Chapter 1 (Modi & Seth)

 A matter exists in either the solid state or the fluid state. The fluid state is further divided into the liquid and
the gaseous states.
 All substances consist of vast numbers of molecules separated by empty space. The molecules are
continuously moving within the substance and they have an attraction for each other, but when the distance
between them becomes very small (of the order of the diameter of the molecule) there is a force of repulsion
between the molecules which pushes them apart.
 In solids the molecules are very closely spaced, but in liquids the spacing between the molecules is relatively
large and in gases the space between the molecules is still larger. As such in a given volume a solid contains
a large number of molecules, a liquid contains relatively less number of molecules and a gas contains much
less number of molecules.
 It thus follows that in solids the force of attraction between the molecules is large on account of which there
is very little movement of molecules within the solid mass and hence solids possess compact and rigid form.
In liquids the force of attraction between the molecules is relatively less due to which the molecules can
move freely within the liquid mass, but the force of attraction between the molecules is sufficient to keep the
liquid together in a definite volume. In gases the force of attraction between the molecules is much less due
to which the molecules of gases have greater freedom of movement so that the gases fill completely the
container in which they are placed.
 It may, however, be stated that inspite of the larger mobility and spacing of the molecules of fluids, for
mechanical analysis a fluid is considered to be continuum i.e., a continuous distribution of matter with no
voids or empty spaces.
 A solid can resist tensile, compressive and shear forces up to a certain limit.
 A fluid has no tensile strength or very little of it, and it can resist the compressive forces only when it is kept
in a container.
 When subjected to a shearing force, a fluid deforms continuously as long as this force is applied. The
inability of the fluids to resist shearing stress gives them their characteristic property to change shape or to
flow.
 This, however, does not mean that the fluids do not offer any resistance to shearing forces. In fact as the
fluids flow there exists shearing (or tangential) stresses between the adjacent fluid layers which result in
opposing the movement of one layer over the other. The amount of shear stress in a fluid depends on the
magnitude of the rate of deformation of the fluid element. However, if a fluid is at rest no shear force can
exist in it.
 Gases can be compressed much readily under the action of external pressure and when the external pressure
is removed the gases tend to expand indefinitely.
 On the other hand, under ordinary conditions liquids are quite difficult to compress and therefore they may
for most purposes be regarded as incompressible. Moreover, even if the pressure acting on a liquid mass is
removed, still the cohesion between particles holds them together so that the liquid does not expand
indefinitely and it may have a free surface, that is a surface from which all pressure except atmospheric
pressure is removed.
 a fluid may be defined as a substance which is capable of flowing. It has no definite shape of its own, but
conforms to the shape of the containing vessel. Further even a small amount of shear force exerted on a fluid
will cause it to undergo a deformation which continues as long as the force continues to be applied.
 A liquid is a fluid, which possesses a definite volume, which varies only slightly with temperature and
pressure. Since under ordinary conditions liquids are difficult to compress. they may be regarded as
incompressible. It forms a free surface or an interface separating it from the atmosphere or any other gas
present.
 A gas is a fluid, which is compressible and possesses no definite volume but it always expands until its
volume is equal to that of the container. Even a slight change in the temperature of a gas has a significant
effect on its volume and pressure. However, if the conditions are such that a gas undergoes a negligible
change in its volume, it may be regarded as incompressible. But if the change in volume is not negligible the
compressibility of the gas will have to be taken into account in the analysis.
 A vapour is a gas whose temperature and pressure are such that it is very near the liquid state. Thus steam
may be considered as a vapour because its state is normally not far from that of water.
 Chapter 1 (Modi & Seth)
 Ideal fluids are those fluids which have no viscosity and surface tension and they are incompressible. As
such for ideal fluids no resistance is encountered as the fluid moves. However, in nature the ideal fluids do
not exist and therefore, these are only imaginary fluids.
 The fluids which have low viscosity such as air, water etc., may however be treated as ideal fluids without
much error.
 Practical or real fluids are those fluids which are actually available in nature. These fluids possess the
properties such as viscosity, surface tension and compressibility and therefore a certain amount of resistance
is always offered by these fluids when they are set in motion.
