Overview

This course comprises three distinct but overlapping modules:

This course has three papers. It also has a series of example papers that students are encouraged to attempt. Problems from these example papers will be discussed during the recitation session.

Grading

This course has three papers, a final exam, and a coding assignment. The grades are given below:

Assignment Grade percentage (%)
Paper 1: Incompressible fluid mechanics 20
Paper 2: Thermodynamics 20
Paper 3: Compressible fluid mechanics 20
Coding assignment 15
Final exam (take-home) 25

Lectures

This is a preliminary schedule; it may change throughout term. The suggested readings below are completely optional. The slide decks provided below are partially complete; it is the student’s responsibility to attend lectures and complete these slides. That said, as time goes on, incomplete notes will be swapped with complete decks.

If you have previously taken AE2010/AE2011 and would like the completed slides, please email the instructor.

Incompressible fluid mechanics

01.09: L1. Course introduction | Slides | Notebook
Contents
  1. Difference between fluid mechanics and thermodynamics.
  2. Properties of fluids vs solids.
  3. Forces in fluids.
  4. Brief introduction to Jupyter notebooks (covering python and latex).
01.11: L2. Fluid statics (or hydrostatics) | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Basic equations
  2. Pressure as a function of depth.
  3. Barometers and manometers.
  4. Forces on submerged bodies.
  5. Buoyancy and Archimedes’ principle.
01.16: L3. Control volumes & conservation of mass | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Fluid dynamics terminology (streamlines, streaklines, pathlines, stagnation).
  2. Systems and conservation principles.
  3. Control volumes.
  4. Conservation of mass.
  5. In-class application.
01.18: L4. Conservation of momentum | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Newton’s second law.
  2. Steady flow momentum equation in 1D.
  3. Steady flow momentum equation in 2D.
01.23: L5. Bernoulli’s equation | Slides | Notebook | Examples
Contents
  1. Forces on fluid particles.
  2. Acceleration of a fluid particle.
  3. Forces and acceleration along streamlines.
  4. Deriving Bernoulli’s equation
  5. Understanding a pitot tube.
  6. Introduction to lists and for loops.
01.25: L6. Curved streamlines | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Straight vs. curved streamlines
  2. Coanda effect.
  3. Magnus effect.
  4. In-class application.
01.30: L7. Velocity vectors | Slides | Notebook
Contents
  1. Scalar and vector fields.
  2. The del operator.
  3. Advection.
02.01: L8. Couette flow | Slides | Notebook
Contents
  1. Lagrangian vs. Eulerian perspectives
  2. Shear and viscosity revisited (free slip vs. no slip)
  3. Couette flow
02.06: L9. Poiseuille flow and pressure losses | Slides | Notebook | Examples
Contents
  1. Poiseuille flow
  2. Combined Couette and Poiseuille flow
02.08: L10. Pipes losses, Euler, Navier-Stokes, and review | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Loss of pressure along a pipe
  2. The three pressures (review)
  3. Overview of Navier-Stokes and Euler equations (not part of Paper I)

02.13: L11. Paper I | Solutions

Thermodynamics

02.15: L12. Thermodynamics: Introduction and the first law | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Overview of thermodynamics.
  2. Molecular thermodynamics vs. classical thermodynamics.
  3. Properties, systems, and states.
  4. Thermodynamic equlibrium and the two-property rule.
  5. Definition of work, heat, and energy.
  6. General statement of the first law.

