FLUID MECHANICS

• Fluid Mechanics
-branch of science that deals with the behavior of
fluids.
• Fluid mechanics can be divided into:
-fluid statics, the study of fluids at rest;
-fluid kinematics, the study of fluids in motion
-and fluid dynamics, the study of the effect of forces
on fluid motion.
– it models matter from a macroscopic viewpoint rather
than from a microscopic viewpoint.
• Continuum Concept of a Fluid:
― properties of fluid arise from its molecular structure.
― engineering problems concerned with the bulk
behavior of the fluids
― no of molecules involved is enormous and separation
between them is normally negligible.
― Under such conditions, it is usual to consider fluid as
continuum-a hypothetical continuous substance.
• Applications
Mechanics of fluids is extremely important in many areas of
engineering and science. Examples are:
• Biomedical
– Blood flow through arteries
– Flow of cerebral fluid
– Design of devices that deliver medicines at a desired
location (drug delivery system)
• Meteorology and Ocean Engineering
– Movements of air currents and water currents
• Chemical Engineering
– Design of chemical processing equipment
• Mechanical Engineering
– Design of pumps, turbines, air-conditioning equipment,
pollution-control equipment, etc.
 – Power plants.
– I C engines.
– Spacecraft and rocket motors.
– Design of automobiles.
• Civil Engineering
– Transport of river sediments.
– Pollution of air and water.
– Design of piping systems.
– Flood control systems.
• Sports
-Swing of cricket ball
-Foot ball
-design of golf balls capable of longer flight
-sky jumpers
-racing cyclists
-marathon runners
-swimming strokes
 Properties of fluids
• Solids
-satisfy Hooke's Law
-elongation is proportional to force
-small deformation on application of tensile,
compressive and shear forces
• For Hookean or linear elastic solids
σ = Eε, where
ε is strain
E is Young’s modulus
σ is stress (force/area)
• Fluids:
-unable to resist shear force, how- so- ever small
it may be, without continuously moving it.
-liquids or gases
-liquids are generally incompressible
-gases are easily compressed
• The primary difference between solid and a fluid is
the manner in which each behaves when subjected
to a shear force
• Strain rate is related to shear stress. For Newtonian
fluids
τ = μ du/dy , where
τ is shear stress,
μ is viscosity
du/dy is velocity gradient
• Newton's law of viscosity is a constitutive
equation (like Hooke's law, Fick's law, Ohm's law)
• it is not a fundamental law of nature but an approximation
that holds in some materials and fails in others.
• A fluid that behaves according to Newton's law, with a
viscosity μ that is independent of the stress, is said to
be Newtonian fluids.
• Gases, water and many common liquids can be considered
Newtonian in ordinary conditions and contexts.
• There are many non-Newtonian fluids that significantly
deviate from that law in some way or other. For example:
• Shear thickening liquids, whose viscosity increases with
the rate of shear stress.
• Shear thinning liquids, whose viscosity decreases with
the rate of shear stress.
• Thixotropic liquids, that become less viscous over time
when shaken, agitated, or otherwise stressed.
• Rheopectic liquids, that become more viscous over
time when shaken, agitated, or otherwise stressed.
• Bingham plastics that behave as a solid at low stresses
but flows as a viscous fluid at high stresses.
• Shear thinning liquids are very commonly, but
misleadingly, described as thixotropic.
• Even for a Newtonian fluid, the viscosity usually depends
on its composition and temperature.
• For gases and other compressible fluids, it depends on
temperature and varies very slowly with pressure.
• The viscosity of some fluids may depend on other factors.
A magnetorheological fluid, for example, becomes
thicker when subjected to a magnetic field, possibly to
the point of behaving like a solid.
 FLUIDS IN EQUILIBRIUM (FLUID STATICS)
• Fluid statics is that branch of mechanics of fluids which deals
primarily with fluids at rest.
• Problems in fluid statics are much simpler than those
associated with the motion of fluids.
• As individual elements of fluids do not move relative to each
other, shear forces are not involved.
• All forces due to pressure of fluid are normal to the surfaces
on which they act.
• Fluid statics may thus be extended to cover instances in
which elements of fluid do not move relative to each other
even though the fluid as a whole may be moving.
• With no relative movement between the elements, the
viscosity of fluid is of no concern.
• The applications of fluid statics include:
― determination of pressure variation with position in a
stationary fluid.
― pressure variation with depth.
― barometer for the measurement of atmospheric pressure.
― manometers for the measurement of pressure difference.
― hydrostatic thrusts on submerged surfaces- plane and
curved.
― design of sluice gates for barrages, hydrostatic forces on
dam structures.
― buoyancy.
― stability of submerged and floating bodies.
 Variation of Pressure with Depth
When the variation of density with
elevation is known

