´ 105 N/m2
since in ISA, 1 atm = 1.0133 ´ 105 N/m2 and T1 = 30°C, i.e. T1 = 30 + 273
= 303 K.
Using the state equation, we get
p1 0.7 – 10133
. – 105
r1 = = = 0.8157 kg/m3
RT1 287 – 303
where the gas constant R = 287 m2/s2-K for air. By Eq. (2.42),
 Basic Equations of Compressible Flow 33

p2  T  H /(H 1)
=
T 
2
p1 1
Therefore,
T2  
0.5
(H 1)/ H
 0 .5  0. 4 /1. 4

T1
=
 
0.7
=
 0.7  = 0.908

T2 = (0.908)(303) = 275.12 K
By Eq. (2.45),
S2  T  1/(H 1)
=
T  = (0.908)1/0.4 = 0.786
2
S1 1
Thus,
r2 = (0.786)(0.8157) = 0.641 kg/m3
Hence, the temperature and density at the second station are
T2 = 2.12’ C , r2 = 0.641 kg/ m 3

EXAMPLE 2.2 Air is allowed to expand from an initial state A (where pA =

2.068 ´ 105 N/m2 and TA = 333 K) to state B (where pB = 1.034 ´ 105 N/m2
and TB = 305 K). Calculate the change in the specific entropy of the air, and
show that the change in entropy is the same for (a) an isobaric process from
A to some intermediate state C followed by an isovolumetric change from C to
B, and (b) an isothermal change from A to some intermediate state D followed
by an isentropic change from D to B.
Solution Given
pA = 2.068 ´ 105 N/m2, TA = 333 K
and
pB = 1.034 ´ 105 N/m2, TB = 305 K
(a) For an isobaric process from state A to state C:
pA = pC
For an isovolumetric process from state C to state B:
v C = vB
By the state equation, pv = RT,
RTA 287 – 333
vA = = = 0.462 m3/kg
pA 2.068 – 105

RTB 287 – 305

vB = = = 0.847 m3/kg
pB 1034
. – 105
34 Gas Dynamics

Now,
pC vC pAvB
TC = = (' pC = pA, vC = vB)
R R
2.068 – 10 5 – 0.847
TC = = 610 K
287
By Eq. (2.34),

sC – sA = I
TA
TC
cp
dT – R ln pC
T pA
But, pC = pA and, therefore,
TC
sC – sA = cp ln
TA
For the isovolumetric process, by Eq. (2.36), we have
TB
sB – sC = cv ln
TC
Hence,
TC T
sB – sA = cp ln + cv ln B
TA TC
Now,
H 14
.
cp = R= ´ 287 = 1004.5 m2/s2-K
H 1 0.4

cv = 1 R = 1 ´ 287 = 717.5 m2/s2-K

H 1 0.4
Therefore,
610 305
sB – sA = 1004.5 ´ ln + 717.5 ´ ln
333 610
= 608 – 497.3
= 110.7 Nm/kg-K

(b) For an isothermal change from A to D, TA = TD. For an isentropic change

from D to B, by Eq. (2.35), we have
T p
sB – sA = cp ln B – R ln B
TA pA

305 1.034 – 10 5
= 1004.5 ´ ln – 287 ´ ln
333 2.068 – 10 5
= –88.23 + 198.93
= 110.7 Nm/kg-K
 Basic Equations of Compressible Flow 35

Limitations of Air as a Perfect Gas

1. When the temperature is less than 500 K, air can be treated as a perfect
gas and the ratio of specific heats, g, takes a constant value of 1.4.
2. When the temperature lies between 500 K and 2000 K, air is only
thermally perfect, and the state equation p = r RT is valid, but g
becomes a function of temperature, g = g (T).
3. For temperatures more than 2000 K, air becomes both thermally and
calorically imperfect.
In supersonic flight with Mach number, say 2.0 (at sea level), the
temperature reached is already about 245°C (more than 500 K). But, for
500 K £ T £ 700 K, we can still use perfect gas equations and the error involved
in doing so will be negligible, i.e. for Mach number less than 2.68, perfect gas
equations can be used with slight error. For temperatures more than 700 K, we
must go for thermally perfect gas equations.
At this stage, we may have some doubt about the possible values of the
isentropic index g , when the flow medium is at a temperature which is quite high
and the medium cannot be assumed as perfect. This doubt can be cleared if we
consider that an ideal gas, which satisfies perfect gas equations, has
g = constant, independent of temperature. For a monatomic gas (He, Ar, Ne,
etc.), the simplest possible molecular structure gives g = 5/3. This prediction
is well confirmed by experiment. At the other extreme of molecular complexity,
very complicated molecules have large number of degrees of freedom, and
g may approach unity, which represents the minimum possible value, since
cp ³ cv by virtue of a general thermodynamic argument (see Eq. (B.6) in
Appendix B of Thompson, 1972). Then g necessarily has a range of values

5 •H •1
3
Experimental results show that most diatomic gases, nitrogen and oxygen,
in particular, have g = 7/5 at room temperature, gradually tending to g = 9/7 at
a few thousand kelvin.

