Ludwig Prandtl

Ludwig Prandtl (4 February 1875 – 15

August 1953)[1] was a German fluid Ludwig Prandtl
dynamicist, physicist and aerospace scientist.
He was a pioneer in the development of
rigorous systematic mathematical analyses
which he used for underlying the science of
aerodynamics, which have come to form the
basis of the applied science of aeronautical
engineering.[2] In the 1920s, he developed the
mathematical basis for the fundamental
principles of subsonic aerodynamics in
particular; and in general up to and including
transonic velocities. His studies identified the
boundary layer, thin-airfoils, and lifting-line
theories. The Prandtl number was named
after him.[3]
Prandtl in 1937
Born 4 February 1875
Early years Freising, Upper Bavaria, German Empire
Prandtl was born in Freising, near Munich, on Died 15 August 1953 (aged 78)
4 February 1875.[3] His mother suffered from Göttingen, West Germany
a lengthy illness and, as a result, Ludwig Nationality German
spent more time with his father, a professor Alma mater Technical University of Munich, Ludwig
of engineering. His father also encouraged Maximilian University of Munich
him to observe nature and think about his
Known for Boundary layer
observations.
Mixing length theory
Prandtl entered the Technische Hochschule Lifting-line theory
Munich in 1894 and graduated with a Ph.D. Membrane analogy
under guidance of Professor August Foeppl in Prandtl box wing
six years.[4] His thesis was "On Tilting Prandtl condition
Phenomena, an Example of Unstable Elastic Prandtl number
Prandtl stress function
Equilibrium" (1900),[3]
Prandtl tube
After university, Prandtl went to work in the Prandtl's one-seventh-power law
Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg to Prandtl–Meyer expansion fan
improve a suction device for shavings Prandtl–Meyer function
removal in the manufacturing process. While Prandtl–Batchelor theorem
working there, he discovered that the suction Prandtl–Glauert transformation
tube did not work because the lines of flow Prandtl–Glauert singularity
separated from the walls of the tube, so the
expected pressure rise in the sharply- Prandtl–Tomlinson model
divergent tube never occurred. This Kármán–Prandtl resistance equation
phenomenon had been previously noted by Awards Ackermann–Teubner Memorial Award (1918)
Daniel Bernoulli in a similar hydraulic case. ForMemRS (1928)
Prandtl recalled that this discovery led to the Daniel Guggenheim Medal (1930)
reasoning behind his boundary-layer Harnack Medal (1936)
approach to resistance in slightly-viscous Wilhelm Exner Medal (1951)
fluids.[5]
Scientific career
Fields Aerodynamics
Later years Institutions University of Göttingen,
Technical University of Hannover
In 1901 Prandtl became a professor of fluid Thesis Tilting Phenomena, A case of unstable
mechanics at the technical school in elastic balance (1899)
Hannover, later the Technical University
Doctoral August Föppl
Hannover and then the University of
advisor
Hannover. It was here that he developed
many of his most important theories.[3] On Doctoral Ackeret, Blasius, Busemann, Munk,
August 8, 1904, he delivered a students Nikuradse, Schlichting, Tollmien, von
groundbreaking paper, Über Kármán, Timoshenko, Vâlcovici, Vishnu
Flüssigkeitsbewegung bei sehr kleiner Madav Ghatage
Reibung (On the Motion of Fluids in Very
Little Friction), at the Third International Mathematics Congress in Heidelberg.[6][7][8] In this paper, he
described the boundary layer and its importance for drag[3] and streamlining. The paper also described
flow separation as a result of the boundary layer, clearly explaining the concept of stall for the first time.
Several of his students made attempts at closed-form solutions, but failed, and in the end the
approximation contained in his original paper remains in widespread use.

