FLUID MECHANICS

GEC 223
LECTURE NOTE
 Introduction
The three common states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas.
A fluid is either a liquid or a gas.
A fluid is a substance which deforms continuously under the
application of a shear stress.

Definition of stress - A stress is defined as a force per unit area, acting

on an infinitesimal surface element.

• Stresses have both magnitude (force per unit area) and direction,
and the direction is relative to the surface on which the stress acts.
• There are normal stresses and tangential stresses.
• Pressure is an example of a normal stress, and acts inward, toward
the surface, and perpendicular to the surface.
• A shear stress is an example of a tangential stress, i.e. it acts along
the surface, parallel to the surface. Friction due to fluid viscosity is
the primary source of shear stresses in a fluid.
 Introduction
Example 1
Consider a tiny fluid element (a very small chunk of the fluid) in a
case where the fluid is at rest (or moving at constant speed in a
straight line). A fluid at rest can have only normal stresses. In this
case, the sum of all the forces must balance the weight of the
fluid element.

Free body diagram of a little fluid particle at rest (to visualize

the normal stresses acting on the body)
 Introduction
Example 2
Consider a tiny fluid element (a very small chunk of the fluid)
that is moving around in some flow field. Since the fluid is in
motion, it can have both normal and shear stresses, as shown by
the free body diagram. The vector sum of all forces acting on the
fluid element must equal the mass of the element times its
acceleration (Newton's second law).

Free Body Diagram, Fluid Particle in Motion (to visualize both

the normal and shear stresses acting on the body)
 Introduction
Definition of shear stress - Shear stress is defined as a force per unit area,
acting parallel to an infinitesimal surface element.

• Shear stress is primarily caused by friction between fluid particles, due to fluid
viscosity.
• Fluids at rest cannot resist a shear stress; in other words, when a shear stress
is applied to a fluid at rest, the fluid will not remain at rest, but will move
because of the shear stress.

What is Mechanics?
Mechanics is the application of the laws of force and motion.
 
Putting it all together, Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics which involves
the study of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces on them is the
application of the laws of force and motion to fluids. Fluid mechanics can be
divided into fluid statics, the study of fluids at rest; and fluid dynamics, the
study of the effect of forces on fluid motion.
 Introduction
Assumptions
Like any mathematical model of the real world, fluid mechanics
makes some basic assumptions about the materials being studied.
These assumptions are turned into equations that must be satisfied if
the assumptions are to be held true.

Fluid mechanics assumes that every fluid obeys the following:

Conservation of mass
Conservation of energy
Conservation of momentum
Fluids
 Fluids cont’d
A fluid is a substance that continually deforms (flows) under an
applied shear stress. Fluid is a subset of the phases of matter
and include liquids, gases, plasmas and, to some extent, plastic
solids

Fluids display properties such as:

(a) Not resisting deformation, or resisting it only lightly (viscosity)
(b) The ability to flow (also described as the ability to take on the
shape of the container). This also means that all fluids have
the property of fluidity.
Fluids cont’d

Fluids
 Fluids cont’d
Fluid Flows and their Significance
 
Flows occur in all fields of our natural and technical environment

Without fluid flows life, as we know it, would not be possible on

Earth, nor could technological processes run in the form known
to us and lead to the multitude of products.
 Fluids cont’d
Flows are everywhere and there are flow-dependent transport
processes that supply our body with the oxygen that is essential
to life. In the blood vessels of the human body, essential
nutrients are transported by mass flows and are thus carried to
the cells, where they contribute, by complex chemical reactions,
to the build-up of our body and to its energy supply.
 Fluids cont’d
Flows in rivers, lakes and seas have to be mentioned, and also
atmospheric flow processes, whose influences on the weather
and thus on the climate of entire geographical regions is well
known. Wind fields are often responsible for the transport of
clouds and, taking topographic conditions into account, is often
the cause of rainfall.
 Fluids cont’d
Other effects of flows are the devastations that hurricanes and
cyclones can cause. When rivers, lakes or seas leave their natural
beds and rims, flow processes can arise whose destructive forces
are known to us from many inundation catastrophes.
 Fluids cont’d
Flow processes occur in instruments and machines to transfer
energy, generate lift forces, run combustion processes or take on
control functions e.g. fluid flows coupled with chemical
reactions that enable the combustion in piston engines to
proceed in the desired way and thus supply the power that is
used in cars, trucks, ships and aeroplanes which overcomes the
energy loss resulting from the flow resistance that the vehicle
experiences owing to the momentum loss and the flow
separations.
 Fluids cont’d
In aerodynamics, new aeroplane wing profiles and wing
geometries as well as wing body connections are developed
which show minimal losses due to friction and collision while
maintaining the high lift forces necessary in aeroplane
aerodynamics.
 Fluids cont’d
The optimization of products from the point of view of fluid
mechanics has led to new markets, for example the production
of ventilators for air exchange in rooms and the optimization of
hair driers.