The pressure of a fluid at rest Free-body diagram of a rectangular

increases with depth (as a result of fluid element in equilibrium.
added weight). 19
 In a room filled with a gas, the
variation of pressure with
height is negligible.

Pressure in a liquid at rest

increases linearly with
distance from the free surface.

The pressure is the same at all

points on a horizontal plane in a
given fluid regardless of
geometry, provided that the
points are interconnected by the
same fluid.

20
Pascal’s law: The pressure applied to a
confined fluid increases the pressure
throughout by the same amount.

The area ratio A2/A1 is called

the ideal mechanical
advantage of the hydraulic lift.

Lifting of a large weight by a

small force by the application
of Pascal’s law.

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 The Manometer
It is commonly used to measure small and moderate
pressure differences. A manometer contains one or
more fluids such as mercury, water, alcohol, or oil.

Measuring the pressure

drop across a flow
section or a flow device
by a differential
manometer.

The basic
manometer.

In stacked-up fluid layers, the pressure

change across a fluid layer of density 
and height h is gh. 22
 Other Pressure Measurement Devices
• Bourdon tube: Consists of a hollow metal tube bent
like a hook whose end is closed and connected to a
dial indicator needle.
• Pressure transducers: Use various techniques to
convert the pressure effect to an electrical effect
such as a change in voltage, resistance, or
capacitance.
• Pressure transducers are smaller and faster, and they
can be more sensitive, reliable, and precise than
their mechanical counterparts.
• Strain-gage pressure transducers: Work by having a
diaphragm deflect between two chambers open to
the pressure inputs.
• Piezoelectric transducers: Also called solid-state
pressure transducers, work on the principle that an
electric potential is generated in a crystalline
substance when it is subjected to mechanical
pressure.

Various types of Bourdon tubes used to

23
measure pressure.
 THE BAROMETER AND ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
• Atmospheric pressure is measured by a device called a barometer; thus, the
atmospheric pressure is often referred to as the barometric pressure.
• A frequently used pressure unit is the standard atmosphere, which is defined as the
pressure produced by a column of mercury 760 mm in height at 0°C (Hg = 13,595
kg/m3) under standard gravitational acceleration (g = 9.807 m/s2).

The length or the cross-

sectional area of the tube
has no effect on the height
of the fluid column of a
barometer, provided that
the tube diameter is large
enough to avoid surface
tension (capillary) effects.

The basic barometer.