2.6 SUMMARY
In this chapter we introduced and discussed the basic concepts of
thermodyamics. Thermodynamics is the science that primarily deals with
energy. The first law of thermodynamics is simply an expression of the
conservation of energy principle.
The second law of thermodynamics asserts that actual processes occur in
the direction of increasing entropy.
A system of fixed mass is called a closed system, or control mass, and a
system that involves mass transfer across its boundaries is called an open
system, or control volume.
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Title: Compromises

Author: Agnes Repplier

Release date: February 26, 2024 [eBook #73041]

Language: English

Original publication: Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company,

1904

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 By Agnes Repplier
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COMPROMISES
 COMPROMISES
BY

AGNES REPPLIER, Litt. D.

“On court, hélas! après la vérité;

Ah! croyez moi, l’erreur a son mérite.”
Voltaire

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1905
COPYRIGHT 1904 BY AGNES REPPLIER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Published September 1904

To C. F.
 CONTENTS
The Luxury of Conversation 1
The Gayety of Life 20
The Point of View 34
Marriage in Fiction 49
Our Belief in Books 66
The Beggar’s Pouch 88
The Pilgrim’s Staff 105
A Quaker Diary 125
French Love-Songs 153
The Spinster 170
The Tourist 185
The Headsman 199
Consecrated to Crime 219
Allegra 240
 COMPROMISES

THE LUXURY OF CONVERSATION

Of indoor entertainments, the truest and most human is
conversation.—Mark Pattison.

