Momentum Equation

Prof Shantha Amarasinghe

The Momentum Equation

Hydrodynamic forces associate with the change in the momentum of the fluid
• force exerted on a solid surface by a jet of fluid impinging on it.
• aerodynamic forces (lift and drag) on an aircraft wing.
• force on a pipe bend caused by the fluid flowing within it.
• thrust on a propeller.

Drag Lift
that component of the total aerodynamic force that component of the total aerodynamic force on the
on the aerofoil which is parallel to the direction aerofoil, which is perpendicular to the direction of the
of the oncoming fluid. oncoming fluid. Lift is not necessarily vertical.

The magnitude of such forces is determined essentially by Newton's Second Law.

The net force acting on a body in any direction is equal to the rate of increase of momentum of the body in
that direction.
Momentum = mv
Conservation of Momentum From Newton's Second Law

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑎

𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛
𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒

∆ 𝑚𝑣 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡 −𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑖𝑛

σ𝐹 = = = 𝑚ሶ 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡 − 𝑚ሶ 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑖𝑛
𝛿𝑡 𝛿𝑡

. . .
for steady flow m out − min = m
The value of F is positive in the direction of v is positive. For any control .
∴ ෍ 𝐹 = 𝑚 𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡 − 𝑣𝑖𝑛
volume, the total force F which acts upon it in a given direction will be

made up of three component forces. In general

.
F1 = Force due to solid boundary 𝐹1 + 𝐹2 + 𝐹3 = 𝑚 𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡 − 𝑣𝑖𝑛
F2 = Force due to body forces such as gravity, centrifugal
If R is the force exerted by the fluid on the solid body,
F3 = Force due to surrounding fluid such as pressure, shear then from Newton's Third Law  R = -F
Momentum Equation for Two - dimensional flow For steady flow
𝑚ሶ = 𝜌1 𝐴1 𝑣1 = 𝜌2 𝐴2 𝑣2

Applying momentum equation in ՜

𝑥
𝐹𝑥 = 𝑚ሶ 𝑣2 cos ∅ − 𝑣1 cos 𝜃

Applying momentum equation in ՜

𝑦

𝐹𝑦 = 𝑚ሶ 𝑣2 sin ∅ − 𝑣1 sin 𝜃
Fy
R
Resultant force 𝑅= 𝐹𝑥 2 + 𝐹𝑦 2

𝐹𝑦 Fx
Direction tan 𝛼 = 𝐹
𝑥
Momentum correction factor
The momentum equation is based on the assumption that the velocity is constant across any given cross section. But,
when a real fluid flows past a solid boundary, shear stresses are developed, and the velocity is no longer uniform over
the cross section. Hence, to take the velocity distribution into account, a momentum correction factor b must be
introduced, so that
True momentum per unit time = b  Mass per unit time  Mean velocity
Q1 The sluice gate shown in Fig 1 controls flow in open channels. At sections 1 and 2, the flow is uniform and the
pressure is hydrostatic. Neglecting bottom friction and atmospheric pressure, derive a formula for the horizontal force
F required to hold the gate. Express your final formula in terms of the inlet velocity V1, eliminating V2.

Assume steady incompressible flow with no variation across the

Select the control volume as shown in Figure width b. The inlet and outlet mass flows balance:

Applying momentum equation to the fluid in the selected control volume

x

Substituting for 𝑚ሶ and V2

y
x
Q5
A 45° reducing pipe-bend (in a horizontal plane) tapers from 500 mm diameter at inlet to 250 mm diameter at outlet. The
pressure at inlet is 40 kPa and the pressure at outlet is 23 kPa. The pipe is conveying oil which has a density  of 850 kgm-3
at a rate of 0.45 m3s-1. Neglecting friction, calculate the net resultant horizontal force exerted by the oil on the bend.

𝜌 = 850 𝑘𝑔𝑚−3
𝜃 = 450
𝑃1 = 40 𝑘𝑁𝑚−2
Applying momentum equation to the 𝑃2 = 23 𝑘𝑁𝑚−2
fluid in the selected control volume

x 𝐹𝑥 + 𝑃1 𝐴1 − 𝑃2 𝐴2 cos 𝜃 = 𝜌𝑄 𝑣2 cos 𝜃 − 𝑣1 𝐹𝑥
𝑅= 𝐹𝑥 2 + 𝐹𝑦 2 = 6.362 𝑘𝑁

𝐹𝑥 = −5.454 𝑘𝑁 𝐹𝑦
𝜃= tan−1 = 31
𝐹𝑦 + 𝑃2 𝐴2 sin 𝜃 = 𝜌𝑄 −𝑣2 sin 𝜃 𝐹𝑥
y 𝑅
𝐹𝑦 Force exerted by the fluid on the bend is equal
𝐹𝑦 = −3.277 𝑘𝑁 in magnitude and opposite in direction to R
 Differential form of Momentum Equation for ideal fluid flow - Euler’ Equation of motion
y Analysis for 2-D flow
Applying Newton’s Second Law to the fluid element with unit width.
P+P
F is the body forces per unit mass

