Introduction to Fluid Mechanics
Chapter 1
Introduction
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
APPLICATION OF FLUID
MECHANICS
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
Rain dropletsurface tension Bouyancy force
Drag force between single leaf
And whole tree
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
Mention other fluid mechanic
application in your daily life
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
Main Topics
Definition of a Fluid
Basic Equations
Methods of Analysis
Dimensions and Units
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
Definition of a Fluid
When a shear stress is applied:
Fluids continuously deform
Solids deform or bend
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
deformation
Solid deformation depends on
modulus of rigidityelastic
Fluid deformation depends on
viscousityviscous
Fluid exhibit springiness and friction
effectviscoelastic
Ex: shock absorber fluid
• Fluid in the shock absorber exhibit
friction effect to dissipate energy
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
Basic Equations
We need forms of the following
Conservation of mass
Newton’s second law of motion
The principle of angular momentum
The first law of thermodynamics
The second law of thermodynamics
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
Methods of Analysis
System
(or “Closed System”)
Control Volume
(or “Open System”)
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
SYSTEM (CLOSED SYSTEM)
a fixed, identifiable quantity of mass; the
system boundaries separate the system
from the surroundings. The boundaries
of the system may be fixed or movable;
however, no mass crosses the system
boundaries.
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
CONTROL VOLUME
(OPEN SYSTEM)
arbitrary volume in space through which
fluid flows.
The geometric boundary of the control
volume is called the control surface.
The control surface may be real or
imaginary; it may be at rest or in motion.
Important to take care in selecting
control volumewill affect the basic
laws formulation © Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
DIFFERENTIAL VS INTEGRAL
APPROACH
Basic laws in fluid mechanics can be
formulated in terms of finite system or
control volume
For detailed behavior of the flow we can
use differential equations. Ex: pressure
distribution on a wing surface
For gross behavior of the flow we can use
integral approach. Ex: overall lift force of
wing
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
METHOD DESCRIPTION
Lagrangian method: used for
tracking particles
Eulerian method: focused on
properties of flow at a given point in
space coordinates as a function of
time
Lagrangian method is difficult to use
in fluid flow analysis
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
Dimensions and Units
Primary and secondary dimensions?
Any valid equation that relates physical
quantitiesmust be dimensionally homogeneous;
each term in the equation must have the same
dimensions
Systems of Dimensions
• [M], [L], [t], and [T]
• [F], [L], [t], and [T]
• [F],[M], [L], [t], and [T]
force and mass cannot both be selected as
primary dimensions without introducing a
constant of proportionality that has dimensions
(and units).
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
Dimensions and Units
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
Dimensions and Units
Preferred Systems of Units
SI (kg, m, s, K)
British Gravitational (lbf, ft, s, oR)
© Fox, McDonald & Pritchard