In an age when everybody is writing Reminiscences, and when

nothing is left untold, we hear a great deal about the wit and
brilliancy of former days and former conversations. Elderly
gentlemen, conscious of an ever increasing dulness in life, would
fain have us believe that its more vivacious characteristics vanished
with their youth, and can never be tempted to return. Mournful
prophecies anent the gradual decay of social gifts assail us on every
side. Mr. Justin McCarthy, recalling with a sigh the group of semi-
distinguished men who were wont to grace George Eliot’s Sunday
afternoons, can “only hope that the art of talking is not destined to
die out with the art of letter-writing.” Mr. George W. E. Russell
entertains similar misgivings. He found his ideal talker in Mr.
Matthew Arnold, “a man of the world without being frivolous, and a
man of letters without being pedantic;” and he considers this
admirable combination as necessary as it is rare. American
chroniclers point back to a little gleaming band of Northern lights,
and assure us sadly that if we never heard these men in their prime,
we must live and die uncheered by wit or wisdom. We are born in a
barren day.
 But conversation, the luxury of conversation, as De Quincey
happily phrases it, does not depend upon one or two able talkers. It
is not, and never has been, a question of stars, but of a good stock
company. Neither can it decay like the art—or the habit—of letter-
writing. The conditions are totally different. Letters form a by-path of
literature, a charming, but occasional, retreat for people of cultivated
leisure. Conversation in its happiest development is a link, equally
exquisite and adequate, between mind and mind, a system by which
men approach one another with sympathy and enjoyment, a field for
the finest amenities of civilization, for the keenest and most
intelligent display of social activity. It is also our solace, our
inspiration, and our most rational pleasure. It is a duty we owe to
one another; it is our common debt to humanity. “God has given us
tongues,” writes Heine, “wherewith we may say pleasant things to
our neighbours.” To refuse a service so light, so sweet, so fruitful, is
to be unworthy of the inheritance of the ages.
It is claimed again, by critics disposed to be pessimistic, that our
modern development of “specialism” is prejudicial to good
conversation. A man devoted to one subject can seldom talk well
upon any other. Unless his companions share his tastes and his
knowledge, he must—a sad alternative—either lecture or be still.
There are people endowed with such a laudable thirst for
information that they relish lectures,—professional and gratuitous.
They enjoy themselves most when they are being instructed. They
are eager to form an audience. Such were the men and women who
experienced constant disappointment because Mr. Browning, a
specialist of high standing, declined to discuss his specialty. No side-
lights upon “Sordello” could be extracted from him. We realize how
far the spirit of the lecture had intruded upon the spirit of
conversation forty years ago, when Mr. Bagehot admitted that, with
good modern talkers, “the effect seems to be produced by that
which is stated, and not by the manner in which it is stated,”—a
reversal of ancient rules. We are aware of its still further
encroachment when we see a little book by M. Charles Rozan,
characteristically christened “Petites Ignorances de la Conversation,”
and find it full of odds and ends of information, of phrases, allusions,
quotations, facts,—all the minute details which are presumably
embodied in the talk of educated men. The world to-day devoutly
believes that everything can be taught and learned. When we have
been shown how a thing is done, we can of course do it. There are
even little manuals composed with serious simplicity, the object of
which is to enable us to meet specialists on their own grounds; to
discuss art with artists, literature with authors, politics with
politicians, science with scientists,—the last, surely, a dangerous
experiment. “Conversation,” I read in one of these enchanting
primers, “cannot be entirely learned from books,”—a generous
admission in a day given over to the worship of print.
But in good truth, the contagious ardour, the urbane freedom of
the spoken word lift it immeasurably from the regions of pen and
ink. Those “shy revelations of affinity,” which now and then open to
the reader sweet vistas of familiarity and friendship, are frequent,
alluring, persuasive, in well-ordered speech. It is not what we learn
in conversation that enriches us. It is the elation that comes of swift
contact with tingling currents of thought. It is the opening of our
mental pores, and the stimulus of marshaling our ideas in words, of
setting them forth as gallantly and as graciously as we can. “A
language long employed by a delicate and critical society,” says Mr.