The effect of the paper was so great that Prandtl would succeed Hans Lorenz as director of the Institute
for Technical Physics at the University of Göttingen later in the year. In 1907, during his time at
Göttingen, Prandtl was tasked with establishing a new facility for model studies of motorized airships
called Motorluftschiffmodell-Versuchsanstalt (MVA), later the Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt (AVA) in
1919.[9] The facility was focused on wind tunnel measurements of airship models with the goal of shapes
with minimal air resistance. During WWI, it was used as a large research establishment with many tasks
including lift and drag on airfoils, aerodynamics of bombs, and cavitation on submarine propeller
blades.[10] In 1925, the university spun off his research arm to create the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for
Flow Research (now the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization).[11]

Due to the complexity of Prandtl's boundary layer ideas in his 1904 paper, the spread of the concept was
initially slow. Many people failed to adopt the idea due to lack of understanding. There was a halt on new
boundary layer discoveries until 1908 when two of his students at Gottingen, Blasius and Boltze, released
their dissertations on the boundary layer. Blasius' dissertation explained what happened with the
boundary layer when a flat plate comes in parallel contact with a uniform stream. Boltze's research was
similar to Blasius' but applied Prandtl's theory to spherical shapes instead of flat objects. Prandtl
expanded upon the ideas in his student's dissertations to include a thermal boundary layer associated with
heat transfer. [12]
There would be three more papers from Gottingen researchers regarding the boundary layer released by
1914. Due to similar reasons to Prandtl's 1904 paper, these first 7 papers on the boundary layer would be
slow to spread outside of Gottingen. Partially due to World War I, there would be a lack of papers
published regarding the boundary layer until another of Prandtl's students, Theodore Von Karman,
published a paper in 1921 on the momentum integral equation across the boundary layer.[12]

Following earlier leads by Frederick Lanchester from 1902–1907, Prandtl worked with Albert Betz and
Max Munk on the problem of a useful mathematical tool for examining lift from "real world" wings. The
results were published in 1918–1919, known as the Lanchester–Prandtl wing theory. He also made
specific additions to study cambered airfoils, like those on World War I aircraft, and published a
simplified thin-airfoil theory for these designs. This work led to the realization that on any wing of finite
length, wing-tip effects became very important to the overall performance and characterization of the
wing. Considerable work was included on the nature of induced drag and wingtip vortices,[3] which had
previously been ignored. Prandtl showed that an elliptical spanwise lift distribution the most efficient,
giving the minimum induced drag for the given span. These tools enabled aircraft designers to make
meaningful theoretical studies of their aircraft before they were built.

Prandtl later extended his theory to describe a bell-like lift

distribution, reducing the loads near the tip of the wings by
washing out the wing tips until negative downwash was obtained,
which gave the minimum induced drag for any given wing
structural weight.[13] However, this new lift distribution drew less
interest than the elliptical distribution and was initially ignored in
most practical aircraft designs. This concept has been rediscovered
by other researchers and has become increasingly important[14][15]
Ludwig Prandtl 1904 with his fluid (see also the Prandtl-D experimental aircraft).
test channel
Prandtl and his student Theodor Meyer developed the first theories
of supersonic shock waves and flow in 1908. The Prandtl–Meyer
expansion fans allowed for the construction of supersonic wind tunnels. He had little time to work on the
problem further until the 1920s, when he worked with Adolf Busemann and created a method for
designing a supersonic nozzle in 1929. Today, all supersonic wind tunnels and rocket nozzles are
designed using the same method. A full development of supersonics would have to wait for the work of
Theodore von Kármán, a student of Prandtl at Göttingen.

Prandtl developed the concept of "circulation" which proved to be particularly important for the
hydrodynamics of ship propellers. He did most of the experimental work at his lab in Göttingen from
1910-1918 with his assistant Albert Betz and student Max Munk. Most of his discoveries related to
circulation would be kept secret from the western world until after World War I.[16]

Prior to World War I, the Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians (GDNÄ) was the only
opportunity for applied mathematicians, physicists, and engineers in German speaking countries to
discuss.[9] In 1920, they met in Bad Nauheim and came to the conclusion that there was a need for a new
umbrella for applied sciences due to their experience during the war.[9] In the same year, physicists
primarily from industrial laboratories formed a new society called the German Physical Society
(DGTP).[9] In September 1921, the two societies held a meeting with the German Mathematical Society
(DMV) in Jena. In its first volume, ZAMM (Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics) stated that
this meeting "for the first time, applied mathematics and mechanics was coming to its own to a larger
extent"[17] This journal advertised the common goals of Prandtl, Theodore von Kármán, Richard von
Mises, and Hans Reissner.[9]

On top of the foundation of ZAMM, the GAMM (International Association of Applied Mathematics and
Mechanics) was also formed due to the joint efforts of Prandtl and his peers.[9] After these initial
meetings of GAMM, it became clear that there was now a new international community of
mathematicians, "scientific engineers", and physicists.[9]

