BAHIR DAR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

FACULITY OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL

ENGINEERING

Fluid Mechanics
(MEng3141)
Students Handbook

By: Tereche Getnet

March, 2011
Bahir Dar
 Chapter one
Introduction and Basic Concept
1.1. Introduction
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. Fluid is defined as a substance that deforms continuously when acted on by
a shearing stress of any magnitude. Fluids are classified as gases (compressible fluids) and
liquids (incompressible fluids).

1.2. Fluid as a continuum

Most engineering problems are concerned with physical dimensions much larger than the
cube of the molecular spacing, the limiting volume, so that density is essentially a point
function and fluid properties can be thought of as varying continually in space. Such a fluid
is called a continuum, which simply means that its variation in properties is so smooth that
differential calculus can be used to analyze the substance. The limiting volume is about 10-9
mm3 for all liquids and for gases at atmospheric pressure. For example, 10-9 mm3 of air at
standard conditions contains approximately 3 *107 molecules, which is sufficient to define a
nearly constant density according the definition of density.

If molecular spacing and mean free path3 are comparable to, or larger than, the physical size
of the system then requires that the continuum approximation be dropped in favor of a
molecular theory

1.3. Properties of fluid

1.3.1. Properties of the velocity field

There are two different points of view in analyzing problems in mechanics.

 The first view, appropriate to fluid mechanics, is concerned with the field of flow and is
called the eulerian method of description. In the eulerian method we compute the
pressure field p(x, y, z, t) of the flow pattern, not the pressure changes p(t) that a particle
experiences as it moves through the field.
 The second method, which follows an individual particle moving through the flow, is
called the lagrangian description. The lagrangian approach, which is more appropriate to
solid mechanics.

Foremost among the properties of a flow is the velocity field V(x, y, z, t). In fact, determining
the velocity is often the same as to solving a flow problem, since other properties follow directly
from the velocity field. velocity is a vector function of position and time and thus has three
components u, v, and w, each a scalar field in itself:

( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

The acceleration vector, a=dV/dt, occurs in Newton’s law for a fluid and thus is very important.
In order to follow a particle in the Eulerian frame of reference, the final result for acceleration is
nonlinear and quite complicated as shown below.

1.3.2. Thermodynamic Properties of a Fluid

While the velocity field Vis the most important fluid property, it interacts closely with the
thermodynamic properties of the fluid.

 Temperature T  Enthalpy h
 Pressure p  Entropy s
 Density ρ  Specific heat capacity cp and cv
 Internal energy u  Coefficient of viscosity µ
 Thermal conductivity k

a) Pressure is the (compression) stress at a point in a static fluid. Next to velocity, the
pressure p is the most dynamic variable in fluid mechanics. Differences or gradients in
pressure often drive a fluid flow, especially in ducts.
b) Specific volume is defined as the ratio of volume of fluid to the mass of fluid. It is the
inverse of density.
( )

c) Specific Weight: The specific weight of a fluid, denoted by ϒ (lowercase Greek gamma),
is its weight per unit volume.

( )
d) Specific gravity, denoted by SG, is the ratio of a fluid density to a standard reference
fluid, usually water at 4 °C (for liquids) and air (for gases):

1.3.3. Viscosity and Other Secondary Properties

The quantities such as pressure, temperature, and density discussed in the previous section are
primary thermodynamic variables characteristic of any system. Certain secondary variables also
characterize specific fluid mechanical behavior. The most important of these is viscosity, which
relates the local stresses in a moving fluid to the strain rate of the fluid element. Viscosity is a
quantitative measure of a fluid’s resistance to flow.

Consider a fluid element sheared in one plane by a single shear stress, τ, as in Fig. 1.6a.

Fig. 1.1 Shear stress causes continuous shear deformation in a fluid:(a) a fluid element straining
at a rate δθ/δt; (b) Newtonian shear distribution in a shear layer near a wall.

From the geometry of Fig. 1.1a, we see that

In the limit of infinitesimal changes, this becomes a relation between shear strain rate and
velocity gradient:

Then, the applied shear is also proportional to the velocity gradient for the common linear fluids.
The constant of proportionality is the viscosity coefficient µ:

The shear stress is proportional to the slope of the velocity profile and is greatest at the wall.
Further, at the wall, the velocity u is zero relative to the wall: This is called the no-slip condition
and is characteristic of all viscous fluid flows. Fluids for which the shearing stress is linearly
related to the rate of shearing strain (also referred to as the rate of angular deformation) are
designated as Newtonian fluids.