Bagehot, “is a treasure of dexterous felicities;” and the recognition
of these felicities, the grading of terms, the enlarging of a narrow
and stupid vocabulary make the charm of civilized social contact.
Discussion without asperity, sympathy without fusion, gayety
unracked by too abundant jests, mental ease in approaching one
another,—these are the things which give a pleasant smoothness to
the rough edge of life.
So much has been said about good talkers,—brilliant soloists for
the most part,—and so little about good talk! So much has been said
about good listeners, and so little about the interchange of thought!
“Silent people never spoil company,” remarked Lord Chesterfield; but
even this negative praise was probably due to the type of silence
with which he was best acquainted,—a habit of sparing speech, not
the muffled stillness of genuine and hopeless incapacity. A man who
listens because he has nothing to say can hardly be a source of
inspiration. The only listening that counts is that of the talker who
alternately absorbs and expresses ideas. Sainte-Beuve says of
Fontenelle that, while he had neither tears nor laughter, he smiled at
wit, never interrupted, was never excited, nor ever in a hurry to
speak. These are endearing traits. They embody much of the art of
conversation. But they are as remote from unadorned silence as
from unconsidered loquacity.
The same distinction may be drawn between the amenity which
forbids bickering, and the flabbiness which has neither principles to
uphold, nor arguments with which to uphold them. Hazlitt’s counsel,
“You should prefer the opinion of the company to your own,” is good
in the main, but it can easily be pushed too far. Proffered by a man
who bristled with opinions which he never wearied of defending, it is
perhaps more interesting than persuasive. If everybody floated with
the tide of talk, placidity would soon end in stagnation. It is the
strong backward stroke which stirs the ripples, and gives animation
and variety. “Unison is a quality altogether obnoxious in
conversation,” said Montaigne, who was at least as tolerant as Hazlitt
was combative, but who dearly loved stout words from honest men.
Dr. Johnson, we know, was of a similar way of thinking. He scorned
polite tepidity; he hated chatter; he loved that unfeeling logic which
drives mercilessly to its goal. No man knew better than he the
unconvincing nature of argument. He had too often thrust his friends
from the fortress of sound reason which they were not strong
enough to hold. But his talk, for all its aggressiveness, and for all its
tendency to negation, was real talk; not—as with Coleridge—a
monologue, nor—as with Macaulay—a lecture. He did not infringe
upon other people’s conversational freeholds, and he was not, be it
always remembered, anecdotal. The man who lived upon “potted
stories” inspired him with righteous antipathy.
Perhaps the saddest proof of intellectual inertia, of our failure to
meet one another with ease and understanding, is the tendency to
replace conversation by story-telling. It is no uncommon thing to
hear a man praised as a good talker, when he is really a good
raconteur. People will speak complacently of a “brilliant dinner,” at
which strings of anecdotes, disconnected and illegitimate, have
usurped the field, to the total exclusion of ideas. After an
entertainment of this order—like a feast of buns and barley sugar—
we retire with mental indigestion for a fortnight. That it should be
relished betrays the crudeness of social conditions. “Of all the bores,”
writes De Quincey with unwonted ill-temper, “whom man in his folly
hesitates to hang, and Heaven in its mysterious wisdom suffers to
propagate his species, the most insufferable is the teller of good
stories.” This is a hard saying. The story, like its second cousin the
lie, has a sphere of usefulness. It is a help in moments of
emergency, and it serves admirably to illustrate a text. But it is not,
and never can be, a substitute for conversation. People equipped
with reason, sentiment, and a vocabulary should have something to
talk about, some common ground on which they can meet, and
penetrate into one another’s minds. The exquisite pleasure of
interchanging ideas, of awakening to suggestions, of finding
sympathy and companionship, is as remote from the languid
amusement yielded by story-telling as a good play is remote from
the bald diversion of the music hall.
Something to talk about appears to be the first consideration.
The choice of a topic, or rather the possession of a topic which will
bear analysis and support enthusiasm, is essential to the enjoyment
of conversation. We cannot go far along a stony track. Diderot
observed that whenever he was in the company of men and women
who were reading Richardson’s books, either privately or aloud, the
talk was sure to be animated and interesting. Some secret springs of
emotion were let loose by this great master of sentiment. Our
