Lecture 4

Fluid Mechanics
(Fluid Kinematics)
Mahmoud Nady Abdelmoez
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department
Assiut University, Egypt

11/11/2020 1
 Describing fluid flow mathematically
• Although laws of classical mechanics apply on motion of fluids,
following paths of individual objects will not be an efficient approach
because a fluid is a continuum.
• It is easy to follow motion of balls on a billiard table, but not all fluid
elements in a flow.
• It is easier to define velocity of fluid elements at different locations
(this is called Eulerian approach) rather describing the velocity of
each element while it flows (this is called the Lagrangian approach).
• This is why fluid motion is usually described as a flow field (i.e.
velocity of the fluid is a function of space and time (x,y,z,t))
• Example:
• For a certain flow, the velocity field can be described by the following equation:

• Sketch the velocity field.

• Are there any stagnation points in this flow (points with zero velocity)?
Example
• For a certain flow, the velocity field can be described by the following equation:

• Sketch the velocity field.

• Are there any stagnation points in this flow?
Example of Velocity field

Flow around an aerofoil changing Unsteady flow field around a

its angle of attack cylinder due to vortex shedding
 Eulerian and Lagrangian flow description
• Eulerian method:
• Fluid motion is given by prescribing the necessary properties (P, V, , T...etc) as functions
of space and time.
• i.e. information about the flow in terms of what happens at fixed points in space as the
fluid flows through those points

• Lagrangian method:
• Following individual fluid particles as they move about and determining how the fluid
properties associated with these particles change as a function of time. That is, the fluid
particles are “tagged” or identified, and their properties determined as they move.
 Example: Eulerian vs Lagrangian description of
flow out of a chimney
• Eulerian method
• Attach a temperature sensor to the top of the chimney (point 0) and
record the temperature at that point as a function of time. T0 = T0(t)
• The use of numerous temperature-measuring devices fixed at various
locations would provide the temperature field T=T(x,y,z,t)

• Lagrange method
• Attach the temperature-measuring device to a particular fluid particle
(particle A) and record that particle’s temperature as it moves about.
Particle temperature is obtained as a function of time TA=TA(t)
• The use of many such measuring devices moving with various fluid
particles would provide the temperature of these fluid particles as a
function of time.

If enough information in Eulerian form is available, Lagrangian

information can be derived from the Eulerian data—and vice
versa
Example from the movie: Twister

From the movie “Twister” – Director: Jan de Bont (1996)

Example on Lagrangian method

Flow of fluorescent particles inside a droplet

under the effect of an electric field
 One, Two, and Three dimensional flows

• In general fluid flow is three dimensional

V, P,  , T = f ( x, y, z, t )
Two dimensional flow
• Flow can be described accurately by only two velocity components that
are functions of (x, y, and t)

V = u(x,y, t) i + v( x, y, t ) j

Also any other property will be

function of x, y, and t

P = f(x,y,t)
T = f ( x, y , t )
One Dimensional flow
• Flow can be described accurately by only one velocity component that is a
function of (x, and t)
V = u(r,t) i

  r 2 
Poiseuille flow u = U 1 −   
  R  
 Steady and Unsteady flows
• Steady flow: V
=0
• The velocity at a given location does not vary with time t
• Unsteady flow: V
• The velocity at a given location vary with time 0
t
 Flow pattern and flow visualization

• A general flow field can be visualized by plotting its streamlines, streaklines or pathlines.

• A streamline is a curve that is everywhere tangent to the instantaneous local velocity

vector.

• A streakline consists of all particles in a flow that have previously passed through a
common point.

• A pathline is the line traced out by a given particle as it flows from one point to another.

• For steady flow, streamlines, streaklines, and pathlines are the same.
 Stream lines
• A streamline is a curve that is everywhere tangent to the
instantaneous local velocity vector.

• How can we find the equation of a streamline from its velocity

components?

• If the flow was three dimensional:

 Example
• Find streamlines of the flow field
 Example
• Find streamlines of the flow field
 Streamlines, pathlines, and streaklines
• A streamline is a curve that is everywhere tangent to the instantaneous local velocity vector.
• A streakline consists of all particles in a flow that have previously passed through a common point.
• A pathline is the line traced out by a given particle as it flows from one point to another.
• All three lines coincide on each other for steady flow
 Pathlines and Streaklines
• If the flow is unsteady, streamlines, streaklines, and pathlines are completely different.
• A streakline consists of all particles in a flow that have previously passed through a common point.
• A pathline is the line traced out by a given particle as it flows from one point to another.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtWz4p-WnL8
 Pathlines and streaklines

• If the flow is unsteady, streamlines, streaklines, and pathlines are completely different.
• A streakline consists of all particles in a flow that have previously passed through a common point.
• A pathline is the line traced out by a given particle as it flows from one point to another.
Rotational vs irrotational flow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glfm3NMMxh0
Rotation and vorticity

The rotation, of the element about the z axis is defined as the

average of the angular velocities and of the two mutually
perpendicular lines OA and OB

The vorticity is defined as double the rotation:

𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑢
𝜁 = 2𝜔 = −
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
Example
Find the rotation
Example
Thank you
 Example on velocity field
• For a given velocity field:

V0 x V0 y
u=− v=
l l
• The velocity magnitude:

• V is constant on circles whose center is the origin

Velocity field
• Fluid velocity is the derivative of the
position vector of every fluid particle
drA
VA =
dt
• Generally the velocity of the fluid is a
function of space and time (x,y,z,t):

• The speed of the fluid is the magnitude

of the velocity vector