02.20: No lecture

02.22: No lecture

02.27: L13. Ideal gases and the first law again | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Brief review of paper I
  2. Heat transfer
  3. Cyclic and adiabatic processes.
  4. Pure substances and phases.
  5. Enthalpy and specific heat.
  6. Ideal gas relations.
02.29: L14. The second law | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Isobaric, isochoric, and isothermal processes.
  2. Adiabatic compression.
  3. Polytropic process.
  4. Reversible and irreversible processes.
  5. The Kelvin-Planck and Clausius statements.
  6. Efficiency.
03.05: L15. The zeroth law and temperature | Slides | Notebook | Examples
Contents
  1. More on reversible and irreversible processes.
  2. The zeroth law.
  3. Empirical temperature scales.
  4. Thermodynamic temperature and its measurement.
  5. The Clausius inequality.
03.07: L16. Entropy | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Revisiting the first two laws.
  2. Definition of entropy.
  3. Entropy variations for reversible and irreversible processes.
  4. The Tds equations and entropy of a perfect gas.
03.12: L17. Entropy (again) and conservation of energy | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Entropy changes of isolated systems.
  2. First Law applied to control volumes.
  3. Conservation of energy
  4. Steady flow processes.

03.13: Withdrawal deadline

03.14: L18. Conservation (again) and steady flow | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Tips for control volume analysis.
  2. Second law applied to control volumes.
  3. Steady reversible and irreversible flow.
  4. Throttling processes
  5. Power output calculations
  6. Isentropic flow

03.18 - 03.22: Spring break

03.26: L19. Paper II | Solutions

Compressible fluid mechanics

03.28: L20. Variable nozzle flows | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Speed of sound.
  2. Stagnation temperature.
  3. Nozzle flows
04.02: L21. Normal shocks | Slides | Examples | Gas properties
Contents
  1. Choked flow.
  2. Normal shocks.
  3. Re-visiting variable nozzle flows.
  4. Supersonic wind tunnels.
04.04: L22. Oblique shocks | Slides | Examples
Contents
  1. Stagnation pressure losses.
  2. Compressible pitot-static tubes.
  3. Mach cones.
  4. Oblique shocks.

04.04 Coding assignment issued

04.09: L23. Guest Lecture & Fans | Slides | Guest lecture
Contents
  1. Guest Lecture.
  2. More on oblique shocks.
  3. Expansion fans.
04.11: L24. Impulse functions & Fanno flow | Slides | Examples | Notebook
Contents
  1. More on oblique shocks. Re-visiting variable nozzle flows (again).
  2. Impulse functions
  3. Fanno flow
  4. Example problems

04.16: L25. Paper III | Solutions

04.18: No lecture

04.20 Coding assignment due

04.23: L27. Rayleigh flows & the Reynolds number | Slides
Contents
  1. Variation of stagnation pressure with heat.
  2. Acceleration due to heat transfer.
  3. Rayleigh process.
  4. Reynolds number and drag.

Lectures and Recitation sessions

Lectures will be held at:

Location Time
FST 1205 Tuesdays 8:25am - 10:20am
FST 1205 Thursdays 8:25am - 10:20am

Recitation sessions will be held at:

Location Time
GU 442 Thursdays 6:30pm - 7:45pm

The recitation sessions are mandatory as are the lectures.

Office hours

Professor Seshadri’s office hours:

Location Time
MK 421 Thursdays 12:30pm - 2:00pm

UTA John Stafford’s office hours are:

Location Time
Lowey Library MK 3rd floor Wednesdays 1:45pm to 3:15pm

ED Dashboard

Given that the registration comprises two different courses (2010 & 2011), I will do my best to communicate the threads between them. The links below should take you to the dashboards.

2010 | 2011

References

The material in this course follows a similar trajectory to other courses, detailed below:

  • Engineering Tripos Part 1A (Cambridge)
  • Engineering Tripos Part 2A (Cambridge)
  • Engineering Tripos Part 3A (Cambridge)
  • Course 16 Unified Thermodynamics and Propulsion (MIT)
  • Prior AE2010/AE2011 Notes (Georgia Tech)

Useful textbooks

Although not mandatory, below you will find a list of useful textbooks for this course.

  • John Anderson, (2023) Fundamentals of Aerodyanmics, Seventh Edition, McGraw-Hill.
  • Michael Boles and Yunus Çengel, (2010) Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, McGraw-Hill.
  • Snorri Gudmundsson, (2013) General Aviation Aircraft Design, Butterworth-Heinemann.