ME 6123

Mechanics of Inviscid Incompressible Fluid

- Dr. A.B.M. Toufique Hasan

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, BUET

Lecture # 1
May 19, 2013

ME 6123: Mechanics of Inviscid Incompressible Fluid 1

Course Outline:
1. Kinematics of fluid medium
2. The fundamental hydrodynamic equations for ideal fluid
3. The simplest cases of motion of an ideal fluid
4. Vortex motion of an ideal fluid
5. The plane motion of a body in an ideal fluid
6. The three dimensional motion of a body in a ideal fluid

Reference Books:
1. Advanced Fluid Mechanics - W.P. Graebel
2. Introduction to Fluid Mechanics - Fox and McDonald's
3. Inviscid Incompressible Flow - J.S. Marshall
4. Incompressible Flow - Panton
5. Fluid Mechanics - F.M. White

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For high Re flow about streamlined bodies viscous effects are
confined to boundary layer and wake region. The analysis of such
high Reynolds number (Re) flows past streamlined bodies can
greatly be simplified by the fact that viscous effects are generally
important only within thin regions immediately adjacent to solid
boundaries.
Outside these viscous boundary layers the flow can well
approximated as inviscid (ideal flow).

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Kinematics
Kinematics of fluid medium is the branch of fluid mechanics that
deals with quantities involving space and time only. It treats variables
such as displacement, velocity, acceleration, deformation, and
rotation of fluid elements without referring to the forces responsible
for such a motion.
Figure shows a typical finite fluid element, within which it is considered
to have an infinitesimal particle of mass dm and initial volume dxdydz,
at time t, and as it (and the infinitesimal particle) may appear after a
time interval dt. The finite element has moved and changed its shape
and orientation. Note that while the finite element has quite severe
distortion, the infinitesimal particle has changes in shape limited to
stretching/shrinking and rotation of the element’s sides.

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As the element moves in a flow field, several things may happen to it.
Certainly the element translates; it undergoes a linear displacement.
The element may also rotate. In addition, the element may deform.
The deformation may be subdivided into two parts- linear and angular
deformation.
Linear deformation involves a deformation in which planes of the element
were originally perpendicular remain perpendicular. Angular
deformation involves a distortion of the element in which planes that
were originally perpendicular do not remain perpendicular.

Fig. Representation of Fluid Motion

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 Fluid Translation: Acceleration of a fluid Particle

A general description of particle

acceleration can be obtained by
considering a particle moving in
a velocity field.
Consider the particle at time t, is at
the position x, y, z and has a
velocity corresponding to the
velocity at that point in space at
time t is u(x,y,z,t).

At t+∆t, the particle has moved to a new position, with coordinates x+∆x,
y+ ∆y, z+ ∆z, and has a velocity given by u(x+∆x ,y+ ∆y,z+∆z,t+ ∆t). Then
the expression for the acceleration vector becomes-

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The above equation provides a means for calculating the three
components of acceleration (ax , ay , az) from the three components of
velocity (u,v,w). For example, the x- component of acceleration ax,
which involves only the x- component of velocity u, is given by

….. (1)

To evaluate the limit, use a Taylor series expansion to write u(x +∆x,
y+∆y, z +∆z, t +∆t) in terms of the nearby value u(x, y, z, t). For a
continuous function u(x,y,z,t) of several variables, the Taylor series
expansion is

+ HOT

+ HOT
….. (2)

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Considering equations (1) and (2), the following relations can be obtained:

Similarly considering other two components of velocity, the following

relations can be obtained:

total temporal convective

acceleration acceleration acceleration

It is shown that a component of acceleration is given by the sum of one

temporal and three spatial derivative terms involving the corresponding
velocity component. This suggests that fluid acceleration is present
in virtually all flows of engineering interest.
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Steady/Unsteady flow through a nozzle. Convective acceleration of a fluid
particle exists.

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It is customary in fluid mechanics to use the symbol D( )/Dt to represent
the combination of derivatives:

; ∇ = del/gradient operator
or
∂ ∂ ∂
=i + j + k
∂x ∂y ∂z
is commonly called the substantial derivative. It often is called the total
derivative, material derivative or particle derivative.
Using this concept, the three-components of acceleration are

or in a compact form as a vector equation:

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Considering the velocity field in Cartesian coordinate system as u = ui + vj + wk

The acceleration (total) of a fluid particle is:

Du ∂u ∂u
For 1-D unsteady flow: = +u
Dt ∂t ∂x
Du ∂u ∂u ∂u
For 2-D unsteady flow: = +u +v
Dt ∂t ∂u ∂y
Du ∂u ∂u ∂u ∂u
For 3-D unsteady flow: = +u +v +w
Dt ∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z

Du ∂u ∂u ∂u
For 3-D steady flow: =u +v +w
Dt ∂x ∂y ∂z
For this case, the acceleration is not necessarily
zero. Thus a fluid particle may undergo a
convective acceleration due to its motion, even in a
steady velocity field.

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In cylindrical coordinates, the three components of acceleration (a r , aθ ,
az) are given in terms of the three components of velocity (vr, vθ, vz) as

; ∇ = del/gradient operator (r , θ , z )
∂ ˆ1 ∂ ∂
= rˆ +θ + zˆ
∂r r ∂θ ∂z

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Problems:

A flow field is given by

r
V = 2 x 3i − 2 x 2 j
Find the velocity and acceleration at point (2,1,3). Is the flow steady/unsteady?

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In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that measures the magnitude
of a vector field's source or sink at a given point, in terms of a signed scalar. It is a
local measure of its "outgoingness”.

Divergence of u ≡ ∇⋅u
In vector calculus, the curl is a vector operator that describes the infinitesimal
rotation of a 3-dimensional vector field. At every point in the field, the curl of that
field is represented by a vector. The attributes of this vector (length and direction)
characterize the rotation at that point.

Curl of u ≡ ∇×u
In mathematics the Laplace operator or Laplacian is a differential operator given
by the divergence of the gradient of a function. It is usually denoted by the
symbols ∇·∇, ∇2 or ∆. 2 2 2
∂ ∂ ∂
∆≡ 2 + 2 + 2
∂x ∂y ∂z
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