Paul Richard Heinrich Blasius (9 August 1883 – 24 April 1970) was a
German fluid dynamics
In physics, physical chemistry and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids – liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including (the study of air and other gases in motion ...
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
. He was one of the first students of
Prandtl
Ludwig Prandtl (4 February 1875 – 15 August 1953) was a German Fluid mechanics, fluid dynamicist, physicist and aerospace scientist. He was a pioneer in the development of rigorous systematic mathematical analyses which he used for underlyin ...
.
Blasius provided a mathematical basis for
boundary-layer drag but also showed as early as 1911 that the resistance to flow through smooth pipes could be expressed in terms of the
Reynolds number for both laminar and turbulent flow. After six years in science he changed to ''Ingenieurschule Hamburg'' (today: University of Applied Sciences Hamburg) and became a Professor. On 1 April 1962 Heinrich Blasius celebrated his 50th anniversary in teaching. He was active in his field until he died on 24 April 1970.
One of his most notable contributions involves a description of the steady two-dimensional
boundary-layer that forms on a
semi-infinite plate that is held parallel to a constant unidirectional flow
.
Correlations
First law of Blasius for turbulent
Fanning friction factor:
:
Second law of Blasius for turbulent
Fanning friction factor:
:
Law of Blasius for friction coefficient in turbulent pipe flow:
:
See also
*
Blasius function
Notes
References
*
Hager, W.H., "Blasius: A life in research and education," ''Experiments in Fluids,'' 34: 566–571 (2003)
* Blasius, H., "Das Aehnlichkeitsgesetz bei Reibungsvorgängen in Flüssigkeiten", Mitteilungen über Forschungsarbeiten auf dem Gebiete des Ingenieurwesens, vol.134, VDI-Verlag Berlin (1913)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blasius, Heinrich
1883 births
1970 deaths
20th-century German physicists
German fluid dynamicists