INTRODUCTION TO FLUID MECHANICS:THE NO-SLIP CONDITION

THE NO-SLIP CONDITION

Consider the flow of a fluid in a stationary pipe or over a solid surface that is nonporous (i.e., impermeable to the fluid). All experimental observations indicate that a fluid in motion comes to a complete stop at the surface and assumes a zero velocity relative to the surface. That is, a fluid in direct contact with a solid sticks to the surface and there is no slip. This is known as the no- slip condition, and it is due to the fluid viscosity.

The no-slip condition is responsible for the development of the velocity pro- file. Because of friction between the fluid layers, the layer that sticks to the wall slows the adjacent fluid layer, which slows the next layer, and so on. A fluid layer adjacent to a moving surface has the same velocity as the surface. A consequence of the no-slip condition is that all velocity profiles must have zero values with respect to the surface at the points of contact between a fluid and a solid surface (Fig. 10–8). The only exception to the no-slip condition occurs in extremely rarefied gases.

A similar phenomenon occurs for the temperature. When two bodies at different temperatures are brought into contact, heat transfer occurs until both bodies assume the same temperature at the points of contact. Therefore, a fluid and a solid surface have the same temperature at the points of contact. This is known as no-temperature-jump condition.