 Units may be defined as those standards in terms of which the various physical quantities like length, mass,
time, force, area, volume, velocity, acceleration etc., are measured. The system of units used in mechanics
are based upon Newton’s second law of motion, which states that force equals mass times acceleration or F
= m × a, where F is the force, m is the mass and a is the acceleration.
 There are in general four systems of units, two in metric (C.G.S. or M.K.S.) system and two in the English
(F.P.S.) system. Of the two, one is known as the absolute or physicist’s system and the other as the
gravitational or engineer’s system.
 The difference between the absolute and gravitational systems is that in the former the standard is the unit of
mass. The unit of force is then derived by Newton’s law. In the gravitational system the standard is the unit
of force and the unit of mass is derived by Newton’s law.
 Units of measurement
Quantity Metric units English units
Gravitational Absolute Gravitational Absolute
Length Metre (m) Metre (m) Foot (ft) Foot (ft)
Time Second (sec) Second Second (sec) Second (sec)
(sec)
Mass Metric slug Gram (gm) Slug (sl) Pound (lb)
(msl)
Force Kilogram (kg) Dyne Pound (lb) Poundal (pdl)
Temperature °C °C °F °F
 Chapter 1 (Modi & Seth)
 Mass density or specific mass =
 Mass density (or specific mass) of a fluid is the mass which it possesses per unit volume. It is denoted by
a symbol ρ (Greek ‘rho’).
 In SI units mass density is expressed in kilogram per cubic metre i.e., kg/m3.
 In the metric gravitational system of units, mass density is expressed in metric slug per cubic metre.
 in the metric absolute system of units, it is expressed in gm (mass) per cubic centimetre i.e., gm/cm3.
 in the English gravitational and absolute systems of units are slugs per cubic foot i.e., slugs/ft3 and pound
(mass) per cubic foot i.e., lb (m)/ft 3 respectively.
 The mass density of water at °C in different systems of units is 1000 kg/m3, or 102 msl/m3, or 1 gm/cc,
or 1.94 slugs/ft 3, or 62.4 lb(m)/ft 3.
 Since a molecule of a substance has a certain mass regardless of its state (solid, liquid or gas), it then
follows that the mass density is proportional to the number of molecules in a unit volume of the fluid. As
the molecular activity and spacing increase with temperature, fewer molecules exist in a given volume of
fluid as temperature rises. Therefore, the mass density of a fluid decreases with increasing temperature.
Further by application of pressure a large number of molecules can be forced into a given volume, it is to
be expected that the mass density of a fluid will increase with increasing pressure.
 Specific weight and weight density =
 Specific weight (also called weight density) of a fluid is the weight it possesses per unit volume. It is
denoted by a symbol w or  (Greek ‘gama’).
 In SI units, specific weight is expressed in newton per cubic metre i.e., N/m3.
 In the metric gravitational system of units, specific weight is expressed in kilogram (f) per cubic metre.
 in the metric absolute system of units, it is expressed in dynes per cubic centimetre i.e., dynes/cm3 or
dynes/cc.
 in the English gravitational and absolute systems of units are pound (f) per cubic foot i.e., lb (f)/ft 3 and
poundal per cubic foot, i.e., pdl/ft 3 respectively.
 The specific weight of water at 4°C in different units is 9810 N/m3 (or 9.81 kN/m3), or 1000 kg(f)/m3 , or
981 dynes/cm3, or 62.4 lb(f)/ft 3, or (62.4 × 32.2) pdl/ft 3.
 The specific weight depends on the gravitational acceleration and the mass density. Since the
gravitational acceleration varies from place to place, the specific weight will also vary. Further as the
mass density changes with temperature and pressure, hence the specific weight will also depend upon
temperature and pressure.
 Relation between ρ and  =

 Specific volume of a fluid is the volume of the fluid per unit weight. Thus, it is the reciprocal of specific
weight. It is generally denoted by v. In SI units, specific volume is expressed in cubic metre per newton i.e.,
m3/N.
 Compressibility and elasticity =
 All fluids may be compressed by the application of external force, and when the external force is
removed the compressed volumes of fluids expand to their original volumes.
 Thus, fluids also possess elastic characteristics like elastic solids. Compressibility of a fluid is
quantitatively expressed as inverse of the bulk modulus of elasticity K of the fluid, which is defined as

 Thus bulk modulus of elasticity K is a measure of the incremental change in pressure dp which takes
place when a volume V of the fluid is changed by an incremental amount dV. Since a rise in pressure
always causes a decrease in volume, dV is always negative, and the minus sign is included in the
equation to give a positive value of K.
