SECTION 1 - FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

1.1 FLUIDS (Cengel & Cimbala 1-1)

A "fluid" state is a state of matter in which the matter will take the shape of an enclosing
container. In a fluid state matter has no preferred shape, e.g. liquids, gases, vapours
are in a fluid state.

A more rigorous statement makes reference to shear forces and says: "A fluid is a
substance which deforms continuously under the action of shearing forces however
small”. Hence “in a fluid at rest (no motion) there can be no shearing forces acting and
therefore all forces must be perpendicular (or normal) to the planes on which they act-
the normal stress is called the pressure.” Cengel, Turner & Cimbala (2008)

Consider a force F acting on a surface of area dA as shown below. The force can be
decomposed into normal (perpendicular to the surface) and tangential (parallel to the
surface) components Fn and Ft.

The shear force Ft is the force acting tangentially to the area on which it is applied

Shear stress  = shear (tangential) force / area over which it acts (units N/m2)
Normal stress  = normal force / area over which it acts (N/m2)
In fluids the normal stress  = the pressure p (N/m2)

By the above definitions both liquids and

gases can be called fluids because they move
under the action of shearing forces however
small. Clearly there are differences between
gases and liquids. Liquids form a “free-
surface” and take up the shape of a container
whereas gases expand to fill the available
space. Also, liquids are almost
incompressible (do not change volume when
you apply pressure or squeeze them) but
gases compress relatively easily.

1.2 CONTINUUM (Cengel & Cimbala 2.1)

We view the fluid as continuous and homogeneous (no holes) i.e. as a Continuum. In
fact of course at the molecular level it is full of “holes” so this approximation does not
work well when we are dealing with problems where the scale of the system approaches
the mean distance between molecules (the mean free path). Unless we are considering
very small systems with a length scale of 10-8m or a rarefied gas flow i.e. at high vacuum
or in the outer atmosphere, then this is not a problem.

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1.3 DENSITY (Cengel & Cimbala 2-2)
Density = Mass per Unit Volume
Symbol  = m/V
Units kg/m3

In Thermodynamics engineers frequently use a related quantity "Specific Volume".

Specific Volume = Volume per Unit Mass which is the reciprocal of density
Symbol v ( v = 1/ )
Units m3/kg

Another term associated with Density that is often used is "Relative Density".
Relative Density = Ratio of Actual Density  to the Density of water water (1000 kg/m3)

𝜌
Relative Density =
𝜌𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟

1.4 PRESSURE
Pressure is a distributed load acting on a surface or at a point within a fluid; it has units
of force per unit area or N/m2 in SI. This basic unit of pressure is also given the name of
the Pascal (Pa) so that 1 N/m2 = 1 Pa. This is a very small unit of pressure so it is more
common to use kPa or even MPa. In gases the pressure acting on an adjacent surface
can be thought of as being due to molecular collisions and the force is therefore related
to the rate of change of the momentum of the molecules through these collisions. Hence
the more energy the molecules have (kinetic energy) the greater the pressure.

Another common unit of pressure is the bar: 1 bar = 105 Pa = 100 kPa

Pressure can be measured as a relative quantity, normally relative to local atmospheric

pressure, in which case it is called “gauge” pressure, or as an absolute quantity where
zero pressure absolute is only found in a complete vacuum. Standard atmospheric
pressure at sea level is 101.3 kPa or 1.013 bar. Effectively,

Absolute Pressure (Pabs) = Atmospheric Pressure (Patm) + Gauge Pressure (Pgauge)

1.5 TEMPERATURE
We are all familiar with the idea of temperature but actually it is rather hard to say exactly
what it is. Formally this will have to wait until the 2nd year when you cover the 2nd law of
thermodynamics. However, it is related to the amount of heat energy that a body or fluid
has. In gases this is also related to the kinetic or vibration energy of molecules (or the
square of the mean molecular speed). From this argument we can see that pressure
and temperature must be related and for gases this relationship is given by the equation
of state or the so-called ‘ideal gas law’. The common unit of temperature in the SI system
is the °C (Celcius) which is related to the melting and boiling point of water at standard
atmospheric pressure. It is thus a relative temperature scale but what we need is an
absolute quantity to be able to determine property relationships. We thus define absolute
zero temperature as the point where all molecular activity ceases. This condition is not
realistically attainable so we extrapolate to it and define absolute zero as -273°C. This
is also used to define a new absolute temperature scale called the Kelvin scale where a
temperature difference of 1°C = 1K and absolute temperature T(K) = t(°C) + 273. Note
that absolute temperature in degree Kelvin is used in most engineering calculations.

