Designations of velocities:

• U‐ peripheral (angular) velocity

• C – absolute velocity: velocity of the flow when viewed from
a stationary frame of reference.
• W‐ relative velocity:‐velocity of the flow when viewed from
a rotating component frame of reference

Designation of angles:
W C
  α: Angle between U and C
U β: angle between W and
negative direction of U
The vane congruent Flow
 Vane congruent flow :‐ Streamlines of the flow are
congruent to the vanes. This assumption holds:
• If there are infinite numbers of vanes
• If the vanes are infinitely thin

If there exist such a deviation

between the direction of the
flow and the direction of the
vane at the entrance of the
vane channel , the flow is said
to approach the vane with
‘Shock’.

beta The Actual Flow Pattern

 Fundamental Equation of Turbomachinery
• From Newton’s second law of Motion: ‘Torque is equal to
the rate of change of angular momentum’.

Where T is torque and L is angular momentum

dL
T
• The angular momentum becomes: L  mV r

At entry to the turbomachinery the angular momentum is

equal to m1Vθ1r and at the exit it becomes: m2Vθ2r.

The change in angular momentum becomes: m2V 2r  m1V 1r

• And the time rate of change is given as:

m2V 2r2  m1V 1r1
t
 m&
2 2 Vr
2  m&  2 2 Vr
1 1 1V r  m&  1 V
1 r

Since “what goes in must come out”: m& 2  m& 1  m&

• Since “the time rate of angular momentum is equal to
the torque” we have:
T  m& V 2 r2 V 1r1  or
Tblade  V r2C3U 
• The power transferred between the rotor vanes/blades
and the flow follows from the blade torque:

Nblade  Tblade  Yblade V

Thus, the specific work Yblade done by the vanes/blades follows:

 Nblade  Tblade
Yblade  r23U 
C r C10U or
V V
Yblade  U 2C3U U1C0U

• The above equation applies for both pumps and turbines.

• Often the flow at the suction side has no vortex: r1Cou=0;

Yblade  U
• Yblade is independent of ρ.
• The independence of Y from ρ has a considerable influence
on the pressure difference between suction and pressure ends
of the machine if the same machine is used for flow media
with different ρ.

• Example : pumping machine with V = 0.1m3/kg and Y = 1000 J/Kg

Water pumping Air pumping

ρ = 1000 kg/m3 ρ = 1.2 kg/m3

Pressure rise: PD‐PS = ρY=106N/m2 =10 bar PD‐PS = ρY=1200N/m2 =0.012bar

Neff = ρVY = 105 W= 100kW Neff = ρVY = 120 W= 0.12kW

• For the above example for a given spec. Work Y the
pressure rise is very small for air/gas pumping compared
with water pumping.

• High values of spec. work are needed for air/gas pumping.

Thus higher values of U are required. (Umax = 300 to 350
to 450 m/s).

• Hence, radial‐flow impellers for water/liquid pumping which

does not need high values of Y can be build of cast iron or
brass.
 • But impellers of radial‐flow air/gas compressors which need
very high Y and thus high U, are built of forged disk, which
are thickened towards the center considerably according to
the higher strain there.

To obtain high pressure difference several rotors are arranged in series

 Circulation and Vorticity

• Circulation
• Bjerknes Circulation Theorem
• Vorticity
• Potential Vorticity
• Conservation of Potential Vorticity
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Measurement of Rotation
• Circulation and vorticity are the two
primary measures of rotation in a fluid.

• Circulation, which is a scalar integral quantity, is a

macroscopic measure of rotation for a finite area
of the fluid.

• Vorticity, however, is a vector field that gives a

microscopic measure of the rotation at any point
in the fluid.
ESS227
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Circulation
• The circulation, C, about a closed contour in a fluid is defined
as the line integral evaluated along the contour of the
component of the velocity vector that is locally tangent to
the contour.