ancestors allowed themselves a wider field of discussion than we are
now in the habit of conceding; but after all, as Stevenson reminds
us, “it is not over the virtues of a curate-and-tea-party novel that
people are abashed into high resolutions.” We may not covet
Socratic discourses at the dinner table, but neither can we long
sustain what has been sadly and significantly called “the burden of
conversation” on the lines adopted by William the Fourth, who, when
he felt the absolute necessity of saying something, asked the Duke
of Devonshire where he meant to be buried.
The most perfect and pitiful pictures of intercourse stripped bare
of interest have been given us in Miss Austen’s novels. Reading
them, we grow sick at heart to think what depths of experience they
reflect, what hours of ennui lie back of every page. The conversation
of the ladies after Mrs. John Dashwood’s dinner must stand forever
as a perfect example of sustained stupidity, of that almost
miraculous dulness which can be achieved only by “want of sense,
want of elegance, want of spirits, and want of temper.” Equal to it in
its way is the brief description of Lady Middleton’s first call upon the
Dashwoods.
“Conversation was not lacking, for Sir John was very chatty, and
Lady Middleton had taken the wise precaution of bringing with her
their eldest child, a fine little boy about six years old. By this means
there was one subject always to be recurred to by the ladies in case
of extremity, for they had to enquire his name and age, admire his
beauty, and ask him questions which his mother answered for him,
while he hung about her and held down his head, to the great
surprise of her ladyship, who wondered at his being so shy before
company, as he could make noise enough at home. On every formal
visit a child ought to be of the party, by way of provision for
discourse. In the present case, it took up ten minutes to determine
whether the boy were most like his father or mother, and in what
particular he resembled either, for of course everybody differed, and
everybody was astonished at the opinion of the others.”
How real it is! How many of us have lived through similar half-
hours, veiling with decent melancholy the impetuous protest of our
souls!
Charles Greville is responsible for the rather unusual statement
that a dinner at which all the guests are fools is apt to be as
agreeable as a dinner at which all the guests are clever men. The
fools, he says, are tolerably sure to be gay, and the clever men are
perfectly sure to be heavy. How far the gayety of fools is an
engaging trait it might be difficult to decide (there is a text which
throws some doubt upon the subject), but Greville appears to have
suffered a good deal from the ponderous society of the learned. We
are struck in the first place by the very serious topics which made
the table-talk of his day. Do people now discuss primogeniture in
ancient Rome over their fish and game? It sounds almost as onerous
as the Socratic discourses. Then again it was his special hardship to
listen to the dissertations of Macaulay, and he resented this infliction
with all the ardour of a vain and accomplished man. “Macaulay’s
astonishing knowledge is every moment exhibited,” he writes in his
Memoirs, “but he is not agreeable. He has none of the graces of
conversation, none of the exquisite tact and refinement which are
the result of a felicitous intuition, or of a long acquaintance with
good society.... His information is more than society requires.”
The last line is a master-stroke of criticism. It embodies all that
goes before and all that follows,—for Greville airs his grievance at
length,—and it is admirably illustrated in his account of that famous
evening at Holland House, when Lady Holland, in captious mood,
rebelled against a course of instruction. Somebody having chanced
to mention Sir Thomas Munro, the hostess rashly admitted that she
had never heard of him, whereupon Macaulay “explained all he had
said, done, written, or thought, and vindicated his claim to the title
of a great man, till Lady Holland, getting bored, said she had had
enough of Sir Thomas, and would hear no more. This might have
dashed and silenced an ordinary talker; but to Macaulay it was no
more than replacing a book upon the shelf, and he was just as ready
as ever to open on any other topic.” The Fathers of the Church were
next discussed (it was not a frivolous company), and Macaulay at
once called to mind a sermon of Saint Chrysostom’s in praise of the
Bishop of Antioch. “He proceeded to give us the substance of this
sermon till Lady Holland got tired of the Fathers, and put her
extinguisher on Chrysostom as she had done on Munro. Then with a
sort of derision, and as if to have the pleasure of puzzling Macaulay,
she turned to him and said: ‘Pray what was the origin of a doll?
When were dolls first mentioned in history?’ Macaulay, however, was
just as much up in dolls as in the Fathers, and instantly replied that
