NPTEL Online - IIT Bombay

Course Name Optical Measurement

Techniques in Thermal
Science

Department Mechanical Engineering

IIT Kanpur

Instructors Dr. K. Muralidhar

Dr. P.K. Panigrahi

Course Description

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Module 1: Introduction to Experimental Techniques

Lecture 1: Role of experiments in engineering

The Lecture Contains:

Introduction

Role of Experiments in Engineering

Determination of Fluid Properties

Experiment as an Aid to Improved Modelling
Study of Natural Phenomena and Their Applications
Testing of Hypothesis

Layout of a Fluid Flow Experiment

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Module 1: Introduction to Experimental Techniques

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Introduction to Experimental Techniques:

Introduction

Engineers are often required to design and analyze processes that involve spatial and temporal
variations in the relevant parameters. Examples range from heat and mass exchangers, engines,
turbines, all the way to aircrafts and submarines. In such applications, design and analysis are
facilitated by experiments on a laboratory scale, so that critical phenomena can be localized and
studied in detail. The present chapter surveys the conceptual framework needed to conduct dedicated,
laboratory scale experiments.

The process being designed may comprise intermediate steps which are elementary, or may be in the
form of a network of components that are individually simple. In each case, the system design can
proceed from first principles applied to the components, wherein the model parameters are estimated
from engineering handbooks. At the other end, one may encounter systems of great geometric,
structural or phenomenological complexity. The first-principles approach in these cases may either
work out to be too complicated or may not be possible at all. In such cases, experimental techniques
become useful since the system can be subjected to a known input function and its response can be
measured in real-time under reference conditions.

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Experimental techniques in engineering are generally used in the following contexts.

1. To explore system performance under a variety of input conditions. (This is also

called process identification )

2. To generate calibration data for parameter estimation.

3. To test hypothesis which go into building a mathematical model.

Irrespective of the final goal, experiments have to be carried out on a definite piece of hardware with
all the accompanying instruments and measurement systems. For systems that are massive in size, a
scaling down may be required; for those which are miniature systems a scaling up operation is
required. Accordingly, the measured data will have to be scaled before being applied to the real
systems. Scaling principles are often referred as similitude. Scaling principles can be developed in
many applications by performing a dimensional analysis of the input (controlled) and output
(uncontrolled) variables.

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The need to construct a physical setup gives rise to the question of cost. In many applications, the
cost of instrumentation may also be quite high. Thus, the central issues such as experiments versus
utilization of published data, simple and inexpensive versus complex and expensive experiments,
short versus long, scaled versus prototype and detailed versus cursory experiments have to be
carefully addressed. From an engineering point-of-view, economic viability will play a decisive role in
the nature of experiment to be conducted.

NOTES:

1. The procedure that is needed to construct the experimental apparatus itself involves design.

2. The phrase design of experiments used in later sections refers not to that of the apparatus, but to
the experimental procedure that will maximize the information derived.

3. Discussion on specific issues in the present chapter uses terminology that would be familiar to
engineers, rather than statisticians.

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Module 1: Introduction to Experimental Techniques

Lecture 1:

Role of Experiments in Engineering

Laboratory experiments are important for improving our understanding of physical phenomena that
occur in nature as well as in engineering equipment. The present chapter discusses experimental
techniques used in studies related to fluid mechanics and heat transfer.

Determination of Fluid Properties

In continuum mechanics the physical principles of mass balance and Newton's second law of motion
are supplemented by constitutive relations that describe material behavior. For example, the stress-
strain rate relationship for a Newtonian fluid is written as

Here is the stress tensor, the rate of strain tensor, the Kronecker-delta, the velocity vector
and the thermodynamics pressure. Quantities and appearing appearing in this equation are
material dependent parameters and are hence fluid properties. These must be determined from
simple laboratory experiments in which , , and are independently known. Once and are
tabulated for a variety of fluids the constitutive relation becomes a useful tool for solving engineering
problems.

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Another example is Fourier's law of diffusion of thermal energy given as

where is the diffusive heat flux vector, the temperature gradient and the thermal conductivity.
The usefulness of this relationship depends on the availability of the value of of the material being
studied. This property in turn must be determined from laboratory experiments.

