Topic 1

Fluid Characteristics

Course Outcomes
At the end of this topic, student should be able to:
CLO1:
Apply the knowledge of fluid properties and hydrostatics
to problems associated with fluid forces, pressures,
stability and buoyancy.

Program Outcome
PO 1
To acquire and apply engineering
fundamentals to complex civil engineering
problems (Engineering knowledge).

Normal & Shear Stresses

Stress = Force per unit area
Normal stress: Fn
In a fluid at rest, the
normal stress is called
pressure
Shear stress: Ft

Liquid vs. Gas

A liquid takes the shape of the container it is in and forms a

free surface in the presence of gravity.
A gas expands until it encounters the walls of the container
and fills the entire available space. Gases cannot form a
free surface.
Gas and vapor are often used as synonymous words

Density vs. Specific Volume

Density () the mass per a unit volume of fluid
m
(Units: kg/m3)
=
V
For a gas, density depends on temperature and pressure.
Water expands when it freezes, and reaches a maximum
density at 4 oC.
The density of sea water is about 4% more than that of fresh
water (sea water = 1.04fresh water)
Specific volume (SV) = reciprocal of density

SV =

Weight (W), Specific Weight () &

Specific Gravity (SG)
Weight (W) the product of its mass and the gravitational
acceleration.
(Units: N)
W = m. g
Specific weight () the product of its density and the
gravitational acceleration.

= .g

(Units: N/m3)

Specific gravity (SG) - the ratio of the density of a

substance to the density of some standard substance at a
specified temperature (usually water at 4oC).

S liquid

liquid
liquid
=
=
water
1000

Physical Properties of Water

Physical Properties of Common Liquids

Specific Gravity (SG)

Air (at 1 atm)

Wood
Gasoline
Ice
Water
Seawater
Blood
Bones
Mercury
Gold

0.0013
0.3 0.9
0.7
0.92
1.0
1.025
1.05
1.7 2.0
13.6
19.2

Example
If the specific weight of a liquid is 8.1 kN/m3, what is its
density?

Example
A certain gas weights 16 N/m3 at a certain temperature
and pressure. What are the values of its density and
specific gravity relative to air weighing 12 N/m3?

Atmospheric and Vapor Pressures

The earths atm: Nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), others (1%)
Each of the gases possesses a certain mass & weight.
The total weight of the atmospheric column (consists of water
vapor, argon and other gases) exerts a pressure on the surface
with which it comes in contact Atmospheric pressure
At sea level, atmospheric pressure = 1.014 x 105 Pa = 1.014 bars
The pressure exerted by the water vapor on the liquid surface at a
given temperature is called vapor pressure (Pv).
Vapor pressure increases with temperature (Table A1).

Viscosity & Drag Force

Viscosity is a property that represents the internal

resistance of a fluid to motion.
The force of a flowing fluid exerts on a body in the flow
direction is called the drag force.
The magnitude of the drag force depends on viscosity.

Viscosity
Consider a fluid layer between two very large parallel plates
separated by a distance y
Shear force
F

Moving plate
V
y

dy

Shear stress

F
=
A
d

dt

Stationary plate

Water responds to shear stress () by continuously yielding in

angular deformation () in the direction of the shear.
The shear stress of the fluid () is proportional to the rate of
angular deformation (d/dt).

Viscosity
Shear force
F

Moving plate

Shear stress

dt

V
y

dy

Stationary plate

dx dx
d dy dt du

=
=
=
dt
dt dy dy

where u = dx = velocity
dt

du
=
dy
Dynamic/ Absolute
viscosity

Dynamic Viscosity ()
du
=
dy

dy
=
du

Unit: N.s.m-2, kg.m-1.s-1

Coefficient of viscosity Absolute viscosity = Dynamic viscosity

Newtonian Fluids:
Fluid for which the rate of deformation is
proportional to the shear stress.
Viscosity of a Newtonian fluid is
quantified by the slope of the graph.

air < water < oil

Kinematic Viscosity (v)

Obtained by dividing the absolute/dynamic viscosity () by
the mass density of the fluid () at the same temperature.

v =

Unit: m2/s, stoke

[1 stoke = 1 cm2/s]

Surface Tension

Insects land and walk on water

Paper clip float on water
Water beading on a leaf
Its the surface tension that balances the weights of
these object!

Surface Tension
Liquid droplets behave like small
spherical balloons filled with liquid, and
the surface of the liquid acts like a
stretched elastic membrane under
tension.
The pulling force that causes this is
due to the attractive forces between
molecules
called surface tension s.

Attractive force on surface molecule is

not symmetric.
Repulsive forces from interior
molecules causes the liquid to minimize
its surface area and attain a spherical
shape.

Surface Tension
Liquids have cohesion and adhesion, both of which are forms of
molecular attraction.
Fadh = Adhesive force between the liquid and the solid surface
Cohesive strength strong intermolecular attractive force experienced
by molecules liquid state.
Fcoh = Cohesion in the liquid molecules

Wetting surface
<

90oC

Fadh > Fcoh

Nonwetting surface
> 90oC

Fadh< Fcoh

Surface Tension
Depends on the temperature and the electrolytic content of the
liquid.
Salt dissolved in water the electrolytic content increases
the surface tension increases
Soap decreases the surface tension in water formation of
bubbles.
Surface tension is expressed in the units of force per unit
length, e.g. N/m, dyn/cm
The surface tension of pure water decreases with temperature.
(Table 1.4)

Capillarity

Capillary effect is the rise or fall of a fluid in a small-diameter tube.

The magnitude of the capillary rise (or depression), h, is determined
by the balance of adhesive force between the liquid and solid surface
and the weight of the liquid column above (or below) the liquid-free
surface.

Capillarity
If the tube is clean,
= 0o for water and
130o for mercury

Capillary rise:

2
h=
cos
gR

where = surface tension

R = Inside radius of the vertical tube

Problem
Water at 10oC stands in a clean glass tube of 2-mm
diameter at a height of 35 mm. What is the true static
height?

35 cm
h
? cm
Water

Elasticity of Water
Water is about 100 times as compressible as steel.
The compressibility of water is inversely
proportional to its volume/bulk modulus of
elasticity, Eb.

Vol
P = Eb

Vol
Eb of water varies both with temperature and pressure.
In practice, a value of 2.2 x 109 N/m2 is commonly
used for Eb of water.

Problem:
A flat plate of 50 m2 is being pulled over a fixed flat
surface at a constant velocity of 45 cm/sec. An oil
film of unknown viscosity separates the plate and the
fixed surface by a distance of 0.1 cm. If the force
required to pull the plate is measured to be 31.7 N
and if the viscosity of the fluid is constant, determine
the viscosity.

Problem:
A liquid has a viscosity of 0.005 kg/m.s and a
density of 850 kg/m3. Calculate the kinematic
viscosity in (a) SI and (b) BG units

dy
=
d

Is kg/m.s equivalent to N.s/m2?