FLUID MECHANICS
- A fluid is a collection of molecules that are
randomly arranged and held together by
weak cohesive forces and by forces exerted
by the walls of a container.
- It is any substance that does not have a
definite shape and exhibits the
phenomenon of flow
- It includes LIQUIDS and GASES.
Density and Specific Gravity
- Density is mass per unit volume. The Greek
letter ρ (rho) is used to denote density:
𝒎 bottom of the test tube?
- 𝝆= 𝒗
m- object’s mass
v- volume
- Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of
a material to a standard density.
The Standard Density for gas and liquids
Water- 1 g/cm3 or 1000 kg/m3
Oxygen- 1atm or 1.43 kg/m3
Example: Your grandmother gave you a gold ring as
“pamana”. The gold ring is 5.00 mm thick and has
an outside diameter of 12.00 mm and an inside
diameter of 11.00 mm. The density of gold is 1.93 x
104 kg/m3.
A. What is its volume in cubic millimeters?
B. What is its mass in grams?
C. What is its current market value if the price
of gold is P1836.15 per gram?
Pressure
- Pressure is force per unit area. The unit of
pressure is Pascal (Pa).
𝐹
- 𝑃=𝐴
- The Pressure P at depth h in a liquid is given
by: P = P0 + pgh
Here, P0 is the pressure at the surface
P is the fluid’s density
g is the acceleration due to gravity
Example: While doing a experiment in chemistry,
you placed an open test tube a 0.10 m deep layer
of vegetable oil on top of water that is 0.15 m
deep. The density of the oil is 920 kg/m3.
A. What is the pressure at the surface of the
oil layer?
B. What is the gauge pressure at the oil-water
boundary?
C. What is the absolute pressure at the
Pascal’s principle
- States that pressure applied to an enclosed
fluid is transmitted undiminished to every
portion of the fluid and the walls of the
containing vessel.
𝐹1 𝐹2
- =𝐴
𝐴1 2
Example: As you are passing by a car repair shop,
you notice that a car is being lifted in a hydraulic
automobile lift.
A. What must be the ratio of the diameter of
the vessel at the car to the diameter of the
vessel where the force F1 is applied so that a
1200-kg car can be lifted with a force F1 of
just 120 N?
B. The piston of the hydraulic automobile lift is
0.5 m in diameter. What gauge pressure, in
pascals, is required to lift a car with a mass
of 1200 kg?
C. What is the pressure of the atmosphere?
Archimedes principle
- States that when a body is completely or
partially immersed in a fluid, the fluid exerts
an upward force on the body equal to the
weight of the fluid displaced by the body.
- Buoyant force is the upward force exerted
by the fluid.
- 𝐹𝐵 = 𝑤𝑓 = 𝑚𝑓 𝑔 = 𝑝𝑓 𝑣𝑓 𝑔
Fb – buoyant force
pf - density of the displaced fluid
 Vf - volume of the displaced fluid Example: A small circular hole 5.00 mm in diameter
g- acceleration due to gravity is cut in the side of a large water tank, 11.0 m
below water level in the tank. The water tank is
Example: A plastic spherical balloon is held below sealed and contains air above the water at a gauge
the surface of a swimming pool by a cable tied to pressure of 2.00 atm.
the bottom of the pool. The sphere has a volume of
A. What is the speed of efflux of the water
1.50 x 10-2 m3 and the tension in the cable is 90.0 N
coming out of the hole?
A. What is the buoyant force exerted by the
B. What is the volume discharged per second?
water on the sphere?
B. Calculate the mass of the balloon.
C. A swimmer breaks the cable and the
balloon rises to the surface. What fraction
of its volume will be submerged when the
balloon comes to rest?
Continuity Equation
- Ideal fluids exhibit the following
characteristics: non-turbulent flows, steady-
state flow, non-viscous and incompressible.
- For a fluid flowing through a pipe, the
𝑑𝑉
volume flow rate is constant as given by
𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑉
Av (i.e. = Av), where A is the cross-
𝑑𝑡
sectional are and v is the flow speed.
- In a varying cross-sectional area, the
continuity equation is given by: 𝐴1 𝑣1 =
𝐴2 𝑣2

Example: in a water treatment facility, water is

flowing at a steady rate in a pipe with a varying
circular cross section.
A. If the radius of the pipe at a certain point is
0.1 m, what is the speed of the water at this
point if water is flowing through the pipe at
the rate of 0.055 m3/S?
B. Suppose at a different section of the pipe,
the water speed is 3.00 m/s. what is the
radius of the pipe at this point?
Bernoulli’s Equation
- This equation relates pressure, flow
velocity, and height for flow of an ideal
fluid.
1 1
- 𝑃1 + 2 𝑝𝑣12 + 𝑝𝑔𝑦1 = 𝑃2 + 2 𝑝𝑣22 + 𝑝𝑔𝑦2
- When a moving fluid enters a narrower
section of pipe, its speed increases but the
pressure on the fluid decreases.