FLUID MECHANICS

Physical Characteristics of Fluids

Branch of Mechanics

Mechanics

Rigid Bodies Deformable Bodies Fluids

(Things that do not change shape) (Things that do change shape)

Statics Dynamics Incompressible Compressible

 Fluid Mechanics Overview

Fluid Mechanics

Gas Liquids Statics Dynamics

F  0 i  F  0 , Flows
i

Water, Oils, Stability

Air, He, Ar, N2,
Alcohols, etc. Buoyancy
etc. Pressure Compressible/
Incompressible
Laminar/
Surface
Turbulent
Tension
Steady/Unsteady
Compressibility Density Viscosity Vapor Viscous/Inviscid
Pressure
 INTRODUCTION
• Mechanics: The oldest physical science that deals with
both stationary and moving bodies under the influence
of forces.
• Statics: The branch of mechanics that
deals with bodies at rest.
• Dynamics: The branch that deals with
bodies in motion.
• Fluid mechanics: 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.
 INTRODUCTION (Contd.)
• Hydrodynamics: The study of the motion of fluids that
can be approximated as incompressible (such as
liquids, especially water, and gases at low speeds).
• Hydraulics: A subcategory of hydrodynamics, which
deals with liquid flows in pipes and open channels.
• Gas dynamics: Deals with the flow of fluids that
undergo significant density changes, such as the flow
of gases through nozzles at high speeds.
• Aerodynamics: Deals with the flow of gases (especially
air) over bodies such as aircraft, rockets, and
automobiles at high or low speeds.
• Meteorology, oceanography, and hydrology: Deal with
naturally occurring flows.
 What is Fluid Mechanics
• Fluid mechanics is the science that deals with
the action of forces on fluids.
• Fluid is a substance
• The particles of which easily move and change
position
• That will continuously deform
 What is a Fluid?
• Fluid: A substance in the liquid or gas phase.
• A solid can resist an applied shear stress by
deforming.
• A fluid deforms continuously under the influence
of a shear stress, no matter how small.
• In solids, stress is proportional to strain, but in
fluids, stress is proportional to strain rate.
• When a constant shear force is applied, a solid
eventually stops deforming at some fixed strain
angle, whereas a fluid never stops deforming and
approaches a constant rate of strain.
• In a liquid, groups of molecules can move relative to each
other, but the volume remains relatively constant because of
the strong cohesive forces between the molecules. As a result,
a liquid takes the shape of the container it is in, and it forms a
free surface in a larger container in a gravitational field.
• A gas expands until it encounters the walls of the container
and fills the entire available space. This is because the gas
molecules are widely spaced, and the cohesive forces
between them are very small. Unlike liquids, a gas in an open
container cannot form a free surface.
• Intermolecular bonds are strongest in solids and weakest in gases.
• Solid (a): The molecules in a solid are arranged in a pattern that is
repeated throughout.
• Liquid (b): In liquids molecules can rotate and translate freely.
• Gas (c): In the gas phase, the molecules are far apart from each other,
and molecular ordering is nonexistent.
 FLUID PROPERTIES
• Every fluid has certain characteristics by which
its physical conditions may be described.
• We call such characteristics as the fluid
properties.
 Specific Weight Compressibility
 Mass Density Specific gravity
 Viscosity
Specific Volume
 Vapor Pressure
 Surface tension
 Capillarity
Properties involving the Mass or Weight of the Fluid

Weight Density (w) or Specific Weight, g

Ratio of weight of fluid (W) to volume of fluid(V)
w = W/V Unit – N/m3 wkt, W = mg
w = m*g/V = r*g

Density or Mass Density, r

Ratio of Mass of fluid (M) to volume of fluid (V)
r = M/V Unit – kg/m3
• Specific Volume (v)
Ratio of Volume of fluid (V) to mass of fluid (M)
v = V/M (or) v = 1/r Unit – m3/kg

• Specific Gravity, s
Ratio of weight density of liquid to weight density of standard liquid
(Water)
(or)
Ratio of mass density of liquid to mass density of standard liquid
(Water)
(or)
Ratio of specific weight of given liquid to specific weight of water
The specific weight of water at atmospheric pressure is 9810 N/m3.
The specific gravity of mercury is = 13600/1000 = 13.6
• Vapour Pressure
Measure of volatile of the given fluid
Pressure exerted by vapour over its liquid
VP is affected by temperature:
• higher the T, higher the VP

• Evaporation occurs in a fluid when liquid molecules at the surface have

sufficient momentum to overcome the intermolecular cohesive forces and
escape
to the atmosphere.