The shear viscosity of a fluid is a strong function of temperature but only a weak function of
pressure. The temperature dependence of viscosity differs for liquids and gases. Shear viscosity
increases with temperature for gases but decreases with temperature for liquids. To understand
the temperature dependence of viscosity, we must consider the mechanisms by which
momentum is transferred in fluids. In liquids the viscosity, or ability to transfer momentum, is a
result of the intermolecular attractive forces between adjacent molecules. As the temperature
increases, the strength of this cohesive force decreases, and the average separation distance
between liquid molecules increases. The liquid transfers momentum less effectively, so viscosity
decreases. The temperature dependence of shear viscosity for a liquid is modeled by the
exponential relation

where A and B are constants for a given liquid.

In gases, molecules are not close enough together for intermolecular forces to be important. The
mechanism responsible for momentum transfer is fundamentally different. Gas molecules are far
more mobile than those in a liquid. Some of these energetic gas molecules move in a direction
with a component perpendicular to the motion of the top plate. The molecules moving from the
“fast” fluid layer to the “slower” moving layer below act to pull the “slower” layer forward. In
contrast, the molecules moving from the “slower” layer to the “faster” layer exert a drag on the
“faster” layer. Since a rise in temperature increases the random molecular motion in all
directions (including the perpendicular direction), the shear viscosity of a gas increases with
rising temperature.

A different way to express the shear viscosity is to divide it by the density. This normalized
form, called the kinematic viscosity, ν, is defined as:
 1.3.4. Compressibility of Fluids
Bulk modulus, Ev is defined as the ratio of the change in pressure to the rate of change of volume
due to the change in pressure. It can also be expressed in terms of change of density.

( ) ( )

compressibility is the reciprocal of bulk modulus of elasticity.

1.3.5. Surface Tension

The intensity of the molecular attraction per unit length along any line in the surface is called the
surface tension and is designated by the Greek symbol σ(sigma).

2. A heavy car plunges into a lake during an accident and lands at the bottom of the lake on
its wheels (Fig. 3–35). The door is 1.2 m high and 1 m wide, and the top edge of the door
is 8 m below the free surface of the water. Determine the hydrostatic force on the door
and the location of the pressure center, and discuss if the driver can open the door.

3. The 4 m diameter circular gate of Fig. E2.6a is located in the inclined wall of a large
reservoir containing water (γ=9.80 kN/m3). The gate is mounted on a shaft along its
horizontal diameter, and the water depth is 10 m at the shaft.
Determine

a. the magnitude and location of the resultant force exerted on the gate by the
water and
b. the moment that would have to be applied to the shaft to open the gate.
4. An aquarium contains seawater (γ=64.0 lb/ft3) to a depth of 1 ft as shown in Fig. E2.7a.
To repair some damage to one corner of the tank, a triangular section is replaced with a
new section as illustrated in Fig. E2.7b.
Determine
a. the magnitude of the force of the seawater on this triangular area, and
b. the location of this force.
5. Water flows through a horizontal, 180° pipe bend as shown in Fig. E5.12aand illustrated
in Fig. E5.12b. The flow cross-sectional area is constant at a value of 0.1 ft2 through the
bend. The magnitude of the flow velocity everywhere in the bend is axial and 50 ft/s. The
absolute pressures at the entrance and exit of the bend are 30 psia and 24 psia,
respectively. Calculate the horizontal (x and y) components of the anchoring force
required to hold the bend in place.

Solution
Since we want to evaluate components of the anchoring force to hold the pipe bend in
place, an appropriate control volume (see dashed line in Fig. E5.12b) contains the bend
and the water in the bend at an instant. The horizontal forces acting on the contents of this
control volume are identified in Fig. E5.12c. Note that the weight of the water is vertical
(in the negative z direction) and does not contribute to the x and y components of the
anchoring force. All of the horizontal normal and tangential forces exerted on the fluid
and the pipe bend are resolved and combined into the two resultant components, F Ax and
FAy. These two forces act on the control volume contents, and thus for the x direction, Eq.
5.22 leads to

∫ ( )

At sections (1) and (2), the flow is in the y direction and therefore u=0 at both cross
sections. There is no x direction momentum flow into or out of the control volume and
we conclude from Eq. 1 that FAx=0, For the y direction, we get
 ∫ ( )

For one-dimensional flow, the surface integral in Eq. 2 is easy to evaluate and Eq. 2
becomes
( )( ) ( )( )
Note that the y component of velocity is positive at section (1) but is negative at section
(2). Also, the mass flow rate term is negative at section (1) (flow in) and is positive at
section (2) (flow out). From the continuity equation (Eq. 5.12), we get ̇ ̇ ̇
( )
From the given data we can calculate the mass flow rate, ̇

̇ ( )( )( )

( )( ) ( )( )( )

( )( )( )

The negative sign for FAy is interpreted as meaning that the y component of the anchoring
force is actually in the negative y direction, not the positive y direction as originally
indicated in Fig. E5.12c.