Other work examined the problem of compressibility at high subsonic speeds, known as the Prandtl–
Glauert correction. This became very useful during World War II as aircraft began approaching
supersonic speeds for the first time. He also worked on meteorology, plasticity and structural mechanics.
He also made significant contributions to the field of tribology.[18]

Following Prandtl's investigation into instabilities from 1921-1929, he then moved to exploring
developed turbulence.[19] This was also being investigated by Kármán, resulting in a race to formulate a
solution for the velocity profile in developed turbulence.[19] Regarding the professional rivalry that
started between the two, Kármán commented: “I came to realize that ever since I had come to Aachen my
old professor and I were in a kind of world competition. The competition was gentlemanly, of course. But
it was first-class rivalry nonetheless, a kind of Olympic games, between Prandtl and me, and beyond that
between Göttingen and Aachen. The ‘playing field’ was the Congress of Applied Mechanics. Our ‘ball’
was the search for a universal law of turbulence.”[20] Around 1930, the race ended in a draw as both men
concluded that the inverse square of skin friction was related to the logarithmic value of the product of
Reynold's number and skin friction as seen below where k and C are constants.

Prandtl and von Kármán's work on the boundary was influential and adopted by aerodynamic and
hydrodynamic experts around the world after WWI. In May 1932, the International Conference on
Hydromechanical Problems of Ship Propulsion was held in Hamburg. Günther Kempf showcased a
number of experiments at the conference which confirmed many of the theoretical discoveries of von
Kármán and Prandtl.[21]

Prandtl and the Third Reich

After Hitler's rise to power and the establishment of the Third Reich, Prandtl continued his role as
director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society. During this period, the Nazi air ministry, led by Hermann Göring,
often used Prandtl's international reputation as a scientist to promote Germany's scientific agenda. Prandtl
appears to have happily served as an ambassador for the Nazi regime, writing in 1937 to a NACA
representative "I believe that Fascism in Italy and National Socialism in Germany represent very good
beginnings of new thinking and economics." Prandtl's support for the regime is apparent in his letters to
G. I. Taylor and his wife in 1938 and 1939. Referring to Nazi Germany's treatment of Jews, Prandtl wrote
"The struggle, which Germany unfortunately had to fight against the Jews, was necessary for its self-
preservation." Prandtl also claimed that "If there will be war, the guilt to have caused it by political
measures is this time unequivocally on the side of England."[22]
As a member of the German Physical Society (DPG), Prandtl assisted Carl Ramsauer in drafting the DPG
Petition in 1941. The DPG Petition would be published in 1942 and argued that physics in Germany was
falling behind that of the United States due to rejection of "Jewish Physics" (relativity and quantum
theory) from German physicists. After publication of the DPG Petition, the belief of "German Physics"
superiority deteriorated to allow for German students to study these new fields in school.[21]

Publications
Paul Peter Ewald, Theodor Pöschl, Ludwig Prandtl; authorized translation by J. Dougall and
W.M. Deans The Physics of Solids and Fluids: With Recent Developments Blackie and Son
(1930).
Tietjens, Oskar Karl Gustav; Prandtl, Ludwig (1957). Fundamentals of Hydro- and
Aeromechanics ([Link] Courier
Corporation. ISBN 978-0-486-60374-2.
Prandtl, Ludwig (1952). Essentials of fluid dynamics: With applications to hydraulics
aeronautics, meteorology, and other subjects ([Link]
AAMAAJ). Hafner. ISBN 9780028503301.

Death and afterwards

Prandtl worked at Göttingen until he died on 15 August 1953. His
work in fluid dynamics is still used today in many areas of
aerodynamics and chemical engineering. He is often referred to as
the father of modern aerodynamics.

The crater Prandtl on the far side of the Moon is named in his
honor.

The Ludwig-Prandtl-Ring is awarded by Deutsche Gesellschaft

für Luft- und Raumfahrt in his honor for outstanding contribution
in the field of aerospace engineering.

