MEC 4872 - Compressible Flow

• Describe qualitatively and mathematically the propagation of disturbances in compressible media
• Differentiate between different flow regimes and describe their characteristic physical features
• Qualitatively and quantitatively describe the variation of flow and thermodynamic properties for isentropic flow through variable area geometries
• Explain when flows will choke and the consequences of choked flow
• Explain the physical mechanisms driving the formation of shocks (normal and oblique) and Prandtl-Meyer expansion fans
• Use equations and tables to determine how flow and thermodynamics properties vary across shocks and expansion fans
• Analyze problems in which oblique shocks and expansion fans reflect from solid surfaces
• Describe the wave structures that occur on various solid surfaces in supersonic flows and compute the resulting lift and drag forces
• Analyze moving normal shock problems including situations in which reflections occur.
• Describe the purpose of a shock tube and analyze the internal flow field of a shock tube
• Analyze Fanno and Rayleigh flow problems
• Explain the physical nature of the method of characteristics and numerically implement the technique to solve for the flow field in steady 2D and/or 1D unsteady compressible flow fields

• First and second laws of thermodynamics
• Control volume mass, momentum, energy and entropy analysis
• Energy and entropy properties of ideal gases
• Coding in MATLAB

• Review of the fundamentals (laws of thermodynamics, conservation of mass, momentum and energy, entropy changes for perfect gases)
• Introduction to compressible flow (sonic velocity, Mach number, stagnation relations in terms of Mach number, total pressure loss and entropy change relation)
• Varying-area adiabatic flow (convergent-divergent nozzle, diffuser, choking, isentropic flow tables)
• Standing normal shocks
• Moving and oblique (planar or conical) shocks
• Analysis of shock tubes
• Prandtl-Meyer flow (including lift and drag calculations on airfoils at various angles of attack, and discussion on over-expanded and under-expanded nozzles)
• Fanno flow and applications
• Rayleigh flow and applications
• Method of characteristics applied to 2D steady and/or 1D unsteady flows