Fluid Mechanics

Chapter 1 Basic Fluid Properties

FLUID MECHANICS
1 Basic Fluid Properties
Fluid mechanics is the study of the behaviour of fluids under the action of
applied forces. The challenge in fluid mechanics is that it is often very
difficult to predict the motion of fluids.
Fluid mechanics can be applied to various fields of engineering.
Aeronautical Engineering
Civil Engineering

Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Environmental Engineering
Other applications

flow over wings and bodies

river flows, wind effects on high buildings,
sedimentation, hydraulics, currents in
harbours and submerged structures
flow of coolants in power systems, flow of
fluid with electrical properties
turbomachinery, fluidic lubrication, gas flow
in exhausts
dispersion of pollutants in air and water,
storm surge and ocean currents
blood flow and weather prediction

1.1 Nature of Fluids

A fluid consists of discrete molecules possessing random motion. A fluid
may be a gas or a liquid. If there is a large change of pressure in a gas,
then there will be a change in gas density. The term compressible fluid is
used when circumstances are such that changes of density as a fraction of
the original density cannot be regarded as negligible. Liquids are usually
treated as incompressible.
A fluid is defined as a substance that deforms continuously when acted
on by a shear stress of any magnitude. A shear stress (force per unit area)
is created whenever a tangential force acts on a surface. When common
solids such as steel or metals are acted on by a shear stress, they will
initially deform, but they will not continuously deform.

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1.2 Properties of Fluids

1.2.1

Dimensions & Units

Engineering problems are solved to answer specific questions. Any valid

equation that relates physical quantities must be dimensionally
homogeneous; each term in the equation must have the same dimensions.
There are seven primary (basic) dimensions commonly used are:
Mass;
Length;
Time;
Temperature;
Electric Current;
Luminous intensity and
Amount of substances
There is more than one way of selecting the unit of measure for each
primary dimension. However in the rest of the course, only the SI units
will be used. SI, which is the official abbreviation in all languages for the
System International dUnites, is an extension and refinement of the
traditional metric system.
In engineering fluid mechanics, the four primary SI units commonly used
are, mass in kilogram (kg); length in metre (m); time in second (s) and
temperature in Kelvin (K, formerly K).
All other units which compose of more than one primary unit are called
secondary (derived) units.
Quantity

Unit

Symbol

Force
Pressure / stress
Work / energy
Power
Plane angle

Newton
pascal
joule
watt
radian

N
Pa
J
W
rad

Equiv. combination of primary

units
kg m/s2
N/m2 ( kg m-1 s-2)
N m ( kg m2 s-2)
J/s

Some other units are also accepted for use with the SI.
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Name
minute
hour
litre
tonne

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Chapter 1 Basic Fluid Properties

Quality
time
time
volume
mass

Symbol
min
h
L
t

Value in SI units
1 min 60 s
1 h 60 min 3600 s
1 L 10-3 m3 (or 1 m3 1000 L)
1 t 1000 kg

Prefixes

To avoid inconveniently large or small numbers, prefixes may be put in

front of the unit names.
Prefix

Symbol

tera
giga
mega
kilo
hecto
deca
deci
centi
milli
micro
nano
pico

T
G
M
k
h
da
d
c
m

n
p

Factor by which unit is

multiplied
1012
109
106
103
102
10
10-1
10-2
10-3
10-6
10-9
10-12

When a unit with a prefix is raised to a power, the exponent applies to the
whole multiple and not just to the original unit.
1 mm2 (10-3 m)2 10-6 m2
not 1 m(m2) 10-3 m2

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Chapter 1 Basic Fluid Properties

Mass

The mass of a fluid, designated by symbol m (kg), is the quantity of matter

in a body. It does not change with position, and is not affected by pressure,
temperature or motion. In fact, mass remains constant whatever happens to
the body.