 For example, consider a cylinder containing a fluid of volume V, which is being compressed by a piston.
Now if the piston is moved so that the volume V decreases by a small amount dV, then the pressure will
 Chapter 1 (Modi & Seth)
increase by amount dp, the magnitude of which depends upon the bulk modulus of elasticity of the fluid,
as expressed in above equation or formula.
 In SI units the bulk modulus of elasticity is expressed in N/m2.
 In the metric gravitational system of units, it is expressed in either kg(f)/cm 2 or kg(f)/m2.
 In the English system of units it is expressed either in lb(f)/in2 or lb(f)/ft2.
 The bulk modulus of elasticity for water and air at normal temperature and pressure is approximately
2.06 × 109 N/m2 [or 2.1 × 108 kg (f)/m2] and 1.03 × 105 N/m2 [or 1.05 × 104 kg (f)/m2] respectively.
Thus, air is about 20,000 times more compressible than water.
 The bulk (volume) modulus of elasticity of mild steel is about 2.06 × 10 11 N/m2 [or 2.1 × 1010 kg(f)/m2]
which shows that water is about 100 times more compressible than steel.
 However, the bulk modulus of elasticity of a fluid is not constant, but it increases with increase in
pressure. This is so because when a fluid mass is compressed, its molecules become close together and
its resistance to further compression increases i.e., K increases. Thus, for example, the bulk modulus of
water roughly doubles as the pressure is raised from 1 atmosphere to 3500 atmospheres.
 The temperature of the fluid also affects the bulk modulus of elasticity of the fluid. In the case of liquids
there is a decrease of K with increase of temperature. However, for gases since pressure and temperature
are inter-related and as temperature increases, pressure also increases, an increase in temperature results
in an increase in the value of K.
 For liquids since the bulk modulus of elasticity is very high, the change of density with increase of
pressure is very small even with the largest pressure change encountered. Accordingly in the case of
liquids the effects of compressibility can be neglected in most of the problems involving the flow of
liquids. However, in some special problems such as rapid closure of valve or water hammer, where the
changes of pressure are either very large or very sudden, it is necessary to consider the effect of
compressibility of liquids.
 On the other hand, gases are easily compressible and with the change in pressure the mass density of
gases changes considerably and hence the effects of compressibility cannot ordinarily be neglected in the
problems involving the flow of gases. However, in a few cases where there is not much change in
pressure and so gases undergo only very small changes of density, the effects of compressibility may be
disregarded e.g., the flow of air in a ventilating system is a case where air may be treated as
incompressible.
 Vapour pressure =
 All liquids possess a tendency to evaporate or vaporize i.e., to change from the liquid to the gaseous
state. Such vaporization occurs because of continuous escaping of the molecules through the free liquid
surface. When the liquid is confined in a closed vessel, the ejected vapour molecules get accumulated in
the space between the free liquid surface and the top of the vessel. This accumulated vapour of the liquid
exerts a partial pressure on the liquid surface which is known as vapour pressure of the liquid.
 As molecular activity increases with temperature, vapour pressure of the liquid also increases with
temperature. If the external absolute pressure imposed on the liquid is reduced by some means to such an
extent that it becomes equal to or less than the vapour pressure of the liquid, the boiling of the liquid
starts, whatever be the temperature. Thus, a liquid may boil even at ordinary temperature if the pressure
above the liquid surface is reduced so as to be equal to or less than the vapour pressure of the liquid at
that temperature.
 If in any flow system the pressure at any point in the liquid approaches the vapour pressure, vaporization
of liquid starts, resulting in the pockets of dissolved gases and vapours. The bubbles of vapour thus
formed are carried by the flowing liquid into a region of high pressure where they collapse, giving rise to
high impact pressure. The pressure developed by the collapsing bubbles is so high that the material from
the adjoining boundaries gets eroded and cavities are formed on them. This phenomenon is known as
cavitation.
 Mercury has a very low vapour pressure and hence it is an excellent fluid to be used in a barometer. On
the contrary various volatile liquids like benzene etc., have high vapour pressure.