Fluid Dynamics

/ Hydrodynamics

Fluid Dynamics = Hydrodynamics

Types of flow:

• Streamline or laminar flow (ideal fluids):

Each fluid particle follows a smooth path.

Those paths do not cross.

The velocity of the fluid at any point is constant
in time.

• Turbulent flow (viscous fluids):

Occurs above a certain flow velocity.

Irregular flow characterized by erratic small
whirlpool circles called eddy currents (eddies) .
 I would not really
want to fall off
that boat!

Survey of topics
• Properties of ideal fluids, streamlines.

• Continuity equation.

• Bernoulli’s equation.

• Applications: Torricelli’s law, Pitot

tubes, Venturi tubes.

• Some remarks about lift.

 Fluid Dynamics I : Ideal Fluid Flow
Learning goals:
• Ideal flow: name and explain it’s properties
• Stream lines: understand the concept
• Equation of continuity: recall, apply and explain
why it couldn’t be anything else
• Bernoulli’s equation: understand the concept,
apply equation
• Torricelli’s theorem: understand the concept,
apply equation

Ideal Fluid Flow

– The fluid is non-viscous – internal friction is neglected

• An object moving through the fluid experiences no
viscous forces.
– The flow is steady – all particles passing through a point
have the same velocity.
– The fluid is incompressible – the density of the
incompressible fluid remains constant.
– The flow is irrotational – the fluid has no angular
momentum about any point.
 Streamlines
•The path the particle takes in
steady flow is a streamline.
•The velocity of the particle is
tangent to the streamline.
•A set of streamlines is called a
tube of flow.
•Fluid particles cannot flow
into or out of the sides of this
tube. That means streamlines
don’t cross.

Some remarks:
• Incompressible fluid: imagine a bag
around a fluid volume, and how
you have to manipulate that
incompressible, but deformable
system through pipes etc.

• Streamlines correspond to the dye

trail left by a test particle floating
with the flow. Those dye trails
connect upstream points with
earlier downstream points (local
flow direction).

• Bundles of streamlines form tubes

with non-material walls, which no
Stream tubes
particle can cross (pipe flow).
 Equation of Continuity
•Consider a fluid moving through a pipe of
non-uniform size (diameter).
•Consider the small blue-colored portion of
the fluid.
•At t = 0, the blue portion is flowing through a
cross section of area A1 at speed v1.
•During time interval ∆t length ∆x1 of fluid in
blue portion moves past point 1.
•During same interval ∆t , fluid is moving past
point 2 with cross section area A2 at speed v2.
•The mass that crosses A1 in some time
interval is the same as the mass that crosses
A2 in that same time interval.

Equation of Continuity, cont

•m = ρ V = ρ A ∆x = ρ A v ∆t
•m1 = m2 or ρ A1v1 ∆t = ρ A2v2 ∆t
•The fluid is incompressible, so ρ is a constant, and flow
is constant.
•Q = ΔV / Δt = A1v1 = A2v2 = constant
– This is called the equation of continuity for fluids.
– Principle: Conservation of mass.
– The product of the area and the fluid speed at all
points along a pipe is constant for an
incompressible fluid.
– Q is the flow rate
 Equation of Continuity, Implications
•A1v1 = A2v2 = constant
•The speed is high where the tube is constricted (small A).
•The speed is low where the tube is wide (large A).
•The product, Av, is called the volume flux or the flow
rate.
•Av = constant is equivalent to saying the volume that
enters one end of the tube in a given time interval equals
the volume leaving the other end in the same time.
– If no leaks are present
•Curved streamlines involve pressure gradients:
Centripetal force is needed to curve streamlines, can only
be generated by pressure differences (airfoils, lift).

Example: Continuity equation

Question: A horizontal pipe of 25 cm2 cross section carries water at a
velocity of 3 m s-1. This pipe feeds into a smaller pipe with a cross
section of 15 cm2.
a) Determine the velocity of the water in the smaller pipe.
b) Is the pressure in the smaller pipe larger or smaller than in the
larger pipe?
 Bernoulli’s principle (1738)

Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782),

Swiss physicist

“Moving fluids have a lower pressure”.

His work is used to produce a partial

vacuum in chemical laboratories.

Bernoulli’s Equation

As a fluid moves through a region where its speed and/or elevation above the
Earth’s surface changes, the pressure in the fluid varies with these changes.
The relationship between fluid speed, pressure and elevation was first derived by
Daniel Bernoulli.
 principle of conservation of mechanical energy

Work done by displacing a volume:

 z2

z1

z2

z1
z2

z1
Example: 1

Water flows in a pipe that dips 1.0 m below the horizontal, as shown
in the diagram. The horizontal section of the pipe has a diameter of 10
mm. If the volume flow rate Q through the pipe is 3.10-4 m3.s-1, what
must be the diameter at the lowest point, if the gauge pressure
there is to be the same as in the horizontal section?

Solution:
Venturi tube: (measure flow speed of incompressible fluid)

Diameter D Diameter d

Some remarks:
• For A2 < A1 we see that v2>v1 (continuity equation) and P2 < P1
(Bernoulli). So there is an increase in (static) pressure for large
sizes of the pipes (f.e. expanded blood vessels).
• In practice, the pressure difference is measured as follows:

• Removing the top of the tube, and removing the indicator

liquid, one actually obtains a nice ventilation system:

fluid
Example:

A tube has a constriction in it just before the opening, at z in the

diagram. Explain, with the aid of equations, why the gauge
pressure at z would be negative.

Solution:

Toricelli’s Law
 z2-z1
Tank open to atmosphere
Example:

Water flows into a tank of large cross-sectional area at point A and out
through a horizontal pipe BC, as shown in the diagram above. The rate of flow
of water into the tank at A is such that the tank is filled to a constant depth d =
0.86 m above the level BC. The first section of the outlet pipe has a uniform
cross-sectional area 4.0.10-4 m2, whereas the section at the end has a smaller
cross section.
(i) If the height of the water in the stand-pipe above D is h = 0.55 m, what is
the speed of the water passing point D? Calculate the corresponding volume
flow rate.
(ii) What is the speed of the water emerging at point C, and what is the cross-
sectional area of the tube at this point?

Solution:
 Otto Lilienthal (1889)

“The air passing the planes is accelerated downwards in

both cases. The air below has to go down and the air passing the
upper side has to fill the space above. The deflection of the air
stream downwards happens abruptly at the front edge of an even
plane. This gives rise to turbulence and vortices. It is different
with the curved plane. The airflow passing the front edge will be
deflected gradually from its horizontal direction and led downward.
The flow gains a horizontal velocity component without any sudden
impact. It is clear that only the curved plane - provided
its direction at the front edge parallels the original direction of the
flow - will divert the air stream downwards with less turbulence in a
direction which is given by the tangent at the trailing edge of the
plane. The vertical momentum of the air stream makes for the
upward force acting on the airfoil.”
And he knew what he was talking about ….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RP6QoFVrVA

Lift and Airfoils

General remarks:
• Any object moving through a fluid experiences
lift, as a result of any effect that causes the fluid
to change its direction as it flows past the object.

• Properties of the object that influence lift are:

Shape, orientation, spinning, texture ….

• Example:

The ball is given rapid backspin.

Dimples increase friction and lift.

It travels farther than a non-
spinning ball.
 Curved streamlines:
Poutside
n
v

Pinside

Poutside > Pinside

End of Ideal Fluid Dynamics!