In 1992, Prandtl was inducted into the International Air & Space Göttingen, City Cemetery: Ludwig
Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.[23] Prandtl's grave

Notable students
Jakob Ackeret Hans Multhopp
Albert Betz Max Munk
Paul Richard Heinrich Blasius Johann Nikuradse
Adolf Busemann Reinhold Rudenberg
Kurt Hohenemser Hermann Schlichting
Theodore von Kármán Walter Tollmien
Lu Shijia (Hsiu-Chen Chang-Lu) Victor Vâlcovici
Hubert Ludwieg Vishnu Madav Ghatage
Hilda M. Lyon (1932–33) Karl Wieghardt
 Theodor Meyer

See also
Tesla turbine
Particle image velocimetry
Wind tunnel
Subsonic and transonic wind tunnel
Pitot tube
Prandtl's one-seventh-power law
NASA research aircraft, Prandtl-D (Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Lower
Drag) and Prandtl-M (Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Land on Mars), both
backronyms honoring Prandtl

References
1. Busemann, A. (1960). "Ludwig Prandtl. 1875-1953" ([Link]
015). Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 5: 193–205.
doi:10.1098/rsbm.1960.0015 ([Link]
2. Eckert, Michael (2006). "The Beginnings of Fluid Mechanics in Göttingen, 1904–14" (https://
[Link]/books?id=GxIUCQ6Yai8C&pg=PA31). The Dawn of Fluid Dynamics: A
Discipline Between Science and Technology. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. pp. 31–56. ISBN 3-
527-40513-5.
3. Oswatitsch, K; Wieghardt, K (January 1987). "Ludwig Prandtl and His Kaiser-Wilhelm-
Institut" ([Link]
Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics. 19 (1): 1–26. Bibcode:1987AnRFM..19....1W ([Link]
[Link]/abs/1987AnRFM..19....1W). doi:10.1146/[Link].19.010187.000245
([Link] ISSN 0066-4189 ([Link]
[Link]/issn/0066-4189). S2CID 122665275 ([Link]
122665275).
4. Vogel-Prandtl, Johanna (22 May 2014). Ludwig Prandtl A Personal Biography Drawn from
Memories and Correspondence ([Link]
3/isbn-978-3-86395-160-3/GKSM9_prandtl_engl.pdf?sequence=1) (PDF). Translated by
Tigwell, David A. Universitätsverlag Göttingen. ISBN 978-3-86395-160-3.
5. Darrigol, Olivier (2005). Worlds of Flow: A History of Hydrodynamics from the Bernoullis to
Prandtl. United States: Oxford University Press Inc. p. 238. ISBN 0-19-856843-6.
6. Tollmien, Walter; Schlichting, Hermann; Görtler, Henry; Riegels, F. W. (1961), Tollmien,
Walter; Schlichting, Hermann; Görtler, Henry; Riegels, F. W. (eds.), "Über
Flüssigkeitsbewegung bei sehr kleiner Reibung", Ludwig Prandtl Gesammelte
Abhandlungen: zur angewandten Mechanik, Hydro- und Aerodynamik (in German), Springer
Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 575–584, doi:10.1007/978-3-662-11836-8_43 ([Link]
7%2F978-3-662-11836-8_43), ISBN 9783662118368
7. Anderson, John D. (2005). "Ludwig Prandtl's Boundary Layer". Physics Today. 58 (12): 42–
48. Bibcode:2005PhT....58l..42A ([Link]
doi:10.1063/1.2169443 ([Link] ISSN 0031-9228 ([Link]
[Link]/issn/0031-9228).
8. IUTAM Symposium on One Hundred Years of Boundary Layer Research : proceedings of
the IUTAM symposium held at DLR-Göttingen, Germany, August 12-14, 2004. International
Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. Dordrecht: Springer. 2006. ISBN 1402041497.
OCLC 122941795 ([Link]
 9. Eckert, Michael (2018). "Turbulence research in the 1920s and 1930s between
mathematics, physics, and engineering". Science in Context. 31 (3): 385–387.
doi:10.1017/S026988971800025X ([Link]
ISSN 0269-8897 ([Link] PMID 30182865 ([Link]
[Link]/30182865). S2CID 52155038 ([Link]
D:52155038).
10. Eckert, Michael (2018). "Turbulence researchi n the 1920s and 1930s between
