Fluid Mechanics

Definition
•Mechanics is the oldest physical science that deals with both stationary and moving bodies
under the influence of forces.
•The branch of mechanics that deals with bodies at rest is called statics, while the branch that
deals with bodies in motion is called dynamics.
•The subcategory fluid mechanics is defined as the science that deals with the behavior of fluids
at rest (fluid statics) or in motion (fluid dynamics), and the interaction of fluids with solids or
other fluids at the boundaries.
•The study of fluids at rest is called fluid statics.
Definition
•The study of fluids in motion, where pressure forces are not considered, is called fluid
kinematics and if the pressure forces are also considered for the fluids in motion. that branch of
science is called fluid dynamics.
•Fluid mechanics itself is also divided into several categories.
•The study of the motion of fluids that are practically incompressible (such as liquids, especially
water, and gases at low speeds) is usually referred to as hydrodynamics.
•A subcategory of hydrodynamics is hydraulics, which deals with liquid flows in pipes and open
channels.
Definition
•Gas dynamics deals with the flow of fluids that undergo significant density changes, such as the
flow of gases through nozzles at high speeds.
•The category aerodynamics deals with the flow of gases (especially air) over bodies such as
aircraft, rockets, and automobiles at high or low speeds.
•Some other specialized categories such as meteorology, oceanography, and hydrology deal with
naturally occurring flows.
What is a Fluid?
•A substance exists in three primary phases: solid, liquid, and gas. A substance in the liquid or gas
phase is referred to as a fluid.
•Distinction between a solid and a fluid is made on the basis of the substance’s ability to resist an
applied shear (or tangential) stress that tends to change its shape.
•A solid can resist an applied shear stress by deforming, whereas a fluid deforms continuously
under the influence of shear stress, no matter how small.
•In solids stress is proportional to strain, but in fluids stress is proportional to strain rate.
•When a constant shear force is applied, a solid eventually stops deforming, at some fixed strain
angle, whereas a fluid never stops deforming and approaches a certain rate of strain
•In a liquid, molecules can move relative to each other, but the volume remains relatively
constant because of the strong cohesive forces between the molecules.
•As a result, a liquid takes the shape of the container it is in, and it forms a free surface in a larger
container in a gravitational field.
•A gas, on the other hand, expands until it encounters the walls of the container and fills the
entire available space.
•This is because the gas molecules are widely spaced, and the cohesive forces between them are
very small.
•Unlike liquids, gases cannot form a free surface.
Differences between liquid and gases
Liquid Gases
Easily to compress –
Difficult to compress and changes of volume is
often regarded as large, cannot normally be
incompressible neglected and are related
to temperature

No fixed volume, it
Occupies a fixed volume
changes volume to
and will take the shape of
expand to fill the
the container
containing vessels

A free surface is formed if Completely fill the vessel

the volume of container is so that no free surface is
greater than the liquid formed.
Application areas of Fluid Mechanics
•Mechanics of fluids is extremely important in many areas of engineering and science. Examples are:
•Biomechanics
• Blood flow through arteries and veins
• Airflow in the lungs
• Flow of cerebral fluid
•Households
• Piping systems for cold water, natural gas, and sewage
• Piping and ducting network of heating and air- conditioning systems
• refrigerator, vacuum cleaner, dish washer, washing machine, water meter, natural gas meter, air conditioner,
radiator, etc.
•Meteorology and Ocean Engineering
• Movements of air currents and water currents
Application areas of Fluid Mechanics
•Mechanical Engineering
• Design of pumps, turbines, air-conditioning equipment, pollution-control equipment, etc.
• Design and analysis of aircraft, boats, submarines, rockets, jet engines, wind turbines, biomedical
devices, the cooling of electronic components, and the transportation of water, crude oil, and natural
gas.