𝜕𝑃
P y P+P 𝑃𝛿𝑦 − 𝑃 + 𝛿𝑥 𝛿𝑦 + 𝑚𝐹𝑥 = 𝑚𝑎
x x 𝜕𝑥
F
P 𝑚 = 𝜌 𝛿𝑥𝛿𝑦 × 1 𝒗 = 𝑣𝑥 i + 𝑣𝑦 j

𝜕𝑣𝑥 𝜕𝑣𝑥 𝜕𝑣𝑥

x 𝑣𝑥 = 𝜙 𝑡, 𝑥, 𝑦 ∆𝑣𝑥 = 𝛿𝑡 + 𝛿𝑥 + 𝛿𝑦
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
Now expand the analysis to 3-D flow 𝒗 = 𝑣𝑥 i + 𝑣𝑦 j+ 𝑣𝑧 k
𝜕𝑃 𝜕𝑣𝑥 𝜕𝑣𝑥 𝜕𝑣𝑥
− 𝛿𝑥𝛿𝑦 + 𝜌𝛿𝑥𝛿𝑦𝐹𝑥 = 𝜌𝛿𝑥𝛿𝑦 + 𝑣𝑥 + 𝑣𝑦
𝜕𝑣𝑥 𝜕𝑣𝑥 𝜕𝑣𝑥 𝜕𝑣𝑥 𝜕𝑃 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
𝜌 = −𝜌 𝑣𝑥 + 𝑣𝑦 + 𝑣𝑧 − + 𝜌𝐹𝑥
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑥
𝜕𝑣𝑦 𝜕𝑣𝑦 𝜕𝑣𝑦 𝜕𝑣𝑦 𝜕𝑃 1 𝜕𝑃 𝜕𝑣𝑥 𝜕𝑣𝑥 𝜕𝑣𝑥
𝜌 = −𝜌 𝑣𝑥 + 𝑣𝑦 + 𝑣𝑧 − + 𝜌𝐹𝑦 𝐹𝑥 − = + 𝑣𝑥 + 𝑣𝑦
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑦 𝜌 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦

𝜕𝑣𝑧 𝜕𝑣𝑧 𝜕𝑣𝑧 𝜕𝑣𝑥 𝜕𝑃 Similarly

𝜌 = −𝜌 𝑣𝑥 + 𝑣𝑦 + 𝑣𝑧 − + 𝜌𝐹𝑧
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧 y 1 𝜕𝑃 𝜕𝑣𝑦 𝜕𝑣𝑦 𝜕𝑣𝑦
𝐹𝑦 − = + 𝑣𝑥 + 𝑣𝑦
𝜌 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
𝜕
𝜌𝒗 = − 𝜵. 𝜌𝒗𝒗 − 𝜵𝑃 + 𝜌𝑭
𝜕𝑡
 Differential form of Momentum Equation for real fluid flow – Navier Stokes equation

Differential form of
Momentum Equation
applicable to real fluid
flow can be derived
from Euler’s equation
by considering the
shear effects

𝜕
𝜌𝒗
𝜕𝑡
= − 𝜵. 𝜌𝒗𝒗 − 𝜵𝑃 + 𝜌𝑭

+ Shear effects

𝜕 Shear effect
𝜌𝒗
𝜕𝑡 term
= − 𝜵. 𝜌𝒗𝒗 − 𝜵𝑃 − 𝜵. 𝝉 + 𝜌𝑭

Equation of motion for real fluids Acceleration Pressure Body forces

term effect term term
 Differential form of Momentum Equation for real fluid flow – Navier Stokes equation

Shear effect
term

Acceleration Pressure Body forces

term effect term term

For constant  and , insertion of Newtonian expression for  into the equation of motion leads to the very famous Navier
Stokes Equation, first developed from molecular arguments by Navier and from continuum arguments by Stokes

Navier Stokes equation

Now you can attempt the questions in Tutorial

End