Besides material properties, certain flows admit universal behaviour independent of the choice of the
fluid. For example, in a fully developed turbulent boundary-layer the mixing length scale as

where is the distance from the wall, is boundary-layer thickness and and are universal
constants that represent the state of the flow. These constants must be determined from laboratory
experiments.

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Experiment as an Aid to Improved Modelling

Boundary-layer theory was developed when Prandtl observed in wind tunnel experiments that velocity
gradients were confined to a small layer close to the solid wall. In recent years, laboratory
experiments have revealed the existence of coherent structures even in relatively continuous flows; an
example is shown in Figure 1.1 for a mixing-layer. The wave-like structures of Figure 1.1 increase
the amount of entrainment and substantially increase heat transfer.

Figure 1.1: Schematic Drawing of a Mixing-layer

These examples show that experiments can bring to light unknown and unexpected phenomena and
lead to the development of new theories.

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Study of Natural Phenomena and their Applications

Probes are being sent to far reaches of the atmosphere to study wind patterns, turbulence, cloud
properties and the origin of this planet's climate. Similarly one cuts through various layers of earth to
determine the pattern of distribution of groundwater or the presence of oil reserves. These are
examples of field experiments, as against laboratory where one studies localized phenomena.

Testing of Hypothesis

One of the primary roles of laboratory experiments is to test hypotheses that are required in
developing a theory. Some of the hypotheses that have been experimentally validated are:

Linear stress-strain rate relation for commonly occurring fluids such as air, water and thin oils.
Mixing-length hypothesis for a fully developed turbulent boundary-layer.
Onset of transition in boundary-layers in the form of two-dimensional periodic disturbances.
Mathematical analogy between convective heat and mass transfer.

Experimental confirmation of approximations is a vital confidence-building measure that posits

reliability to modeling and analysis of real-life engineering systems.

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Module 1: Introduction to Experimental Techniques

Lecture 1: Role of experiments in engineering

Layout of a Fluid Flow Experiment

An experimental setup consists of certain essential elements which enable the measurement of
physical quantities such as velocity, pressure and temperature at distinct locations in the flow domain.
The physical domain is a fluid region in which velocity, pressure and temperature fields are
present. The fields vary in general from point to point and with time. A probe is located in the flow
and its state is altered corresponding to changes in the flow quantity to be measured. In principle the
probe does not affect the flow itself. The measurement system senses the altered state of the
probe and generates a signal that can be understood by the observer. Alternatively, it produces an
electrical signal, which can be amplified, filtered and digitized by a signal analyzer. This signal can
be conveniently displayed on an output device such as voltmeter or stored in a computer for data
processing. Usually the observer receives the output of a probe as an electrical voltage generated by
the measurement system. When the output of the probe is an electrical signal it is
called a transducer.

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The curve or a relationship connecting the voltage to the local fluid velocity or pressure is called a
calibration curve. The layout of an experimental setup is shown in Figure 1.2. Present-day
experimental setups replace the data storage unit by a computer that not only stores data but can
begin and end the experiment itself .

Figure 1.2: Schematic Drawing of an Experimental Setup.

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An example of a calibration curve for a hot-wire anemometer is shown in Figure 1.3. It is natural for
the flow to have a certain amount of fluctuation, say superimposed on a mean value This will
manifest as a fluctuation on the volatge generated in the experimental setup. The relationship
between and is determinded as follows: From the calibration curve, we have

Figure 1.3: Example of a Calibration Curve.

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Applying Taylor's series approximation for a small change in the value of

where the series has been truncated after the first term. Setting and , we get

Here, the quantity is the gradient of the calibration curve evaluated at the operating point
. The error due to truncating the Taylor series is usually small if . The
truncation error in calculating can be reduced by working with an extended Taylor's series
expansion

wherein the higher order term has been included. This approach is useful
provided the higher order derivative can be determined accurately. In practice, the calibration curve is
experimentally constructed and these higher order derivatives can be computed only with substantial
error.

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