1.6 EQUATION OF STATE or ‘IDEAL GAS LAW’ (Cengel & Cimbala 2.2)
The properties of a number of gases with relatively low molar mass (e.g. air, nitrogen,
oxygen, hydrogen, helium, argon and even carbon dioxide) can often be defined

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 reasonably well using the ‘ideal gas law’ or equation of state which relates absolute
temperature to absolute pressure and enables us to calculate the density of a gas.

pV = mRT

p = Absolute Pressure (Pa)

V = Volume (m3)
m = Mass of gas (kg)
T = Absolute Temperature (K)
R = Gas Constant for a given gas (kJ/kg K)

More usually for most gases we write

pV p
= = RT
m 

Beware however this equation does not apply to all gases or to dense water vapour or
refrigerant vapour. In addition, do not confuse the gas constant R here with the universal
gas constant that you might have seen chemistry or thermodynamics. R here is the gas
constant of a given gas of interest in which different gases will take different values of R.
For example, the gas constant for dry air Rair is 287 J/kg.K at 15oC.

1.7 VISCOSITY (Cengel & Cimbala 2-6)

The viscosity of a fluid is the property which determines its resistance to deformation in
shear. It is important when there is motion between one layer of fluid and another or
between a solid boundary and the adjacent fluid.

Consider the motion of a fluid over a fixed flat wall, shown below. Imagine the fluid as a
whole series of layers parallel to the plate. Experiments show that a thin layer next to
the wall sticks to it and does not move, there is no slip. This is known as the “no slip
boundary condition” and is due to the viscosity of the fluid. The layer immediately above
is slowed down by the layer below and so on until you get sufficiently far away from the
boundary for the fluid motion not to notice the effects of the wall at all. The layers of fluid
that are retarded make up the ”boundary layer”.

The wall feels a friction force in the direction of the fluid motion as the fluid tries to drag it
along. The friction force per unit area is the shear stress because it is parallel to the area
on which it acts.

Experiments show that for many fluids : Shear Stress  Velocity gradient

More precisely for "Newtonian" fluids the relationship is given by :-

dU
= (N/m2)
dy

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where the constant of proportionality  = the dynamic or absolute viscosity.

Viscosity Symbol  (mu)

(or Dynamic Viscosity
or Absolute Viscosity) Units Pa s (Pascal seconds)
Poise (1g/cms)

Hence for Newtonian fluids, we have: Shear Stress = Viscosity x Velocity gradient

But not all fluids behave in this simple way, see the figure below.

In an “ideal fluid” the effects of viscosity are non-existent, =0, and we say the fluid is
“inviscid”. However all real fluids have viscosity.

Newtonian fluids = air, water, petrol, oils, carbon dioxide, helium, Diesel etc.
Non-Newtonian fluids = blood, custard (shear thickening), some paints (non-drip paints
are shear thinning), plastic (which flows if shear is high)

Sometimes the "Kinematic Viscosity", ν (pronounced as: nu) is used which is the Viscosity
divided by the density.

Kinematic Viscosity

Symbol  =


Units m2/s

Viscosity is not constant for a fluid but varies with pressure and temperature, the main
variations being with Temperature.

The figure below shows the variation with temperature of viscosity for several fluids. Notice
that the scale on the left is logarithmic.

In general:-

For Liquids  decreases with increase in Temperature

For Gases  increases with increase in Temperature.

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 (From Cengel & Cimbala(2014))

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Example – Journal Bearing
In a journal bearing oil fills the gap between the shaft and the bearing housing. The shaft rotates
at rotational speed  whilst the housing remains stationary. The oil in contact with the shaft
rotates with the shaft (velocity r) whilst that in contact with the housing has zero velocity. There
is therefore a velocity gradient across the fluid from r to zero (see the diagrams below).

By definition, shear stress  is:

𝑑𝑈
𝜏=𝜇
𝑑𝑦
Assuming the linear velocity gradient due to the thin oil film, i.e.:

∆U = (r − 0) = r
∆y = t = the gap between the shaft and housing

Therefore, shear stress :

(𝜔𝑟 − 0) 𝜔𝑟
𝜏≈𝜇 ≈𝜇
𝑡 𝑡

From the shear stress the torque (T) on the shaft can be determined

d
T =  x (area of shaft in contact with the fluid) x (radius of the shaft) =  x d L x 2

Hence,
𝜔𝑟 𝜋𝑑 2 𝐿
𝑇=𝜇
𝑡 2
The power to rotate the shaft against the effects of viscosity Pw may be determined from

Power Pw = T

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