Instructional Resources

Instructional Movies

* Given that the transmission speed and image size might not be optimum when playing the movies directly, you can alternatively download the clips. To do this move the cursor to the hyperlink, right click the mouse, and select SAVE TARGET AS. The files are in MPEG format, and are approximatly 300 MB each, so download times may be long.

Introduction to Fluid Motion - (H. Rouse)

Designed to orient engineering students, this video shows examples of flow phenomena from a host of everyday experiences. Empirical solutions by means of scale models are illustrated. The significance of the Euler, Froude, Reynolds, and Mach numbers as similitude parameters is illustrated.
- Link to File*

Fundamental principles of flow - (H. Rouse)

Second in the series, this video departs from the essential generality of the first by explicitly illustrating, through experiment and animation, the basic concepts and physical relationships that are involved in the analysis of fluid motion. The concepts of velocity, acceleration, circulation and vorticity are introduced, and the use of integral equations of motion is demonstrated by a simple example.
- Link to File*

Laminar and Turbulent Flow - (H. Rouse)

The third video deals with the effect of viscosity. Dye, smoke, suspended particles and hydrogen-bubbles are used to reveal the velocity field. Various combinations of Couette and plane Poiseuille flow introduce the principles of lubrication. Axisymmetric Poiseuille flow and development of the flow around an elliptic cylinder are related to variation in the Reynolds number, and the growth of the boundary layer along a flat plate is shown. Instability in boundary layers and pipe flow is shown to lead to turbulence. The eddy viscosity and apparent stress are introduced by hotwire-anemometer indications. The processes of turbulence production, turbulent mixing, and turbulence decay are considered.
- Link to File*

Fluid motion in a gravitational field - (H. Rouse)

In this the fourth video of the series, which proceeds from the introductory and the basic material presented in the first three videos, emphasis is laid upon the action of gravity. Principles of wave propagation are illustrated, including aspects of generation, celerity, reflection, stability, and reduction to steadiness by relative motion. Simulation of comparable phenomena in the atmosphere and the ocean is considered.
- Link to File*

Form drag, lift, and propulsion - (H. Rouse)

In the fifth video of the series, emphasis is laid upon the role of boundary-layer separation in modifying the flow pattern and producing longitudinal and lateral components of force on a moving body. Various conditions of separation and methods of separation control are first illustrated. Attention is then given to the distribution of pressure around typical body profiles and its relation to the resulting drag. The concept of circulation introduced in the second film is developed to explain the forces on rotating bodies and the forced vibration of cylindrical bodies. Structural failure of unstable sections is demonstrated.
- Link to File*

Effects of fluid compressibility - (H. Rouse)

The last in the six-video series makes extensive use of the analogy between gravity and sound waves and illustrates, through laboratory demonstrations and animation, the concepts of wave celerity, shock waves and surges, wave reflection and waterhammer. Two-dimensional waves are produced by flow past a point source at various speeds relative to the wave celerity to illustrate the effect of changing Mach number, and the principle is applied to flow at curved and abrupt wall deflections. Axisymmetric and three-dimensional wave patterns are then portrayed using color Schlieren pictures.
- Link to File*