INTRODUCTION

Compressible flow is the fluid density varies significantly in response to a change

in pressure. Converging-diverging nozzles designed for the accurate measurement and control
of all gaseous flow rates. This situation can be found in many engineering application
including steam and gas turbine, aircraft and spacecraft propulsion system, and even
industrial blasting nozzle and torch nozzle. A flow is considered to be a compressible flow if
the change in density of the flow with respect to pressure is non-zero along a streamline.
In general, this is the case where the Mach number in part or all of the flow exceeds
0.3. The Mach .3 value is rather arbitrary, but it is used because gas flows with a Mach
number below that value demonstrate changes in density with respect to the change in
pressure of less than 5%. Furthermore, that maximum 5% density change occurs at the
stagnation point of an object immersed in the gas flow and the density changes around the
rest of the object will be significantly lower.
The factor that distinguishes a flow from being compressible or incompressible is the
fact that in compressible flow the changes in the velocity of the flow can lead to changes that
the temperature which are not negligible. On the other hand in case of incompressible flow,
the changes in the internal energy such as temperature are negligible even if the entire kinetic
energy of the flow is converted to internal energy like the flow is brought to rest.
The Mach number of the flow is high enough so that the effects of compressibility can
no longer be neglected. For subsonic compressible flows, it is sometimes possible to model
the flow by applying a correction factor to the answers derived from incompressible
calculations or modeling. For many other flows, their nature is qualitatively different to
subsonic flows. A flow where the local Mach number reaches or exceeds 1 will usually
contain shock waves. A shock is an abrupt change in the velocity, pressure and temperature in
a flow; the thickness of a shock scales with the molecular mean free path in the fluid which
form because information about conditions downstream of a point of sonic or supersonic flow
cannot propagate back upstream past the sonic point.

The behavior of a fluid changes radically as it starts to move above the speed of sound
in that fluid which is when the Mach number is greater than 1. For example, in subsonic flow,
a stream tube in an accelerating flow contracts. But in a supersonic flow, a stream tube in an
accelerating flow expands. Consider that steady flow in a tube that has a sudden expansion
where the tube's cross section suddenly widens, so the cross-sectional area increases. In
subsonic flow, the fluid speed drops after the expansion. In supersonic flow, the fluid speed
increases. The mass flux is conserved but because supersonic flow allows the density to
change, the volume flux is not constant.

OBJECTIVE
1. To study the pressure-mass flow rate characteristic for convergent-divergent duct.
2. To demonstrate the phenomena of choking
3. To analyze the graph shape that obtained from the experiment.

THEORY

Referring to the figure above, the steady energy equation between 0 and 2 is given by :
P0 v 20
P2 v 22
+ + g z 0 +u0 +q= + + g z 2 +u2 +w s +w f
0 2
2 2

(1)

For gas with small elevations differences, gz 0

For the isentropic flow where there is no work is transferred, q = w = 0, 0 is showing the
stagnation conditions, so v0 = 0.
Therefore, equation 1 now is,
P0
P
+0+ c v T 0= 2 +c v T 2 .(2)
0
2

But P = RT , so T=

P
R

..

(3)
Cp = C v + R

So,

Cp
R
=1+
Cv
Cv

C v=

R
1

.................................................................................................(4)

Substitute (3) and (4) into (2),

P0
P0 P2 v 22
P2
R
R
+
= + +
0 ( 1) 0 R 2 2 ( 1) 2 R

P0
P
v2
1
1
+(1+
)= 2 (1+
)+ 2
0
1
2
1 2

2
P0
P2 v 2
=
+
1 0 1 2 2

v 2=

2 P 0 P2
( )
( 1) 0 2 (5)

For isentropic flow,

P0

P2
2

P
0 2
P0

( )

(6)
Substitute (6) into (5),

v 2=

2 P0
(
( 1) 0

P 0 P2
P2
P0 0
P0

( )

P
2 P0

(1 2 1 )
( 1) 0
1
P0

2 P0
(1r
(1) 0

) , Where r =

P2
P0 .

(7)

m=

m=
(8)

2 A v
2 2

0 A 2

P2
P0

( )

A2v2

0 A v
2 2

2
+1
2 P0
( r r ) ..
(1) 0

Compressible flow
Compressible flow (gas dynamics) is the branch of fluid mechanics that deals with flows
having significant changes in fluid density. Gases, but not liquids, display such behavior. To
distinguish between compressible and incompressible flow in gases, the Mach number (the
ratio of the speed of the flow to the speed of sound) must be greater than about 0.3 (since
there is a density change that is greater than 5%) before significant compressibility occurs.
The study of compressible flow is relevant to high-speed aircraft, jet engines, gas pipelines,
commercial applications such as abrasive blasting, and many other fields.

Mach number (M) is defined as the ratio of the speed of an object to the speed of sound. M
can range from 0 to , but this broad range is broken up into several flow regimes. These
regimes are subsonic, transonic, supersonic, hypersonic, and hypervelocity flow. For
instance, in air at room temperature, the speed of sound is about 340 m/s (760 mph).

Converging-Diverging Laval Nozzles.

As the speed of a flow accelerates from the subsonic to the supersonic regime, the physics
of nozzle and diffuser flows is altered. Using the conservation laws of fluid dynamics and
thermodynamics, the following relationship for channel flow is developed (combined mass
and momentum conservation):

where dP is the differential change in pressure, M is the Mach number, is the density of
the gas, V is the velocity of the flow, A is the area of the duct, and dA is the change in
area of the duct. This equation states that, for subsonic flow, a converging duct (dA<0)
increases the velocity of the flow and a diverging duct (dA>0) decreases velocity of the
flow. For supersonic flow, the opposite occurs due to the change of sign of (1-M2). A
converging duct (dA<0) now decreases the velocity of the flow and a diverging duct
(dA>0) increases the velocity of the flow. At Mach = 1, a special case occurs in which the
duct area must be either a maximum or minimum. For practical purposes, only a
minimum area can accelerate flows to Mach 1 and beyond. See Table of Sub-Supersonic
Diffusers and Nozzles.