THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA - DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY (CIVIL) - LEVEL 5

CEX 5231 MECHANICS OF FLUIDS YEAR 2014/15
ASSIGNMENT # 1 SUGGESTED DATE OF COMPLETION 06TH DECEMBER 2014
As explained in the Course Information Sheet, you do not have to submit the completed
Assignments this year. Instead you have to correct the Assignments yourself using the
Model Answers given to you and enter the marks on the Mark Sheet. The corrected
Assignments 1, 2 and 3 and the Mark Sheets for Assignments 1, 2 and 3 should be brought to
the first Laboratory Class.
Please treat these Assignments as tools to test your knowledge and then improve it. Answer
them on your own after reading the material do not get help from anyone else and do
NOT look at the answers! First try to answer them without looking at any books or notes.
Look at books and notes only if you really are stuck. Dont feel bad that you cannot
complete the questions. Once you have done your best you can correct them by looking at
the Model Answers. This will help you understand where you have to improve your
knowledge and skills.
The first Assignment for this course is meant to help you review your background. You
should be able to answer all the questions here after the reading the sections listed in Part 1
: Review of the Reading Guide. If you find these questions and the model answers difficult you should plan on spending extra time at the beginning to understand the basic
principles otherwise you will have many difficulties later on.
1) Water is pumped from Reservoir X to Tank Y through the pipeline ABCD as shown in
Figure 1. Water is discharged from Tank Y to the atmosphere through the pipeline EFG, as
shown. All the pipes have a diameter of 25 mm and a friction factor of 0.01. The length of
the pipes AB, CD, EF and FG are 10 m, 5 m, 15 m and 20 m, respectively. The discharge
through both pipelines is 1.2 liters/second.
a) Sketch, on graphs placed one above the other, the variation of the elevation, velocity,
pressure and total heads from P, a point on the free surface of Reservoir X, to G.
b) Calculate the water level h in Tank Y. Assume a steady flow and select reasonable values
for any parameters that have not been given.
c) Calculate the pump head.

E
5m D
C
P
B
10m

3m

7m

Figure - 1

CEX 5231 Mechanics of Fluids 2014/2015 Assignment # 1

15m
F

20m

2) Water (density 1000 kg/m3) flows in a pipe ABCD which is angled at 45 degrees to the
horizontal as shown in Figure 2. The pipe diameter changes suddenly from 2 cm along AB
to 5 cm along CD as shown. A U-tube mercury (density 13,600 kg/m3) manometer is
connected between B and C. The relative levels of the mercury in the manometer are shown
in the figure. The discharge in the pipe is found to be 0.12 litres/second.
a) In which direction is the water flowing? Explain your answer.
b) Calculate the rate of energy loss between B and C.
c) Estimate, as best as you can, the difference in the manometer levels if the flow direction
was reversed.

1mm
2cm

.
A

2m

.
B

.
C
0.5m
Figure - 2

1m
0.3m

5cm
45

Figure - 3

3) A tank has a square cross-section, which each side being of length b, as shown in Figure 3.
The tank is filled to a depth of h with a liquid of density .
a) What is meant by a hydrostatic pressure distribution?
b) Show that the force exerted on one wall of the tank by the liquid is

gbh 2
2

The flow of water past a sluice gate in an open channel is shown in Figure 3. The channel
has a rectangular cross-section and a width of 2 m. The depth of water at section 1 is 1 m
while the depth at section 2 is 0.3 m. The discharge in the channel is 1 m3/s and the flow is
steady. The density of water is 1000 kg/m3.
c) State the principle of conservation of momentum as applied to a fluid control volume.
d) Calculate the flux of momentum at sections 1 and 2. Assume that the velocity distribution
over the section is uniform.
e) Calculate the pressure forces at sections 1 and 2. Assume that the pressure distribution is
hydrostatic.
f) Calculate the magnitude and direction of the force on the sluice gate.

CEX 5231 Mechanics of Fluids 2014/2015 Assignment # 1

4) The Blasius formula for the friction factor in pipe flow is

0.316
Re1 / 4

a) For what kind of flow is this equation valid?

h

b) Explain how this equation has been obtained.

A cylindrical water tank (shown in Figure 4) has a diameter of 1 m.
The water in the tank flows out through a horizontal PVC pipe that is
100 m long and has a diameter of 1 cm. The height of water above
the entrance to the pipe is h .

100m
1cm
Figure - 4

c) Use the Blasius equation to calculate the discharge through the pipe when h = 10 m and
When h = 4 m. Neglect entrance losses and use a value of 10-6 m2/s for the kinematic
viscosity of water. (Hint: You will have to use a trial and error method.)
d) Use the equation of conservation of mass to derive a relationship between the discharge
through the pipe and the height of water above the entrance to the pipe.
e) By integrating the above relationship determine the time taken for the level in the tank to
fall from h = 10 m to h = 4 m. State all your assumptions. (Hint: Use the fact that the
discharge in the pipe depends on the value of h.)
f) If entrance losses are included in your calculation will the time taken for the change in
level from h = 10 m to h = 4 m increase or decrease? Explain your answer.
g) Estimate, as best as you can, the time taken for the water level in the tank to fall to the
level of the outlet pipe (h = 0). State all your assumptions.
h) The outlet pipe is changed to one of steel with the same length and diameter. The surface
roughness of the steel pipe is 0.2 mm. Explain clearly how you would estimate the time
taken for the water level to fall from h = 10 m to h = 4 m in this case. State all your
assumptions. Note that you do not have to perform the calculations you only have to
explain the steps in the calculation.
The friction factor for turbulent flow in rough pipes is given by

CEX 5231 Mechanics of Fluids 2014/2015 Assignment # 1

d
2.03 log10 1.08
f
k