Boomerangs.com
McAfee SECURE sites help keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams
Contact Boomerangs.com
Visit us on TwitterVisit us on Facebook

Introduction To Air Streams



Viscosity of air



It seems natural to see the origin of viscosity in terms of the attractive and repulsive forces between molecules. However, gases have substantial viscosity even though their inter-molecular forces are weak, suggesting some other mechanism. Viscosity in gases arises principally from the molecular diffusion that transports momentum between layers of flow. A lot of fluid dynamics is concerned with in-viscid flow, but the role of viscosity is crucial to understanding some of the most important fluid phenomena, such as lift produced by a wing. (Author: Fred Senese senese@antoine.frostburg.edu). Ref.



Touch a lift force in water 









Inner surface
The water "reflects" from spoon surface. According to the Newton's third law ("For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction") the spoon moves to the opposite direction. The motion is shown by arrows.





Outer surface
The water follows the surface of the spoon. According to Newton's third law, the spoon moves to the opposite direction.



Why does water stick to the surface of spoon?
You can replace the surface tension's attractive force by a repulsive one. Just put oil or fat film on the spoon's surface. You will be able to see that the static forces (as capillarity) make no changes to water stream. It still  attracts the spoon. The effect has a dynamic origin; It is explained by the Coanda effect.



Touch a lift force in air



Take a shield of paper (A4 format). Cut it into 2 pieces.




Take a hair dryer and one of the paper strips. Make an experiment.











Inner surface
Direct the air blow to the inner surface. The lift force pushes the strip up.







Outer surface
Air is blown at small angle to a curved surface. The lift force pushes the strip up.







Outer surface
Is there almost no lift? If so, you can push the strip down. So, how do we pull it up?
Note1: As a result of the surface, the lift force will appear and air flow interaction will occur. It seems that some special conditions should be met to get a lift.



 



Peculiarities of dynamic ant static pressure



Dynamic pressure is the component of fluid pressure that represents fluid kinetic energy (i.e., motion), while static pressure represents hydrostatic effects.







Static pressure is isotropic - the same in all x,y,x directions. In air, it is equal to the atmospheric pressure and does not depend on the wing speed.


Dynamic pressure of a fluid stream with density and speed u is given by
Dynamic pressure represents the fluid stream motion at a certain direction. Air speed u is evaluated as a relative speed of the wing.



Note1. Pillow phenomenon may explain why air flow speed near the curved upper surface is accelerated and is higher when compared to the air flow  near the lower surface.



Note2: Air stream "sticks" to surface and bends down near the upper surface of the wing, which is not caused by the Pillow phenomenon but the Coanda effect.



Note3: Do not confuse Dynamic pressure with a pressure near airfoil surfaces. Air stream interaction with both airfoil surfaces has a complex dependence and gives some relative pressure, which may be applied to the normal of surface.

Ref:


Weltner, Klaus and Ingelman-Sundberg, Martin. Ref.. Misinterpretations of Bernoulli's Law:



Static pressure in a free air stream.
Static pressure is the pressure inside the stream measured by a manometer moving with the flow. At the same time, the static pressure is the pressure which is exerted on a plane parallel to the flow. Thus the static pressure within an air stream has to be measured carefully using a special probe. A thin disk must cover the probe except for the opening. The disk must be positioned parallel to the streaming flow, so that the flow is not interfered with.



If the static pressure is measured in the way outlined above within a free air stream generated by a fan or a hair dryer it can be shown that the static pressure is the same as in the surrounding atmosphere. Bernoulli's law cannot be applied to a free air stream because friction plays an important role. It may be noted that the situation is similar to the laminar flow of a liquid with viscosity inside a tube. The different velocity of the stream layers is caused by viscosity. The static pressure is the same throughout the whole cross-section. A free air stream in the atmosphere is exclusively decelerated by friction. If static pressure in a free air stream is equal to atmospheric pressure, some of the striking lecture demonstrations are interpreted incorrectly since the effects observed are not caused by Bernoulli's law.



Measurement of static pressure within a free stream 



A sufficiently sensitive manometer can be produced easily if not available in the lab. A fine pipe of glass is bent at one side to dip in a cup and to be fixed according to figure 7. The meniscus must be positioned in the middle of the pipe. The suitable inclination should be 1:15 - 1:30. A rubber tube connects the glass pipe with a probe. As has been pointed out before a flat disk must be glued on top of the probe leaving the opening free. The disk has to be held parallel to the streaming. If the static pressure is measured in such a way it can be shown that it is equal to the pressure in the environmental atmosphere. 

 

Information courtesy of Saulius Pakalnis, Research Support Technologies (researchsupporttechnologies.com)

Privacy Policy - Site Map - Contact Us - Boomerang Information
Boomerangs are a sports article, not a toy. See our Boomerang safety information before throwing a sport boomerang. Pay attention while they are in the air because you are the target!
© 2004-2011 Boomerangs.com - Boomerangs & Flying Toys. All Rights Reserved.

BizRate MerchantTrust