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 FLUID DYNAMICS

• The flow of real fluid is usually very complex. There is always

need for experimentation to obtain complete solution.
• Mathematical analysis of problems of fluid flow requires
certain simplifying assumptions to be made.
• Kinematics of fluid motion is the description of motion in
terms of displacement, velocity and acceleration but without
regards to forces causing it.
• Fluid dynamics is the study of the effect of forces on fluid
motion.
• In general the parameters such as velocity, pressure and
density which describe the behavior of fluid are not constant
in a particular set of circumstances.
• They may vary from one point to another, or from one instant
of time to another or they may vary with both position and
time.
• Steady flow is defined as that in which the various parameters
like velocity, pressure at any point do not change with time.
• If at a given point the conditions change with time, the flow is
described as unsteady or non-steady flow.
• If at a particular instant, the parameters do not change from
point to point over a specified region, then the flow is said to
be uniform over that region.
• If, however, changes do occur from one point to another, the
flow is said to be non-uniform.
• Steady uniform flow- conditions do not change with position
or time. The velocity and cross-sectional area of the stream of
fluid are same at each cross-section. Example: flow of liquid
through a pipe of uniform diameter running completely full at
constant velocity.
• Steady non-uniform flow- conditions change from point to
point but not with time. The velocity and cross-sectional area
of the stream may vary from cross section to cross section,
but , for each cross section, they will not vary with time.
Example flow of liquid at a constant rate through a tapering
pipe running completely full.
• Unsteady uniform flow- at a given instant of time of time, the
velocity at every point is the same, but this velocity will
change with time. Example: accelerating flow of a liquid
through a pipe of uniform diameter, running full.
• Unsteady non- uniform flow- the cross-sectional area and
velocity vary from point to point and also change with time.
Example: a wave travelling along a channel.
• COMPRESSIBLE and INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOW
— All fluids are compressible, so that their density will change
with pressure but under steady flow conditions and provided
the changes in density are small, the flow is considered as
incompressible.
— Incompressible flow does not imply that the fluid itself is
incompressible
• Incompressible flow implies that the density remains constant
within a parcel of fluid that moves with the fluid velocity.
• Liquids are relatively difficult to compress, it is usual to treat them
as if they were incompressible for all cases of steady flow.
• However, in unsteady flow conditions, high pressure differences can
develop and the compressibility of liquids must be taken in to
account.
• Compressible flow 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 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.
• One-, two-, three dimensional flow
— flow is described as one-dimensional if the factors or
parameters such as velocity, pressure and density describing
the flow at a given instant vary only along the direction of
flow and not across the cross-section at any point.
— if the flow is unsteady, these parameters may vary with time.
— In two dimensional flow, the flow parameters are functions of
time and two rectangular space co-ordinates (say x and y)
only.
— there is no variation in the z direction and the same flow
pattern could at any instant be found in all planes in the fluid
perpendicular to the z direction.
— in three dimensional flow, the flow parameters vary in all
three coordinate directions.
 Eulerian and Lagrangian method
Eulerian: the fluid motion is given by completely describing the necessary properties
as a function of space and time. We obtain information about the flow by noting what
happens at fixed points.
Lagrangian: following individual fluid particles as they move about and determining
how the fluid properties of these particles change as a function of time.

Measurement of Temperature If we have enough information, we

can obtain Eulerian from Lagrangian
or vice versa.
Eulerian Lagrangian

Eulerian methods are commonly

used in fluid experiments or
analysis—a probe placed in a flow.

Lagrangian methods can also be

used if we “tag” fluid particles in a
flow.
 Laminar and Turbulent Flow

• Two entirely different types of fluid flow were demonstrated

by Osborne Reynolds (1883):
laminar
turbulent
• Laminar flow is a "well-ordered" flow where adjacent fluid
layers slide smoothly over one another (past one another)
and interaction (material mixing) between these layers or
lamina of fluid occurs only at the molecular level (i.e. as
viscous stresses). Occurs at "lower" flow rates.
• Turbulent flow is a flow characterized by random motion of
fluid elements where each fluid element's velocity has a
fluctuating nature. Occurs at "higher" flow rates and is often
exploited for better mixing.
• No-slip Condition
when there is a flow over a solid surface, a
very thin film adheres to the surface and
the remaining fluid moves relative to it.
the velocity of this layer is the same as the
velocity of the solid surface.
there is no discontinuity of velocity at the
solid surface
Boundary layer concept

• A boundary layer, in fluid mechanics, is a thin layer of a

flowing gas or liquid in contact with a surface such as that of
an airplane wing or of the inside of a pipe.
• The fluid in the boundary layer is subjected to shearing forces.
• A range of velocities exists across the boundary layer from
maximum to zero, provided the fluid is in contact with the
surface.
• Boundary layers are thinner at the leading edge of an aircraft
wing and thicker towards the trailing edge.
• The flow in such boundary layers is generally laminar at the
leading or upstream portion and turbulent in the trailing or
downstream portion.
• In fluid dynamics, drag refers to forces acting opposite to the
relative motion of any object moving with respect to a
surrounding fluid.
• This can exist between two fluid layers (or surfaces) or a fluid
and a solid surface.
• Unlike other resistive forces, such as dry friction, which are
nearly independent of velocity, drag forces depend on
velocity.
• Drag forces always decrease fluid velocity relative to the solid
object in the fluid's path.
Boundary layer growth