In the field of chemical engineering, where many areas such as

heat and mass transfer processes and chemical reactions are
influenced strongly or rendered possible only by flow processes.
 Fluids cont’d
Types of Fluids
 
(a) Ideal or Non- Viscous Fluids (b) Real or Viscous Fluids 
Real fluids can be classified to Newtonian and non-Newtonian
Fluids
 Fluids cont’d
Newtonian fluids
A fluid that behaves according to Newton's law, with a viscosity μ
that is independent of the stress, is said to be Newtonian.
Newtonian fluids are fluids when the viscous stresses that arise
from its flow, at every point, are proportional to the local strain
rate — the rate of change of its deformation over time. That is
those forces are proportional to the rates of change of the fluid's
velocity vector as one moves away from the point in question in
various directions. Gases, water and many common liquids can
be considered Newtonian in ordinary conditions and contexts.
 Fluids cont’d
Non-Newtonian fluids
A non-Newtonian fluid is a fluid whose flow properties differ in
any way from those of Newtonian fluids. Most commonly the
viscosity of non-Newtonian fluids is dependent on shear rate or
shear rate history. However, there are some non-Newtonian
fluids with shear-independent viscosity, that nonetheless exhibit
normal stress-differences or other non-Newtonian behaviour.
Many salt solutions and molten polymers are non-Newtonian
 Fluids cont’d
fluids, as are many commonly found substances such as ketchup,
custard, toothpaste, starch suspensions, paint, blood, and
shampoo. In a non-Newtonian fluid, the relation between the
shear stress and the shear rate is different, and can even be
time-dependent. Therefore, a constant coefficient of viscosity
cannot be defined.
 Fluids cont’d
VISCOSITY
The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to gradual
deformation by shear stress or tensile stress. For liquids, it
corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness". For example,
honey has a much higher viscosity than water.

Viscosity is a property arising from collisions between neighboring

particles (atoms, molecules) in a fluid that are moving at different
velocities. When the fluid is forced through a tube, the particles
which comprise the fluid generally move more quickly near the
tube's axis and more slowly near its walls: therefore some stress,
(such as a pressure difference between the two ends of the tube), is
needed to overcome the friction between particle layers and keep
 Fluids cont’d
the fluid moving. For the same velocity pattern, the stress required is
proportional to the fluid's viscosity. A fluid that has no resistance to
shear stress is known as an ideal fluid or inviscid fluid. Zero viscosity is
observed only at very low temperatures, in superfluids.
Dynamic (Shear) viscosity

Laminar shear of fluid between two plates.

 Fluids cont’d
Friction between the fluid and the moving boundaries causes the
fluid to shear. The force required for this action is a measure of the
fluid's viscosity. In a general parallel flow (such as could occur in a
straight pipe), the shear stress is proportional to the gradient of
the velocity.

The dynamic (shear) viscosity of a fluid expresses its resistance to

shearing flows, where adjacent layers move parallel to each other
with different speeds. The magnitude F of this force is found to be
proportional to the speed u and the area A of each plate, and
inversely proportional to their separation y:
 Fluids cont’d
The proportionality factor μ in this formula is the viscosity (specifically,
the dynamic viscosity) of the fluid. The ratio is called the rate of
shear velocity or shear deformation. Viscous stresses is expressed by
the differential equation

where and is the local shear velocity. This formula

assumes that the flow is moving along parallel lines and the axis,
perpendicular to the flow, points in the direction of maximum
shear velocity. This equation can be used where the velocity does
not vary linearly with , such as in fluid flowing through a pipe.
 Fluids cont’d
Ideal Fluid
An imaginary fluid that lacks viscosity and thermal conductivity.
There is no internal friction in an ideal fluid—that is, there are no
tangential stresses between two neighboring layers.