•Civil Engineering
• Transport of river sediments
• Pollution of air and water
• Design of piping systems
• Flood control systems

•Chemical Engineering
• Design of chemical processing equipment
Application areas of Fluid Mechanics
•Turbomachines: pump, turbine, fan, blower, propeller, etc.
•Military: Missile, aircraft, ship, underwater vehicle, dispersion of chemical agents, etc.
•Automobile: IC engine, air conditioning, fuel flow, external aerodynamics, etc.
•Medicine: Heart assist device, artificial heart valve, Lab-on-a- Chip device, glucose monitor,
controlled drug delivery, etc.
•Electronics: Convective cooling of generated heat.
•Energy: Combuster, burner, boiler, gas, hydro and wind turbine, etc.
•Oil and Gas: Pipeline, pump, valve, offshore rig, oil spill cleanup, etc.
•Almost everything in our world is either in contact with a fluid or is itself a fluid
Application areas of Fluid Mechanics
•The number of fluid engineering applications is enormous: breathing, blood flow, swimming,
pumps, fans, turbines, airplanes, ships, rivers, windmills, pipes, missiles, icebergs, engines,
filters, jets, and sprinklers, to name a few.
•When you think about it, almost everything on this planet either is a fluid or moves within or
near a fluid.
Classification of Fluid Flows
•There is a wide variety of fluid flow problems encountered in practice, and it is usually
convenient to classify them on the basis of some common characteristics to make it feasible to
study them in groups.
Viscous versus Inviscid Regions of Flow
•When two fluid layers move relative to each other, a friction force develops between them and
the slower layer tries to slow down the faster layer.
•This internal resistance to flow is quantified by the fluid property viscosity, which is a measure of
internal stickiness of the fluid.
•Viscosity is caused by cohesive forces between the molecules in liquids and by molecular
collisions in gases
Classification of Fluid Flows
Viscous versus Inviscid Regions of Flow
•There is no fluid with zero viscosity, and thus all fluid flows involve viscous effects to some
degree.
•Flows in which the frictional effects are significant are called viscous flows.
•However, in many flows of practical interest, there are regions (typically regions not close to
solid surfaces) where viscous forces are negligibly small compared to inertial or pressure forces.
•Neglecting the viscous terms in such inviscid flow regions greatly simplifies the analysis without
much loss in accuracy.
Classification of Fluid Flows
Internal versus External Flow
•A fluid flow is classified as being internal or external, depending on whether the fluid is forced to
flow in a confined channel or over a surface.
•The flow of an unbounded fluid over a surface such as a plate, a wire, or a pipe is external flow.
•The flow in a pipe or duct is internal flow if the fluid is completely bounded by solid surfaces.
•Water flow in a pipe, for example, is internal flow, and airflow over a ball or over an exposed
pipe during a windy day is external flow
Classification of Fluid Flows
Compressible versus Incompressible Flow
•A flow is classified as being compressible or incompressible, depending on the level of variation
of density during flow.
•Incompressibility is an approximation, and a flow is said to be incompressible if the density
remains nearly constant throughout.
•Therefore, the volume of every portion of fluid remains unchanged over the course of its motion
when the flow (or the fluid) is incompressible.
•The densities of liquids are essentially constant, and thus the flow of liquids is typically
incompressible. Therefore, liquids are usually referred to as incompressible substances.
Classification of Fluid Flows
Compressible versus Incompressible Flow
•A pressure of 210 atm, for example, causes the density of liquid water at 1 atm to change by just
1 percent.
•Gases, on the other hand, are highly compressible. A pressure change of just 0.01 atm, for
example, causes a change of 1 percent in the density of atmospheric air.
•Gas flows can often be approximated as incompressible if the density changes are under about 5
percent.
•The compressibility effects of air can be neglected at speeds under about 100 m/s.
 Classification of Fluid Flows
Flows Laminar versus Turbulent Flow
•Some flows are smooth and orderly while others are rather chaotic.
•The highly ordered fluid motion characterized by smooth layers of
fluid is called laminar.
•The flow of high-viscosity fluids such as oils at low velocities is
typically laminar.
•The highly disordered fluid motion that typically occurs at high
velocities and is characterized by velocity fluctuations is called
turbulent
•The flow of low-viscosity fluids such as air at high velocities is
typically turbulent.
•A flow that alternates between being laminar and turbulent is called
transitional.
Natural (or Unforced) versus Forced Flow
Natural (or Unforced) versus Forced Flow
•A fluid flow is said to be natural or forced, depending on how the fluid motion is initiated.
•In forced flow, a fluid is forced to flow over a surface or in a pipe by external means such as a
pump or a fan.
•In natural flows, any fluid motion is due to natural means such as the buoyancy effect, which
manifests itself as the rise of the warmer (and thus lighter) fluid and the fall of cooler (and thus
denser) fluid .
•In solar hot-water systems, for example, the thermosiphoning effect is commonly used to
replace pumps by placing the water tank sufficiently above the solar collectors.
Classification of Fluid Flows
Steady versus Unsteady Flow
•The terms steady and uniform are used frequently in engineering, and thus it is important to
have a clear understanding of their meanings.
•The term steady implies no change at a point with time.
•The opposite of steady is unsteady.
•The term uniform implies no change with location over a specified region.
Properties of Fluids
•Any characteristic of a system is called a property.
•Some familiar properties are pressure P, temperature T, volume V, and mass m.
•Other less familiar properties include viscosity, thermal conductivity, modulus of elasticity,
thermal expansion coefficient, electric resistivity, and even velocity and elevation.
•Properties are considered to be either intensive or extensive.
•Intensive properties are those that are independent of the mass of a system, such as
temperature, pressure, and density.
•Extensive properties are those whose values depend on the size—or extent—of the system.
Total mass, total volume V, and total momentum are some examples of extensive properties
Properties of Fluids
Density or Mass Density
•Density or mass density of a fluid is defined as the ratio of the mass of a fluid to its volume. Thus
mass per unit volume of a fluid is called density. It is denoted the symbol ρ. The unit of mass
density in SI unit is kg per cubic meter, i.e ., kg/m3.
•The density of liquids may be considered as constant while that of gases changes with the
variation of pressure and temperature.
•Mathematically mass density is written as.