C > 0  Counterclockwise
C < 0  Clockwise

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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Example
• That circulation is a measure of rotation is demonstrated readily by
considering a circular ring of fluid of radius R in solid-body rotation at
angular velocity Ω about the z axis.
• In this case, U = Ω × R, where R is the distance from the axis of rotation to
the ring of fluid. Thus the circulation about the ring is given by:

• In this case the circulation is just 2π times the angular momentum of the
fluid ring about the axis of rotation. Alternatively, note that C/(πR 2) = 2Ω
so that the circulation divided by the area enclosed by the loop is just
twice the angular speed of rotation of the ring.
• Unlike angular momentum or angular velocity, circulation can be
computed without reference to an axis of rotation; it can thus be used to
characterize fluid rotation in situations where “angular velocity” is not
defined easily.
ESS227
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Solid Body Rotation
• In fluid mechanics, the state when no part of the
fluid has motion relative to any other part of the
fluid is called 'solid body rotation'.

ESS227
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
“Meaning” of Circulation
• Circulation can be considered as the amount of
force that pushes along a closed boundary or path.

• Circulation is the total “push” you get when

going along a path, such as a circle.

ESS227
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Bjerknes Circulation Theorem
• The circulation theorem is obtained by taking the line
integral of Newton’s second law for a closed chain of fluid
particles.
becomes zero after integration neglect

∫ ) dl
(
Term 1 Term 2 Term 3
Term 2: solenoidal term (for a barotropic fluid, the density is a function only of
Term 1: rate of change of relative circulation
pressure, and the solenoidal term is zero.)
Term 3: rate of change of the enclosed area projected on the equatorial plane
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
ESS227
 Applications
Kelvin’s circulation theorem
• For a barotropic fluid, Bjerknes circulation theorem can
be integrated following the motion from an initial state
(designated by subscript 1) to a final state (designated by
subscript 2), yielding the circulation change:

This equation indicates that in a

barotropic fluid the relative circulation
for a closed chain of fluid particles will be
changed if either the horizontal area
enclosed by the loop changes or the
latitude changes.
Coriolis divergence ESS227
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
effect effect
 Kelvin’s Circulation Theorem
• In a barotropic fluid, the solenoid term (Term
2) vanishes.
 The absolute circulation (C a) is conserved following
the parcel.

ESS227
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Example
• Suppose that the air within a circular region of radius 100
km centered at the equator is initially motionless with
respect to the earth. If this circular air mass were moved to
the North Pole along an isobaric surface preserving its area,
the circulation about the circumference would be:
C = −2πr2[sin(π/2) − sin(0)]

• Thus the mean tangential velocity at the radius r = 100

km would be:
V = C/(2πr) = − r ≈ −7 m/sec

• The negative sign here indicates that the air has

acquired anticyclonic relative circulation.
ESS227
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
Solenoidal Term in Baroclinic Flow
• In a baroclinic fluid, circulation may be generated by the
pressure- density solenoid term.
• This process can be illustrated effectively by considering
the development of a sea breeze circulation,

colder warmer

The closed heavy solid line is the loop about which the
circulation is to be evaluated. Dashed lines indicate
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Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
surfaces of constant density.

ESS227
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 What does it mean?
• A counter-clockwise circulation (i.e., sea breeze) will develop
in which lighter fluid (the warmer land air; T 2) is made to rise
and heavier fluid (the colder sea air; T1) is made to sink.
• The effect is this circulation will be to tilt the isopycnals into
an oritentation in which they are more nearly parallel with
theisobars–that is
isobars – that is, toward the barotropic state,in which
subsequent circulation change would be zero.
• Such a circulation also lowers the center of mass of the
fluid system and thus reduces the potential energy of that
system.
ESS227
Prof. Jin-Yi Yu
 Strength of Sea-Breeze Circulation

• Use the following value for the typical sea-land

contrast: p0 = 1000 hPa
p1 = 900 hPa T2
− T1 = 10◦ C
L = 20 km
h = 1 km

• We obtain an acceleration of about 7 × 10−3 ms−2 for an

acceleration of sea-breeze circulation driven by the
solenoidal effect of sea-land temperature contrast.
Absolute Vorticity 

Relative Vorticity 