• Boiling occurs when the absolute pressure in the fluid reaches the vapor
pressure.
Boiling occurs at approximately 100 °C, but it is not only a function of
temperature,
but also of pressure. For example, in Colorado Spring, water boils at
temperatures
less than 100 °C.
Type of Stresses?
Stress = Force /Area
Shear stress/Tangential stress:
The force acting parallel to the surface per unit area
of the surface.
Normal stress:
A force acting perpendicular
to the surface per unit area of
the surface.
Viscosity
It is defined as the resistance of a fluid which is
being deformed by the application of shear stress.
In everyday terms viscosity is “thickness”. Thus,
water is “thin” having a lower viscosity, while honey
is “thick” having a higher viscosity.

Shear stress is directly proportional to rate of shear

strain or velocity gradient.
 t ∝ du/dy
t = μ du/dy
μ – coefficient of dynamic viscosity
μ  t / (du/dy)
Unit - Ns/m2
(1/10) Ns/m2 = 1 poise
1 pa s = Ns/m2
1 pa = 1 N/m2
 Kinematic Viscosity
• Many fluid mechanics equations contain the
variables of
- Viscosity, m
- Density, r
So, to simplify these equations sometimes we use
kinematic viscosity (n)

m N .s / m 2
n  m /s
2

r kg / m 3

1 stoke = 10 - 4 m2/s
• Viscosity is a result of molecular forces within a
fluid.
• For liquid, cohesive forces decrease with increasing
temperature → decreasing μ
• For gas, increasing temperature → increased
molecular activity & shear stress: increasing μ
 TYPES OF FLUIDS

Basically the fluids are classified into 5 types and

these are
1. Ideal fluid
2. Real fluid
3. Newtonian fluid
4. Non-Newtonian fluid
5. Ideal plastic fluid
1. Ideal Fluid: A fluid which cannot be compressed and have
no viscosity falls in the category of ideal fluid. Ideal fluid is
not found in actual practice but it is an imaginary fluid
because all the fluid that exist in the environment have some
viscosity. there in no ideal fluid in reality.
2. Real Fluid: A fluid which has at least some viscosity is called
real fluid. Actually all the fluids existing or present in the
environment are called real fluids. for example water.
3. Newtonian Fluid: If a real fluid obeys the Newton's law of
viscosity (i.e the shear stress is directly proportional to the
shear strain) then it is known as the Newtonian fluid.
4. Non-Newtonian Fluid: If real fluid does not obeys the
Newton's law of viscosity then it is called Non-Newtonian
fluid.
5. Ideal Plastic Fluid: A fluid having the value of shear stress
more than the yield value and shear stress is proportional to
the shear strain (velocity gradient) is known as ideal plastic
fluid.
 Compressibility and the Bulk modulus

when a force is exerted uniformly all over its surface, the

volume V of a given mass will be reduced to V - dV.
If the force per unit area of surface increases from p to p
+ dp, the relationship between change of pressure and
change of volume depends on the bulk modulus of the
material.
Bulk modulus (K) = (change in pressure) / (volumetric
strain)
• Measure of how pressure compresses the volume/density
• Units of the bulk modulus are N/m2 (Pa) and lb/in.2 (psi).
• Large values of the bulk modulus indicate incompressibility
• Incompressibility indicates large pressures are needed to
compress the volume slightly
• It takes 3120 psi to compress water 1% at atmospheric
pressure and 60° F.
• Most liquids are incompressible for most practical
engineering problems
 Compressibility and the Bulk modulus
Volumetric strain is the change in volume divided by the original
volume. Therefore,
(change in volume) / (original volume) = (change in pressure) /
(bulk modulus)
i.e., -dV/V = dp/K
Negative sign for dV indicates the volume decreases as pressure
increases.
In the limit, as dr tends to 0,
K = -V dp/dV -----> 1
Considering unit mass of substance, V = 1/r --------> 2
Differentiating,
Vdr + rdV = 0
dV = - (V/r)dr ------->3
putting the value of dV from eqn.3 to eqn.1,
K = - V dr / (-(V/r)dr)
i.e. K = rdp/d r
Compressibility of Fluids: Compression of Gases

Isothermal Process (constant temperature):

p Math
 cons tan t Kp
r
Isentropic Process (frictionless, no heat exchange):
p Math
 cons tan t K  kp
r k

k is the ratio of specific heats, cp (constant pressure) to

cv (constant volume), and R = cp – cv.

If we consider air under at the same conditions as water, we can show

that air is 15,000 times more compressible than water. However, many
engineering applications allow air to be considered incompressible.