1.2.4

Weight

The weight of a fluid, designated as w (N), is the gravitational attractive

force that the Earth exerts on a mass. Weight depends on the acceleration
due to gravity (g = 9.81 ms-2) and this varies with height and location on
the earth. Since weight is a force, weight and mass are related as
w

1. 2. 5

= mg

Density

The density of a fluid, designated by the Greek symbol , is defined as its

mass per unit volume. Density is typically used to characterise the mass of
a fluid system. In the SI system, has units of kg/m3.

m
mass
=
V
Volume

The value of density can vary widely between different fluids, but for
liquids, variations in pressure and temperature generally have only a small
effect on the values of . The typical value of for water at standard
pressure and temperature is 1000 kg/m3.

1.2.6

Specific Weight (Unit Weight)

The specific weight of a fluid, designated by the Greek symbol , is

defined as its weight per unit volume. The unit in SI is N/m3.

w
V
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Since w = mg, and = m/V, therefore

mg
V
m
= ( )g
V

= g

Just as density is used to characterise the mass of a fluid system, the

specific weight is used to characterise the weight of the fluid system. The
typical value for water is 9.81 kN/m3.

1.2.7

Specific Gravity (Relative Density)

Many times a fluid is designated by its specific gravity, a dimensionless

number from which you can determine the density and specific weight of
the fluid. Specific gravity is defined as the ratio of the density of a fluid to
the density of water at 4 C. The reason to choose the density of water at 4
C is that water has the maximum density at 4 C.
S.G.

subs tan ce
H 2 O at 4 o C

The typical value for water is 1.0 and mercury 13.6.

For gases, the standard density is commonly referred to air rather than to
water.

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Worked examples:
1.

A tank of seawater has a volume of 12 m3 and a weight of 123 kN.

Determine its density and specific weight in SI units.

Answer
Weight of water, w
Volume of tank, V

specific weight,

= w/V
= 123/12 kN/m3
= 10.25 kN/m3

Since
by taking

= g
= 9.81 m/s2

Density of water

2.

= 123 kN
= 12 m3

= 10.25/9.81*1000 kg/m3
= 1045 kg/m3

Gear oil has a specific gravity of 0.93. Determine its specific weight
and density.

Answer
S.G. =

subs tan ce
H 2 O at 4 o C

oil = S.G. * water

= 0.93 * 1000
= 930 kg/m3

= S.G. * water
= 0.93 * 9.81
= 9.12 kN/m3

kg/m3

kN/m3

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1.2.8

Chapter 1 Basic Fluid Properties

Viscosity

The properties of density and specific weight are measures of the heaviness
of a fluid. The viscosity of a liquid is the measure of the thickness of a
fluid and it is related to the ability of a fluid to flow freely.
The following experiment is used to compare the viscosity of fluids.

Motor oil

Corn syrup

The upper plate moves at constant velocity under the influence of a

constant applied weight, w. The depth of the liquid layer has been
exaggerated below.
Moving plate
y
v

Stationary plate

Moving plate
motor
oil

y
v

corn
syrup

Stationary plate

For both cases a number of parallel velocity vectors have been drawn
between the plate and the large surface. In both cases the velocity of the
liquid adjacent to the large surface is zero, and the velocity of the liquid
adjacent to the moving plate is identical to that of the moving plate (i.e. no
slip condition). The reason is that fluid molecules tend to adhere to a solid.
The intermediate velocities are in direct proportion to their location
between the two flat surfaces.
The velocity V of the fluid varies with distance y measured from some
fixed reference plane, as shown in above figure and is termed the velocity

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profile. The velocity gradient,

dV
dy

shows the rate of change of velocity in

y direction. For many fluids, the shear stress between two adjoining layers
of fluid times the velocity gradient is a constant. This constant is called the
dynamic viscosity , i.e.

= / (y/v)

= dV

or in differential form,

dy

In SI unit, shear stress will be in Pa or N/m2, velocity in m/s and depth in m.

Thus dynamic viscosity has units of N.s/m2 or Pa.s. The typical value for
water is 1.14 x 10-3 Ns/m2.
Many calculations in fluid mechanics involve the ratio of dynamic
viscosity to mass density. Since both variables are properties, their ratio is
also a property. This quantity is called kinematic viscosity in m2/s.

