Hello!

You are consulting an examination paper from the archives

at https://fluidmech.ninja/.
In the winter semester 2020-2021, the general structure of the
examination will be largely the same as in this archive. Neverthe-
less, because the course content progressively changes from year
to year, there are a few differences. In former years,

• The course contained a chapter about compressible air flow

(involving tables for air properties) that is no longer part of
the course now;

• Conversely, several chapters have been added to the exam-

inable content over the years;

• The course contained a duct flow problem involving a ball

fountain (“Kugel fountain”) that is no longer part of the
course now;

• Viscosity values were read in a different diagram, and may

not match values read in the 2020 viscosity diagram;

• Many small updates in the notation had not yet been carried
out.

To obtain precise information about the next examination, consult

the dedicated appendix in the lecture notes. If you have questions,
contact me as detailed in the course syllabus. Thanks, and good
luck in your revisions!
Olivier Cleynen
December 2020
 Final exam — May 2015
Fluid Mechanics for Masters Students
Duration: 2 h – Use of calculator is authorized; documents are not authorized.

Except otherwise indicated, we assume that fluids are Newtonian, and that:
ρwater = 1 000 kg m −3 ; p atm. = 1 bar; ρatm. = 1,225 kg m −3 ; µatm. = 1,5 · 10 −5 N s m −2 ;
д = 9,81 m s −2 . Air is modeled as a perfect gas (R air = 287 J K −1 kg −1 ; γair = 1,4).

Reynolds Transport Theorem:

$ "
dB sys d
= ρb dV + ρb (V~rel · n~ ) dA (1)
dt dt CV CS

Mass conservation:
$ "
dm sys d
= 0 = ρ dV + ρ (V~rel · n~ ) dA (2)
dt dt CV CS

Change in linear momentum:

$ "
d(mV~sys ) d
= F~net = ρV~ dV + ρV~ (V~rel · n~ ) dA (3)
dt dt CV CS

Change in angular momentum:

$ "
d(~r Xm ∧ mV~ )sys d
~ net,X =
= M ~r Xm ∧ ρV~ dV + ~r Xm ∧ ρ (V~rel · n~ )V~ dA
dt dt CV CS
(4)

Energy conservation:

dE sys
= Q̇ net in + Ẇshaft, net in + Ẇpressure, net in
dt $ "
d
= ρ e dV + ρ e (V~rel · n~ ) dA (5)
dt $CV CS
d X 1 2 
Q̇ netin + Ẇshaft, net in = ρ e dV + ṁ(h + V + дz)
dt CV out
2
X 1 
− ṁ(h + V 2 + дz) (6)
in
2

Continuity equation:
1 Dρ ~ ~
+ ∇ ·V = 0 (7)
ρ Dt

1
Navier-Stokes equation for incompressible flow:

DV~ ~ + µ∇
~ 2V~
ρ = ρ~
д − ∇p (8)
Dt
∂V~ ∗ ~ ∗V~ ∗ = 1 д~∗ − [Eu] ∇ ~ ∗p ∗ + 1 ∇ ~ ∗2V~ ∗
[St] ∗ + [1] V~ ∗ · ∇ 2
(9)
∂t [Fr] [Re]

In pipe flow, we accept the flow is always turbulent for [Re]D & 2300. The Darcy
friction factor f is defined as:

|∆p|
f ≡ L1 2
(10)
D 2 ρVaverage

In boundary layer flow, we accept that transition occurs at [Re]x & 5 · 105 .
Exact solutions for a laminar boundary layer on a smooth surface:

δ 4,91
= p (11)
x [Re]x

δ∗ 1,72
= p (12)
x [Re]x

θ 0,664
= p (13)
x [Re]x

0,664
c f(x ) = p (14)
[Re]x

Approximate solutions for a turbulent boundary layer on a smooth surface:

δ 0,16
≈ 1
(15)
x [Re]x7
δ∗ 0,02
≈ 1
(16)
x [Re]x7
θ 0,016
≈ 1
(17)
x [Re]x7
0,027
c f(x ) ≈ 1
(18)
[Re]x 7

The shear coefficient c f is defined as a function of the free-stream flow velocity U :

τ Fτ
cf ≡ 1 2
= 1 2
(19)
2 ρU 2 ρSU

2
 Solve exercise 1, plus 3 other exercises among exercises 2 to 6.

1 Governing equation
1. Write out the Navier-Stokes equation for incompressible flow in its fully-developed
form in three Cartesian coordinates.

1 Dρ ~ · V~ = 0? In which
2. What is the physical principle expressed by eq. (7), ρ Dt +∇
conditions can this equation be used?

2 Reservoir door
A water reservoir has a door of width 3 m which is held in place with a horizontal cable,
as shown in fig. 1.

Figure 1: A sealed, hinged door in a water reservoir. The width across the drawing (towards the
reader) is 3 m.
figure CC-0 o.c.

