Jean Lonard Marie

Poiseuille
The Engineers
Dirk Myburgh

Loreen Grobbelaar
Thonya Otsengue
Kgomotso Menyatsoe
Mbaliyezwe
Madikizela

Contents
1. Background
2. Contributions to Fluid Mechanics
3. Law
i.
Derivation
ii. Applications and limitations
iii. Similar laws/theories
4. Conclusion
5. References

1. Background
Born in Paris, France
cole Polytechnique: Disband for political reasons
Medicine: Interest in circulation of blood led to series of

experiments on the flow of liquid in narrow tubes

D.Sc. Dissertation: Heart and pulse waves
Poiseuilles Law:
Commonly known as Hagen-Poiseuille equation
Poise: Unit of viscosity

2. Contributions
Poiseuilles law
Governs flow in a tube as a function of diameter
Invention of Mercury Manometer
Used for measuring blood flow hence mmHg
Experiments contributed to various fields
Engineering
Physics
Medicine
Biology

3.1 Derivation
1
2
3

3.2 Applications
Poiseuilless Law hold for most systems involving

laminar flow of a fluid in a rigid pipe, except at

regions where pipe features disrupts laminar
flow.
It can be successfully applied to:
Air flow in lung alveoli
Blood flow
Flow through a drinking straw
Flow through a hypodermic needle etc.

3.2 Limitations
Law is restricted to:

Incompressible and Newtonian fluid

Flow must be laminar through a pipe of constant

cross-sectional area, with length substantially longer
than its diameter

There should be no acceleration of the fluid in the

pipe

3.3 Similar Laws and

Theories
Hagens experiment - 1839

3.3 Similar Laws and

Theories
Poiseuilles Law correspond to Ohms law for

electrical circuits

Ohms law

4. Conclusion

5. References
Sutero, S.P., Skalak, R. 2013. The history of

Poiseuilles Law. [Online]. Available: http://

www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annure
v.fl.25.010193.000245
. [2015,February,22]
Poiseuilles Equation and Viscocity. 2014.

[Online]. Available: https://

www.boundless.com/physics [2015,February,22]

Original Law for Volumetric Flow Rate

Correction Factor for Compressible Fluids