It is a hypothetical fluid having a zero viscosity ( μ = 0) and the

resulting motion is called an ideal or inviscid flow. In an ideal flow,
there is no existence of shear force because of vanishing viscosity.
 Fluids cont’d
Ideal fluids can only be subjected to normal and compressive stress
which is called pressure. For ideal fluids the resistance to shearing
deformation rate is always zero. Internal forces at any section within
are normal (pressure forces). It is useful to consider what would
happen to an ideal fluid in a particular fluid flow problem in order to
simplify the problem.
 Fluids cont’d
The mathematical description of the flow of an ideal fluid makes
it possible to find theoretical solutions to a number of problems
of the motion of liquids and gases in channels of various shapes,
in the outflow of jets, and in flow around bodies.

Properties of Ideal fluids

1. Incompressible flow
2. Non viscous or invicid flow. It has zero viscosity i.e. no
resistance is encountered as the fluid moves or fluid has no
internal friction (η= 0)
3. Steady flow
4. Irrotational flow
 Fluids cont’d
Steady flow is laminar flow which means that the particles flow
along streamlines - that is, every particle moves along the same
path as previous particles followed. Every particle at the same
place in a fluid will have the same velocity. Steady flow only
occurs at low velocities. When streamlines are forced closer
together, the velocity in the fluid is greater.
 
Irrotational flow means that no fluid elements (small volume
packets) have angular velocity - that is, there is no turbulence in
the form of whirlpools or eddy currents. The flow is smooth
(streamline or laminar).
 Fluids cont’d
Non-viscous flow means that viscosity can be neglected - that is,
there are no shearing forces within the fluid which subsequently
result in the production of heat as the fluid flows.
 
Incompressible flow means that the density of the fluid remains
constant.

FLUID FLOW
Fluids move in one of two movement types, laminar/ Steady
flow or turbulent flow.
 Fluids cont’d
Laminar is where fluids flow in a steady line.  Particles in a line
will all move through the same point.  These paths, called
streamlines, will never cross each other, and move with the
direction that the fluid is flowing.  This flow is easier to model
because it is very predictable.

Turbulent is an irregular fluid movement.  A boulder in a river

will cause a turbulent flow because the streamlines must move
around the boulder, causing a gap in the water behind  
Fluids cont’d
 Fluids cont’d
the boulder that the water must flow into.  These currents,
called eddies, begin when a fluid reaches a certain velocity or
the velocity changes abruptly.  This is very difficult to model
because there is no way to know what the fluid is going to do.

Ideal Fluid Flow

Ideal fluid flow = Inviscid flow or non-viscous flow +
Incompressible flow
 Fluids cont’d

Ideal Fluid Flow Viscous Fluid Flow

 Fluids cont’d
For inviscid flow, viscosity μ =0, thus inviscid flow =0, thus the
formula below which relates shear stress to product of viscosity
(dynamic viscosity) and the deformation rate (velocity gradient
in parallel flow) equals to zero.

The ratio   is called the rate of shear deformation or shear velocity,

and is the derivative of the fluid speed in the direction 
perpendicular  to the plates where
 Fluids cont’d
Governing Equations for Ideal Fluid Flow
 
(a) Continuity Equation, (b) Momentum (Navier-Stokes - Euler)
equations:
Equation of Continuity
The Law of Conservation of Mass states that mass can be neither
created or destroyed. Using the Mass Conservation Law on a steady
flow process (flow where the flow rate do not change over time)
through a control volume.
inflow = outflow
 Fluids cont’d
This statement implies the Equation of Continuity. Common
application where the Equation of Continuity are used are pipes,
tubes and ducts with flowing fluids or gases, rivers, overall
processes as power plants, diaries, logistics in general, roads,
computer networks and semiconductor technology and more.
 Fluids cont’d
Continuity equations are a stronger form of conservation laws.
i.e. energy can neither be created nor destroyed. A continuity
equation is the mathematical way to express this kind of statement.

The Continuity Equation states that the cross-sectional area of

the pipe and the velocity of the fluid are inversely proportional –
that is, fluids flow faster through narrower pipes. We can see this
by the fact that the streamlines are forced closed together
whenever the pipe narrows.
Fluids cont’d
Fluids cont’d
 Fluids cont’d
If a fluid is incompressible, its density p is constant throughout,
thus the volume of fluid entering a tube at one end per unit of
time must be equal to the volume of fluid leaving the other end
per unit time. As a fluid moves through a pipe that changes in
size, there is a relationship between the cross-sectional area (the
area that the fluid moves through) and the velocity of the fluid.

The relationship between area and velocity for a fluid

 Fluids cont’d
This relationship is described as the equation of continuity.

