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In many engineering applications the local flow velocity vector field is not known in every point and the only accessible velocity is the bulk velocity or average flow velocity ¯ (with the usual dimension of length per time), defined as the quotient between the volume flow rate ˙ (with dimension of cubed length per time) and the cross sectional area (with dimension of square length):
M is the local Mach number, u is the local flow velocity with respect to the boundaries (either internal, such as an object immersed in the flow, or external, like a channel), and; c is the speed of sound in the medium, which in air varies with the square root of the thermodynamic temperature.
The idea of a vector flow, that is, the flow determined by a vector field, occurs in the areas of differential topology, Riemannian geometry and Lie groups. Specific examples of vector flows include the geodesic flow, the Hamiltonian flow, the Ricci flow, the mean curvature flow, and Anosov flows.
Dimensionless numbers (or characteristic numbers) have an important role in analyzing the behavior of fluids and their flow as well as in other transport phenomena. [1] They include the Reynolds and the Mach numbers, which describe as ratios the relative magnitude of fluid and physical system characteristics, such as density, viscosity, speed of sound, and flow speed.
where L is the characteristic length, u the local flow velocity, D the mass diffusion coefficient, Re the Reynolds number, Sc the Schmidt number, Pr the Prandtl number, and α the thermal diffusivity, =, where k is the thermal conductivity, ρ the density, and c p the specific heat capacity.
The dashed lines represent contours of the velocity field (streamlines), showing the motion of the whole field at the same time. (See high resolution version.) Solid blue lines and broken grey lines represent the streamlines. The red arrows show the direction and magnitude of the flow velocity. These arrows are tangential to the streamline.
The term (ω ∙ ∇) u on the right-hand side describes the stretching or tilting of vorticity due to the flow velocity gradients. Note that (ω ∙ ∇) u is a vector quantity, as ω ∙ ∇ is a scalar differential operator, while ∇u is a nine-element tensor quantity. The term ω(∇ ∙ u) describes stretching of vorticity due to flow ...
Flux F through a surface, dS is the differential vector area element, n is the unit normal to the surface. Left: No flux passes in the surface, the maximum amount flows normal to the surface.