the Roman children had their dolls, which they offered to Venus
when they grew older. He quoted Persius,—
‘Veneri donatae a virgine puppae,’
and I have not the least doubt that if he had been allowed to
proceed, he would have told us who was the Chenevix of ancient
Rome, and the name of the first baby that ever handled a doll.”
This was indeed more information than society required. It is not
surprising that Sydney Smith, perhaps the most charming talker of
his day, was quickly silenced by such an avalanche of words, and sat
mute and limp in the historian’s company. Upon one occasion
Greville went to visit the Marquis of Lansdowne at Bowood, and
found Macaulay among the guests. “It was wonderful how quiet the
house seemed after he had gone,” comments the diarist grimly, “and
it was not less agreeable.”
That a rude invasion of the field is fatal to the enjoyment of
intercourse we know from the sentiment of revolt expressed on
every side. How little the people who heard Mme. de Staël’s brilliant
conversation appear to have relished the privilege! Mackintosh
admitted that she was agreeable in a tête-à-tête, but too much for a
general assembly. Heine hated her, as a hurricane in petticoats. “She
hears but little, and never the truth, because she is always talking.”
Byron, who felt a genuine admiration for her cleverness, and was
grateful for her steadfast friendship, confessed ruefully that she
overwhelmed him with words, buried him beneath glittering snow
and nonsense. The art of being amusing in a lovable way was not
hers; yet this is essentially the art which lifted French conversation
to its highest level, which made it famous three hundred years ago,
and which has preserved it ever since as a rational and engaging
occupation. A page of history lies revealed and elucidated in Saint-
Simon’s little sentence anent Mme. de Maintenon’s fashion of
speech. “Her language was gentle, exact, well chosen, and naturally
eloquent and brief.”
 No wonder she reigned long. Eloquent and brief! What a
magnificent “blend”! How persuasive the “well-chosen” words,
immaculately free from harsh emphasis and the feminine fault of
iteration! Who would not be influenced by a woman who talked
always well, and never too much; who, knowing the value of flattery,
administered it with tact and moderation; and who shrank
instinctively from the exaggerated terms which destroy balance and
invite defeat? From the reign of Louis the Fourteenth to the
Revolution, conversation was cultivated in France with intelligent
assiduity. Its place in the fabric of civilization was clearly understood.
No time was begrudged to its development, no labour was spared to
its perfecting. Mr. Henry James is of the opinion that it flowered
brilliantly in the middle of the eighteenth century. “This was surely,”
he says, “in France at least, the age of good society, the period
when the right people made haste to be born in time. The sixty
years that preceded the Revolution were the golden age of fireside
talk, and of those amenities that are due to the presence of women
in whom the social art is both instinctive and acquired. The women
of that period were, above all, good company. The fact is attested in
a thousand documents. Chenonceaux offered a perfect setting to
free conversation; and infinite joyous discourse must have mingled
with the liquid murmur of the Cher.”
“Joyous discourse” is a beguiling phrase. It carries with it the
echo of laughter long since silenced,—light laughter following the
light words, so swiftly spoken, yet so surely placed. The time was
coming fast when this smooth graciousness of speech would inspire
singular mistrust, and when Rousseau—ardently embracing nature—
would write of the “fine and delicate irony called politeness, which
gives so much ease and pliability to the intercourse of civilized man,
enabling him to assume the appearance of every virtue without the
reality of one.” Later on, illusions being dispelled, the painful
discovery was made that the absence of politeness does not
necessarily imply the presence of virtue, and that taciturnity may be
wholly disassociated with the truth. We owe to one another all the
wit and good humour we can command; and nothing so clears our
mental vistas as sympathetic and intelligent conversation. It can
never languish in an age like ours, teeming with new interests widely
shared, and with new wonders widely known. We must talk, because
we have so much to talk about; and we ought to talk well, because
our inspirations are of a noble order. Each new discovery made by
science, each fresh emotion awakened by contemporaneous history,
each successive pleasure yielded by literature or by art is a spur to
rational speech. These things are our common heritage, and we
share them in common, through the medium of the aptly spoken
word.
 THE GAYETY OF LIFE
Grief is the sister of doubt and ill-temper, and, beyond all
spirits, destroyeth man.—Shepherd of Hermas.