•The value of density of water is 1 gm/cm3 or 1000 kg/m3.

Properties of Fluids
Density or Mass Density
•The density of a substance, in general, depends on temperature and pressure.
•The density of most gases is proportional to pressure and inversely proportional to temperature.
•Liquids and solids, on the other hand, are essentially incompressible substances, and the
variation of their density with pressure is usually negligible
Properties of Fluids
•Specific weight or weight density of a fluid is the ratio between the weight of a fluid to its
volume.
•Thus weight per unit volume of a fluid is called weight density and it is denoted by the symbol w.
•Mathematically.
Properties of Fluids
Specific Volume
•Specific volume of a fluid is defined as the volume of a fluid occupied by a unit mass or volume
per unit mass of a fluid is called specific volume.
•Mathematically, it is expressed as

•Thus specific volume is the reciprocal of mass density. It is expressed as m3/kg.

•It is commonly applied to gases.
Properties of Fluids
Specific Gravity
•Specific gravity is defined as the ratio of the weight density (or density) of a fluid to the weight
density (or density) of a standard fluid.
•For liquids, the standard fluid is taken water and for gases, the standard fluid is taken air. Specific
gravity is also called relative density. It is dimensionless quantity and is denoted by the symbol S.
Properties of Fluids
•If the specific gravity of a fluid is known, then the
density of the fluid will be equal to specific gravity of
fluid multiplied by the density of water.
•For example the specific gravity of mercury is 13.6,
hence density of mercury = 13.6 x 1000 = 13600
kg/m3.
Activity
1. Calculate the specific weight, density and specific gravity of 1liter of petrol which weighs 8N.
2. The density of gasoline is 721 kilograms per cubic meter. What is its specific gravity?
3. which of the first two problem fluids is more dense which is less?