Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

1-31-1983

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering - (M.S.)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Rong-Yaw Chen

Second Advisor

Hans E. Pawel

Third Advisor

Jui Sheng Hsieh

Abstract

A finite element method for solving the entrance flow in a parallel-plate channal at low Reynolds number has been studied. Two methods of formulation for both incompressible viscous and inviscid fluid flows were developed. The first uses stream function and potential function as field variables while the second uses velocity and pressure. Both formulations presented here ultilized variational principle and weighted residual method. The numerical example was solved by constrained variational principle with penalty functions in conjunction with the Newton-Raphson method. A 9-node quadratic quadrilateral element was used in this example. Numerical results for entrance flow problem were obtained for Reynolds numbers of 4, 10, 20 and 40. 'The result showed that the velocity profiles have a maximum velocity between the centerline and the wall due to the inclusion the axial diffusive term. Comparision of entrance lengths with other work showed that the present analysis for creeping flow were reasonable for Reynolds number less than 20.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.