In the beginning of the last century an ingenious gentleman, Mr.

James Beresford, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, diverted himself
and—let us hope—his friends, by drawing up and publishing an
exhaustive list of the minor miseries of life. It is a formidable
document, realistic in character, and ill calculated to promote the
spirit of content. No one would ever imagine that so many
disagreeable things could happen in the ordinary course of
existence, until the possibilities of each and every one are plainly
and pitilessly defined. Some of these possibilities have passed away
in the hundred years that lie between King George’s day and ours;
but others remain for our better discipline and subjection. Political
discussions at the dinner-table rank high among Mr. Beresford’s
grievances; also weak tea,—“an infusion of balm, sage, and
rosemary,” he calls it,—and “being expected to be interested in a
baby.”
A great deal of modern literature, and not a little modern
conversation, closely resemble this unhappy gentleman’s “black list.”
There is the same earnest desire to point out what we would rather
not observe. Life is so full of miseries, minor and major; they press
so close upon us at every step of the way, that it is hardly worth
while to call one another’s attention to their presence. People who
do this thing on a more imposing scale than Mr. Beresford are
spoken of respectfully as “unfaltering disciples of truth,” or as
“incapable of childish self-delusion,” or as “looking with clear eyes
into life’s bitter mysteries;” whereas in reality they are merely
dwelling on the obvious, and the obvious is the one thing not worth
consideration. We are all painfully aware of the seamy side, because
we are scratched by the seams. What we want to contemplate is the
beauty and the smoothness of that well-ordered plan which it is so
difficult for us to discern. When Burke counselled a grave and
anxious gentleman to “live pleasant,” he was turning him aside from
the ordinary aspects of existence.
There is a charming and gracious dogma of Roman Catholicism
which would have us believe that all good deeds and holy prayers
make up a spiritual treasury, a public fund, from which are drawn
consolation for the church suffering, and strength for the church
militant. A similar treasury (be it reverently spoken) holds for us all
the stored-up laughter of the world, and from it comes human help
in hours of black dejection. Whoever enriches this exchequer should
be held a benefactor of his race. Whoever robs it—no matter what
heroic motives he may advance in extenuation of the deed—has
sinned heavily against his fellow men. For the gayety of life, like the
beauty and the moral worth of life, is a saving grace, which to ignore
is folly, and to destroy is crime. There is no more than we need,—
there is barely enough to go round. If we waste our little share, if
we extinguish our little light, the treasury is that much poorer, and
our neighbour walks in gloom.
The thinkers of the world should by rights be the guardians of
the world’s mirth; but thinking is a sorry business, and a period of
critical reflection, following a period of vigorous and engrossing
activity, is apt to breed the “plaintive pessimist,” whose self-
satisfaction is disproportionate to his worth. Literature, we are
assured by its practitioners, “exists to please;” but it has some
doubtful methods of imparting pleasure. If, indeed, we sit down to
read books on degeneracy and kindred topics, we have no reason to
complain of what we find in them. It is not through such gates as
these that we seek an escape from mortality. But why should poets
and essayists and novelists be so determinedly depressing? Why
should “the earnest prophetic souls who tear the veil from our
illusory national prosperity”—I quote from a recent review—be so
warmly praised for their vandalism? Heaven knows they are always
tearing the veil from something, until there is hardly a rag left for
decency. Yet there are few nudities so objectionable as the naked
truth. Granted that our habit of exaggerating the advantages of
modern civilization and of modern culture does occasionally provoke
and excuse plain speaking, there is no need of a too merciless
exposure, a too insulting refutation of these agreeable fallacies. If
we think ourselves well off, we are well off. If, dancing in chains, we
believe ourselves free, we are free, and he is not our benefactor who
weighs our shackles. Reformers have unswervingly and unpityingly
decreased the world’s content that they might better the world’s
condition. The first part of their task is quickly done. The second
halts betimes. Count Tolstoi has, with the noblest intentions, made
many a light step heavy, and many a gay heart sad.
As for poets and novelists, their sin is unprovoked and
unpardonable. Story-telling is not a painful duty. It is an art which, in
its best development, adds immeasurably to the conscious pleasure
of life. It is an anodyne in hours of suffering, a rest in hours of
weariness, and a stimulus in hours of health and joyous activity. It
can be made a vehicle for imparting instruction, for destroying
illusions, and for dampening high spirits; but these results, though
well thought of in our day, are not essential to success. Want and
disease are mighty factors in life; but they have never yet inspired a
work of art. The late Professor Boyesen has indeed recorded his
unqualified delight at the skill with which Russian novelists describe
the most unpleasant maladies. He said enthusiastically that, after
reading one of these masterpieces, he felt himself developing some
of the very symptoms which had been so accurately portrayed; but
to many readers this would be scant recommendation. It is not
symptoms we seek in stories. The dullest of us have imagination
enough to invent them for ourselves.
“Poverty,” said old Robert Burton, “is a most odious calling,” and
it has not grown any more enjoyable in the past three hundred
years. Nothing is less worth while than to idealize its discomforts,
unless it be to sourly exaggerate them. There is no life so hard as to
be without compensations, especially for those who take short
views; and the view of poverty seldom goes beyond the needs of the
hour and their fulfilment. But there has arisen of late years a school
of writers—for the most part English, though we have our
representatives—who paint realistically the squalor and
wretchedness of penury, without admitting into their pictures one
ray of the sunshine that must sometimes gild the dreariest hovel or
the meanest street. A notable example of this black art was Mr.
George Gissing, whose novels are too powerful to be ignored, and
too depressing to be forgotten. The London of the poor is not a
cheerful place; it is perhaps the most cheerless place in
Christendom; but this is the way it appeared in Mr. Gissing’s eyes
when he was compelled to take a suburban train:—
“Over the pest-stricken region of East London, sweltering in
sunlight which served only to reveal the intimacies of abomination;
across miles of a city of the damned, such as thought never
conceived before this age of ours; above streets swarming with a
nameless populace, cruelly exposed by the unwonted light of
heaven; stopping at stations which it crushes the heart to think
should be the destination of any mortal,—the train made its way at
length beyond the outmost limits of dread, and entered upon a land
of level meadows, of hedges and trees, of crops and cattle.”
Surely this is a trifle strained. The “nameless populace” would be
not a little surprised to hear itself described with such dark
eloquence. I remember once encountering in a third-class English
railway carriage a butcher-boy—he confided to me his rank and
profession—who waxed boastful over the size and wealth of London.
“It’s the biggest city in the world, that’s wot it is; it’s got five millions
of people in it, that’s wot it’s got; and I’m a Londoner, that’s wot I
am,” he said, glowing with pride that was not without merit in one of
mean estate. The “city of the damned” appeared a city of the gods
to this young son of poverty.
Such books sin against the gayety of life.
 All the earth round,
If a man bear to have it so,
Things which might vex him shall be found;