Typical value for water is 1.14 x 10-6 m2/s.

If temperature and pressure are held constant, then the ratio of shear stress
to velocity gradient (called dynamic viscosity) will be constant. This is
true for a wide range of gases, water, water solutions and many petroleum
products. As a group, all those fluids for which the assumption holds true
are called Newtonian fluids. All other fluids are called non-Newtonian
fluids.
Shear stress,
plastic

Bingham
plastic

Newtonian
pseudoplastic
dilatant
Rate of shear, dV/dy

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Worked example:
The diagram above shows two plates y apart, the lower one fixed and the
upper one free to move under the action of a mass of 25 g. If the fluid
between the plates is castor oil (dynamic viscosity, = 650 x 10-3 Ns/m2)
and the area of contact of the upper plate with the oil is 0.75 m2, find the
velocity of the upper plate when the distance separating the plate is 1 cm.
Answer
For Newtonian fluid,

or

dV
and with a constant ,
dy
V
=
for constant velocity profile
y

weight of the hanging mass = mg

= 25/1000 * 9.81 N

shear force
area
25 / 1000 * 9.81 N
=
0.75
m2
= 0.327 N/m2

Viscous shear stress, =

Thus

Noted that:

V = / * y
0.327 * 0.01
m/s
=
650 x 10 -3
= 5.03 x 10-3 m/s
= 5.03 mm/s

at fixed plate, V = 0 because of the no slip condition

at moving plate, V = 5.03 mm/s also because of the no
slip condition.

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1.2.9

Chapter 1 Basic Fluid Properties

Compressibility and the Bulk Modulus of Elasticity, K

All materials, whether solids, liquid or gases, are compressible, i.e. the
volume V of a given mass will be reduced when a force is exerted
uniformly all over its surface. The relation between change of pressure and
change of volume depends on the bulk modulus of elasticity (or simply
bulk modulus), K of the material.
K

= V

dP
dV

Since a rise in pressure always causes a decrease in volume and the minus
sign is included in the equation to give a positive value of K. The SI unit
for K is N/m2. Typical value for water is 2.05 x 109 N/m2.
The concept of the bulk modulus is mainly applied to liquids, since for
gases the compressibility is so great that the value of K is not a constant.
For liquids, the bulk modulus is usually very large, i.e. liquids require very
large pressure to create a small change in volume. Hence we conclude that
liquids can be considered as incompressible for most practical engineering
applications.
Unlike liquids, gases are easily compressible and the compressibility is
measured in terms of the Mach number, Ma.
Ma =
Where

V
C

V
C

- velocity of flow of gases

- speed of sound, i.e. sonic speed

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Class Exercise 1.1:

A hydraulic lift of the type commonly used for greasing automobiles

consists of a 250 mm diameter ram that slides in a diameter cylinder. The
annular space between the cylinder and the ram is filled with a 0.075 mm
thick oil having a kinematic viscosity of 3.53*10-4 m2/s and SG of 0.83. If
the rate of travel of the ram, V is 0.15 m/s, find the frictional resistance, F
when a ram of 2 m long is engaged in the cylinder.
oil film
0.075mm
ram

Fixed cylinder

(920 N)

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Chapter 1 Basic Fluid Properties

Tutorial: Properties of Fluids

Taking g = 9.81 m/s2 and density of water, w = 1000 kg/m3

1.A reservoir of glycerine has a mass of 1200 kg and a volume of 0.952 m3.
Find the glycerines weight (W), mass density (), specific weight ()
and specific gravity (S.G.).

2. The specific gravity of ethyl alcohol is 0.79. Calculate its specific

weight and mass density.
3. The volume of a rock is found to be 0.00015 m3. If the rocks specific
gravity is 2.60, what is its weight?

4. A block weighing 100 N and having dimensions 200 mm on an edge is

allowed to slide down an incline on a film of oil having a thickness of 0.05
mm. If a linear velocity profile in the oil is assumed, what is the terminal
speed of the block? The viscosity of the oil is 7*10-2 Ns/m2.

100N

0.05mm

25

END

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