ρ₁A₁v₁ = ρ₂A₂v₂

However, when we look at it as an ideal fluid, the densities

cannot change, and must remain constant. That is to say, ρ₁ = ρ₂.
Therefore the new equation is:

A₁v₁ = A₂v₂
 Fluids cont’d
From this equation, we can say that as the area of the pipe
increases, the velocity of the fluid will decrease, and as the area
decreases, velocity increases.

In fluid dynamics, the continuity equation states that, in any

steady state process, the rate at which mass enters a system is
equal to the rate at which mass leaves the system.
 Fluids cont’d
The Equation of Continuity can be expressed as:
m = ρi1 vi1 Ai1 + ρi2 vi2 Ai2 +..+ ρin vin Aim
= ρo1 vo1 Ao1 + ρo2 vo2 Ao2 +..+ ρom vom Aom             (1)
where
m = mass flow rate (kg/s)
ρ = density (kg/m3)
v = speed (m/s)
A = area (m2)
With uniform density equation (1) can be modified to
q = vi1 Ai1 + vi2 Ai2 +..+ vin Aim
= vo1 Ao1 + vo2 Ao2 +..+ vom Aom         (2)
where
q = flow rate (m3/s) or volume flow rate
ρi1 = ρi2 = . . = ρin = ρo1 = ρo2 = . .= ρom
 Fluids cont’d
The differential form of the continuity equation is:
where
ρ is fluid density,
t is time,
u is the flow velocity vector field
V is the divergence

For incompressible flow (ideal fluid flow),

Incompressible flow refers to a flow in which the material

density is constant within a fluid parcel – an infinitesimal volume
that moves with the velocity of the fluid.
 Fluids cont’d
This equation is also one of Euler equations (fluid dynamics).

If ρ is a constant, as in the case of incompressible flow, the mass

continuity equation simplifies to a volume continuity equation:

which means that the divergence of velocity field is zero

everywhere.
 Fluids cont’d
Example of Equation of Continuity
Example 1
10 m3/h of water flows through a pipe with 100 mm inside diameter.
The pipe is reduced to an inside dimension of 80 mm.

Using equation (2) the velocity in the 100 mm pipe can be calculated as
(10 m3/h) (1 / 3600 h/s) = v100 (3.14 (0.1 m)2 / 4)
or
v100 = (10 m3/h) (1 / 3600 h/s) / (3.14 (0.1 m)2 / 4)
= 0.35 m/s
Using equation (2) the velocity in the 80 mm pipe can be calculated
(10 m3/h) (1 / 3600 h/s) = v80 (3.14 (0.08 m)2 / 4)
or
v80 = (10 m3/h) (1 / 3600 h/s) / (3.14 (0.08 m)2 / 4)
= 0.55 m/s
 Fluids cont’d
Example 2
Steady-state flow exists in a pipe that undergoes a gradual expansion from a diameter
of 6 in. to a diameter of 8 in. The density of the fluid in the pipe is constant at 60.8
lbm/ft3. If the flow velocity is 22.4 ft/sec in the 6 in. section, what is the flow velocity
in the 8 in. section?

Solution:
From the continuity equation we know that the mass flow rate in the 6 in. section
must equal the mass flow rate in the 8 in. section. Letting the subscript 1 represent
the 6 in. section and 2 represent the 8 in. section we have the following.
Fluids cont’d
 Fluids cont’d
So by using the continuity equation, we find that the increase in pipe diameter from 6
to 8 inches caused a decrease in flow velocity from 22.4 to 12.6 ft/sec.
The continuity equation can also be used to show that a decrease in pipe diameter will
cause an increase in flow velocity.
 Fluids cont’d
Example 3
Continuity Equation - Centrifugal Pump The inlet diameter of the reactor coolant pump
shown in Figure 3 is 28 in. while the outlet flow through the pump is 9200 lbm/sec.
The density of the water is 49 lbm/ft3. What is the velocity at the pump inlet?
 Fluids cont’d
The above example indicates that the flow rate into the system is the same as that out
of the system. The same concept is true even though more than one flow path may
enter or leave the system at the same time. The mass balance is simply adjusted to
state that the sum of all flows entering the system is equal to the sum of all the flows
leaving the system if steady-state conditions exist. An example of this physical case is
included in the following example.
 Fluids cont’d
Example 4
A piping system has a "Y" configuration for separating the flow as shown in Figure 4.
The diameter of the inlet leg is 12 in., and the diameters of the outlet legs are 8 and 10
in. The velocity in the 10 in. leg is 10 ft/sec. The flow through the main portion is 500
lbm/sec. The density of water is 62.4 lbm/ft3. What is the velocity out of the 8 in. pipe
section?
 Fluids cont’d
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