Practice Set I

1.

AE211a - Incompressible Aerodynamics

Jan 14, '15

With reference to the following block diagram, answer the questions that follow.

Fig 1: Block diagram for problem 1

2.

a. Calculate lift and drag in terms of and .

b. What is the physical implication of . How is it related to the efficiency
of the device?
c. What is the role of here?
With reference to the following figure, answer the questions that follow.

Fig 2: Flow diagram for problem 2

()

=

a. Analyse the above control volume by momentum integral theory (assume

steady, incompressible flow).
b. What is the mass flow through ? What happens to this mass flow for
?

 = ), low-speed flow approaches a very thin, flat-plate

3.
A steady, uniform (
airfoil whose length is c. Because of the viscosity, the flow near the plate slows, such
that velocity measurements at the trailing edge of the plate indicate that the xcomponent of the velocity (above the plate) varies as

= ( )

Below the plate, the velocity is a mirror image of this profile. The pressure was found to
be uniform over the entire control surface. Neglecting the body forces, what is the drag
coefficient for this flow if = 0.01c ? The drag coefficient is the drag per unit span
divided by the free-stream dynamic pressure times the reference area per unit span
(which is the chord length c):

Fig 3: Flow diagram for problem 3

4.
Velocity profiles are measured at the upstream end (surface 1) and at the
downstream end (surface 2) of a rectangular control volume, as shown in Fig 4. If the
flow is incompressible, two-dimensional, and steady, what is the total volumetric flow
rate across the horizontal surfaces (surfaces 3 and 4)?

Fig 4: Flow diagram for problem 4

5.
Velocity profiles are measured at the upstream end (surface 1) and at the
downstream end (surface 2) of the control volume shown in Fig 5. The flow is
incompressible, two-dimensional, and steady. If the surfaces 3 and 4 are streamlines,
what is the vertical dimension of the upstream station ( ) ?
2

Fig 5: Flow diagram for problem 5

6-7. Critically examine and comment on the "streamlines" describing the flow fields in
Figs. 6 and 7.

Fig 6: Taken from p. 379 of Fundamentals of Aerodynamics, J. D. Anderson, fifth edition

Fig 7: Taken from p. 93 of Aerodynamics for Engineers, Bertin & Smith, second edition

8.
The temperature profile in a particularly defined atmosphere is given by () =
(. . ) + (see Fig 8), where T is temperature in degree
celsius and z is altitude in km. is lapse rate at sea-level.

Fig 8: Temperature variation with height

Investigate the stability of this profile inside the troposphere (z 11 km) with as the
parameter. Find the value of for which the profile smoothly transitions at the
tropopause.