The door has a mass of 300 kg and the hinge exerts negligible bending moment. What is
the force in the cable?

3
3 Exhaust gas deflector
A deflector is used behind a stationary aircraft during the ground testing of a jet engine,
as shown in fig. 2.

Figure 2: A mobile exhaust gas deflector, used to deflect hot jet engine exhaust gases upwards
during ground tests.
figure CC-0 o.c.

The deflector receives a horizontal hot air jet with a quasi-uniform velocity profile. The
jet speed is 500 km h−1 , temperature 450 ◦C, at atmospheric pressure. As the exhaust
gases travel through the pipe, their heat losses are negligible. Gases are rejected with
a 35° angle relative to the horizontal.
The inlet diameter is 1,2 m and the horizontal outlet surface is 5,5 m2 .
When the velocity Vdeflector of the deflector is zero:

1. What is the mass flow rate through the deflector?

2. What is the force exerted on the deflector by the exhaust gases?

3. Describe qualitatively (i.e. without numbers) a modification to the deflector that

would reduce the horizontal component of force.

When the deflector is moved towards the jet engine with a velocity Vdeflector = 10 m s−1 :

4. What is the new force exerted on the deflector by the exhaust gases?

4
4 Drag measurements in a wind tunnel
A group of students proceeds with speed measurements in a wind tunnel. The objective
is to measure the drag applying on a wing profile positioned across the tunnel test section
(fig. 3).

Figure 3: A wing profile positioned across a wind tunnel. The horizontal velocity distributions
upstream and downstream of the profile are also shown.
figure CC-0 o.c.

Upstream of the profile, the air flow velocity is uniform (u 1 = U = 60 m s−1 ).

Downstream of the profile, horizontal velocity measurements are made every 5 cm across
the flow; the following results are obtained:

vertical position (cm) horizontal speed (m s−1 )

0 60
5 60
10 59
15 58
20 55
25 51
30 49
35 50
40 53
45 57
50 58
55 60
60 60

5
The width of the profile (perpendicular to the flow) is 80 cm. The airflow is incompressible
(ρ = 1,225 kg m−3 ) and the pressure is uniform across the measurement surface.

1. What is the drag force applying on the profile?

2. How would the above calculation for the drag force change if vertical speed
measurements were also taken into account?

5 Water piping
A long pipe is installed to carry water from one large reservoir to another (fig. 4). The
total length of the pipe is 10 km, its diameter is 0,5 m, and its roughness is ϵ = 0,5 mm.
It must climb over a hill, so that the altitude changes along with distance.
The pump must be powerful enough to push 1 m3 s−1 of water at 20 ◦C.
Figure 5 quantifies the viscosity of various fluids, and fig. 6 quantifies losses in cylindrical
pipes.

1. Will the flow in the water pipe be turbulent?

2. What is the pressure drop generated by the water flow?

3. What is the pumping power required to meet the design requirements?

Figure 4: Layout of the water pipe. For clarity, the vertical scale is greatly exaggerated. The
diameter of the pipe is also exaggerated.
figure CC-0 o.c.

6
Figure 5: Viscosity of various fluids at a pressure of 1 bar (in practice viscosity is almost indepen-
dent of pressure).
Figure © White, 2011, Fluid Mechanics, 7th ed. pub. McGraw-Hill

7
Figure 6: A Moody diagram, which presents values for f measured experimentally, as a function
of the diameter-based Reynolds number [Re]D , for different relative roughness values.
Diagram CC-by-sa S Beck and R Collins, University of Sheffield
8
6 Hangar roof
Flows in which both compressibility and viscosity effects are negligible can be described
with the potential flow assumption. If we compute the two-dimensional steady fluid flow
around a cylinder profile, we obtain the velocities in polar coordinates as:

1 ∂ψ R2
!
ur = = U cos θ 1 − 2 (20)
r ∂θ r
∂ψ R2
!
uθ = − = −U sin θ 1 + 2 (21)
∂r r

where the origin (r = 0) is at the center of the cylinder profile;

θ is measured relative to the free-stream velocity vector;
U is the incoming free-stream velocity;
and R is the (fixed) cylinder radius.

Based on this model, in this exercise, we study the flow over a hangar roof.
Wind with a nearly-uniform velocity U = 80 km h−1 is blowing across a 30 m-long
hangar with a semi-cylindrical geometry, as shown in fig. 7. The radius of the hangar
is R = 22 m.

1. If the pressure inside the hangar is the same as the pressure of the faraway
atmosphere, and if the wind closely follows the hangar roof geometry (without
any flow separation), what is the total lift force on the hangar?
(hint: we accept that sin3 x dx = 13 cos3 x − cos x + k).
R

2. Propose two reasons why the aerodynamic force measured in practice on the
hangar roof may be lower than calculated with this model.

Figure 7: A semi-cylindrical hangar roof. Wind with uniform velocity U flows perpendicular to
the cylinder axis.
figure CC-0 o.c.