mathematics, physics, and engineering". Science in Context. 31 (3): 385–387.
doi:10.1017/S026988971800025X ([Link]
ISSN 0269-8897 ([Link] PMID 30182865 ([Link]
[Link]/30182865). S2CID 52155038 ([Link]
D:52155038).
11. Flugge-Lotz, I Flugge-Lotz; Flugge, W Flugge (1973). "Ludwig Prandtl in the Nineteen-
Thirties: Reminiscences" ([Link] Annual
Review of Fluid Mechanics. 5: 1–9. Bibcode:1973AnRFM...5....1F ([Link]
edu/abs/1973AnRFM...5....1F). doi:10.1146/[Link].05.010173.000245 ([Link]
1146%[Link].05.010173.000245).
12. Tani, I. (January 1977). "History of Boundary Layer Theory". Annual Review of Fluid
Mechanics. 9 (1): 92, 93. Bibcode:1977AnRFM...9...87T ([Link]
1977AnRFM...9...87T). doi:10.1146/[Link].09.010177.000511 ([Link]
[Link].09.010177.000511).
13. Prandtl, L. (1933). "Über Tragflügel kleinsten induzierten Widerstandes". Zeitschrift für
Flugtechnik und Motorluftschiffahrt (in German). 24 (11): 305–306.
14. Hunsaker, D. F.; Phillips, W. (2020). "Ludwig prandtl's 1933 paper concerning wings for
minimum induced drag, translation and commentary" ([Link]
AIAA Scitech 2020 Forum: AIAA 2020-0644. doi:10.2514/6.2020-0644 ([Link]
14%2F6.2020-0644). ISBN 978-1-62410-595-1. S2CID 213059321 ([Link]
[Link]/CorpusID:213059321).
15. "AMA Expo Features Dryden's Al Bowers, Prandtl Wing" ([Link]
112011654/[Link] NASA. 7
January 2014. Archived from the original ([Link]
MA_Expo.html) on 2014-01-12. Retrieved 2016-05-27. "Prandtl"
16. Ferreiro, Larrie (2014). "The mutual influence of aircraft aerodynamics and ship
hydrodynamics in theory and experiment". Archive for History of Exact Sciences. 68 (2):
241–263. doi:10.1007/s00407-013-0129-x ([Link]
S2CID 253886074 ([Link]
17. "Nachrichten". Zeitschrift für Angewandte Mathematick und Mechanik. 1 (5): 419–423. 1921.
Bibcode:1921ZaMM....1..419. ([Link]
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18. Popov, V. L.; Gray, J. a. T. (2012). "Prandtl-Tomlinson model: History and applications in
friction, plasticity, and nanotechnologies" ([Link]
mm.201200097). Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics. 92 (9): 683–708.
Bibcode:2012ZaMM...92..683P ([Link]
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4001 ([Link] S2CID 123331302 ([Link]
[Link]/CorpusID:123331302).
19. Darrigol, Olivier (2005). Worlds of Flow: A History of Hydrodynamics from the Bernoullis to
Prandtl. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 296. ISBN 9780198568438.
20. Kármán, Theodore von; Edson, Lee (1967). The Wind and Beyond. Boston, Toronto: Little,
Brown, and Company. p. 135. ISBN 9780316907538.
21. Hoffman, Dieter (2005). "Between Autonomy and Accommodation: The German Physical
Society during the Third Reich". Physics in Perspective. 7 (3): 293–329.
Bibcode:2005PhP.....7..293H ([Link]
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S2CID 122355802 ([Link]
22. Eckert, Michael (2006). The Dawn of Fluid Dynamics: A Discipline Between Science and
Technology ([Link] Weinheim: Wiley-VCH.
ISBN 3-527-40513-5.
23. Sprekelmeyer, Linda, ed. (2006). These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of
Fame. San Diego: Donning Co. ISBN 978-1-57864-397-4.

External links
Ludwig Prandtl ([Link] at the Mathematics Genealogy
Project
Ludwig Prandtl's Biography in German ([Link]
andtl_book.pdf), ISBN 3-938616-34-2, 258 pages
Ludwig Prandtl's Biography in English ([Link]
prandtl_engl.pdf), ISBN 978-3-86395-160-3, 265 pages
Ludwig Prandtl's Boundary Layer ([Link]
pdf)
Video recording of the E. Bodenschatz's lecture on life and work of Ludwig Prandtl ([Link]
[Link]/web/20110321043741/[Link]

Retrieved from "[Link]