and there is no form of sadness more wasteful than that which is

bred of a too steadfast consideration of pain. It is not generosity of
spirit which feeds this mood. The sorrowful acceptance of life’s
tragedies is of value only when it prompts us to guard more
jealously, or to impart more freely, life’s manifold benefactions. Mr.
Pater has subtly defined the mental attitude which is often mistaken
for sympathy, but which is a mere ineffectual yielding to depression
over the sunless scenes of earth.
“He”—Carl of Rosenmold—“had fits of the gloom of other
people, their dull passage through and exit from the world, the
threadbare incidents of their lives, their dismal funerals, which,
unless he drove them away immediately by strenuous exercise,
settled into a gloom more properly his own. Yet, at such times,
outward things would seem to concur unkindly in deepening the
mental shadows about him.”
This is precisely the temper which finds expression in much
modern verse. Its perpetrators seem wrapped in endless
contemplation of other people’s gloom, until, having absorbed all
they can hold, they relieve their oppressed souls by unloading it in
song. Women are especially prone to mournful measures, and I am
not without sympathy for that petulant English critic who declined to
read their poetry on the plea that it was “all dirges.” But men can be
mourners, too, and—

In all the endless road you tread

There’s nothing but the night,
is too often the burden of their verse, the unsolicited assurance with
which they cheer us on our way. We do not believe them, of course,
except in moments of dejection; but these are just the moments in
which we would like to hear something different. When our share of
gayety is running pitifully low, and the sparks of joy are dying on
life’s hearth, we have no courage to laugh down the voices of those
who, “wilfully living in sadness, speak but the truths thereof.”
Hazlitt, who was none too happy, but who strove manfully for
happiness, used to say that he felt a deeper obligation to Northcote
than to any of his other friends who had done him far greater
service, because Northcote’s conversation was invariably gay and
agreeable. “I never ate nor drank with him; but I have lived on his
words with undiminished relish ever since I can remember; and
when I leave him, I come out into the street with feelings lighter and
more ethereal than I have at any other time.” Here is a debt of
friendship worth recording, and blither hearts than Hazlitt’s have
treasured similar benefactions. Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson gladly
acknowledged his gratitude to people who set him smiling when
they came his way, or who smiled themselves from sheer
cheerfulness of heart. They never knew—not posing as
philanthropists—how far they helped him on his road; but he knew,
and has thanked them in words not easily forgotten:—
“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being
happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world,
which remain unknown even to ourselves, or, when they are
disclosed, surprise nobody so much as the benefactor.... A happy
man or woman is a better thing to find than a five-pound note. He
or she is a radiating focus of good-will; and their entrance into a
room is as though another candle had been lighted.”
There is little doubt that the somewhat indiscriminate admiration
lavished upon Mr. Stevenson himself was due less to his literary than
to his personal qualities. People loved him, not because he was an
admirable writer, but because he was a cheerful consumptive. There
has been far too much said about his ill health, and nothing is so
painful to contemplate as the lack of reserve on the part of relatives
and executors which thrusts every detail of a man’s life before the
public eye. It provokes maudlin sentiment on the one side, and
ungracious asperity on the other. But, in Mr. Stevenson’s case,
silence is hard to keep. He was a sufferer who for many years
increased the gayety of life.
Genius alone can do this on a large scale; but everybody can do
it on a little one. Our safest guide is the realization of a hard truth,—
that we are not privileged to share our troubles with other people. If
we could make up our minds to spare our friends all details of ill
health, of money losses, of domestic annoyances, of altercations, of
committee work, of grievances, provocations, and anxieties, we
should sin less against the world’s good-humour. It may not be given
us to add to the treasury of mirth; but there is considerable merit in
not robbing it. I have read that “the most objectionable thing in the
American manner is excessive cheerfulness,” and I would like to
believe that so pardonable a fault is the worst we have to show. It is
not our mission to depress, and one recalls with some satisfaction
Saint-Simon’s remark anent Madame de Maintenon, whom he
certainly did not love. Courtiers less astute wondered at the
enduring charm which this middle-aged woman, neither handsome
nor witty, had for her royal husband. Saint-Simon held the clue. It
was her “decorous gayety” which soothed Louis’s tired heart. “She
so governed her humours that, at all times and under all
circumstances, she preserved her cheerfulness of demeanour.”
There is little profit in asking ourselves or others whether life be
a desirable possession. It is thrust upon us, without concurrence on
our part. Unless we can abolish compulsory birth, our relish for the
situation is not a controlling force. “Every child,” we are told, “is sent
to school a hundred years before he is born;” but he can neither
profit by his schooling nor refuse his degree. Here we are in a world
which holds much pain and many pleasures, oceans of tears and
echoes of laughter. Our position is not without dignity, because we
can endure; and not without enjoyment, because we can be merry.
Gayety, to be sure, requires as much courage as endurance; but
without courage the battle of life is lost. “To reckon dangers too
curiously, to hearken too intently for the threat that runs through all
the winning music of the world, to hold back the hand from the rose
because of the thorn, and from life because of death,—this is to be
afraid of Pan.”
 THE POINT OF VIEW
Look contentedly upon the scattered difference of things.—
Sir Thomas Browne.

Fiction is the only field in which women started abreast with men,
and have not lagged far behind. Their success, though in no wise
brilliant, has been sufficiently assured to call forth a vast deal of
explanation from male critics, who deem it necessary to offer
reasons for what is not out of reason, to elucidate what can never
be a mystery. Not very many years ago a contributor to the
“Westminster Review” asserted seriously that “the greater
affectionateness” of women enabled them to write stories, and that
“the domestic experiences, which form the bulk of their knowledge,
find an appropriate place in novels. The very nature of fiction calls
for that predominance of sentiment which befits the feminine mind.”
It is not easy, however, to account for Miss Austen and Miss
Brontë, for George Eliot and George Sand, on the score of
“affectionateness” and domesticity. The quality of their work has
won for them and for their successors the privilege of being judged
by men’s standards, and of being forever exempt from that fatal
word, “considering.” All that is left of the half-gallant, half-
condescending tone with which critics indulgently praised “Evelina” is
a well-defined and clearly expressed sentiment in favour of women’s
heroines, and a corresponding reluctance—on the part of men at
least—to tolerate their heroes. Mr. Henley voiced the convictions of
his sex when he declared his readiness to accept, “with the humility
of ignorance, and something of the learner’s gratitude,” all of George
Eliot’s women, “from Romola down to Mrs. Pullet” (up to Mrs. Pullet,
one would rather say), and his lively mistrust of the “governesses in
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