BOSE, JUDY ANN BAHO D.

BSCHE-3
01-29-16

DIMENTIONLESS NUMBERS STANDARD DEFINITION

FIELD OF APPLICATION
SYMBOL

gh 1
Richardson number Ri Ri= 2
= 2
u Fr
fluid dynamics (effect of
buoyancy on flow
stability;

ratio of potential over

kinetic energy)

L2
Roshko number Ro Ro= =StRe
v
fluid dynamics (oscillating

flow, vortex shedding)

v
Schmidt number Sc Sc=
D
mass transfer (viscous over

molecular diffusion rate).

Shape factor H H=

boundary layer flow (ratio

of displacement thickness
to momentum thickness).

KL
Sherwood number Sh Sh=
D
mass transfer (forced convect-

ion; ratio of convective to

diffusive mass transport)

r 2
Sommerfeld number S S= ()
c
N / P

hydrodynamic lubrication;

(Boundary lubrication)

h Nu
Stanton number St St= =
cp . .V RePr
heat transfer and fluid dynamics

. Uo
Stokes number Stk or S k Stk=
d
particles suspensions (ratio
of characteristic time
of

particle to time of flow.)

L
Strouhal number St St=
U
Vortex shedding (ratio of

characteristic oscillatory
velocity to ambient flow

velocity).

2 L 2
B Ha
Stuart number N N= =
U
magnetohydrodynamics ( ratio

of electromagnetic to inertial

forces).

H X2
Ursell number U U=
h3
wave mechanics (nonlinearity
of surface gravity
waves on a
shallow fluid layer).