Fluid Mechanics

ME313
DR. M. M. MOSALLEM

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

Textbook
John F. Douglas, Janusz M. Gasoriek, John A. Swaffield and Lynne B. Jack
“Fluid Mechanics", 6 th Edition, Prentice Hall (2011).
Fundamental Concepts of Fluid Mechanics

 Fluid mechanics; it is the branch of applied mechanics

concerned with the statics and dynamics of fluids - both
liquids and gases.

 Fluids are substances which are capable of flowing and

which conform to the shape of containing vessels.
 Fluids
 Fluids are divided into liquids and gases.
− A liquid is difficult to compress ( incompressible).
− A gas is easily to compress (compressible).

− A given mass of liquid occupies a given volume and will

occupy the container it is in and form a free surface.
− A gas has no fixed volume, it changes volume to expand
to fill the containing vessel. It will completely fill the
vessel so no free surface is formed
 Distinction between solid & fluid

 The technical distinction between a solid and a fluid lies with

the reaction of the two to an applied shear or tangential stress.
A solid can resist a shear stress by a static deformation; a fluid
can not. Any shear stress applied to a fluid, no matter how
small, will result in motion of that fluid. The fluid moves and
deforms continuously as long as the shear stress is applied.
 Units and dimensions

 A dimension is the measure by which a physical

variable is expressed quantitatively.
 A unit is a particular way of attaching a number to the
quantitative dimension.
 Fluid as a continuum

 A fluid is considered to be a continuum in which

there are no holes or voids velocity, pressure and
temperature fields are continuous.
 Properties of fluids

 The properties outlines here are general properties of

fluids which are of interest in engineering..
 Density

 Density,  is defined as the mass of substance per unit

volume.

mass m
= =
Volume V

Units: Kg/m3
Typical values:
Water = 1000 Kg/m3, Mercury = 13580 Kg/m3 Air = 1.23 Kg/m3 (at
pressure =1.013 bar and Temperature = 288.15 K.)
 Specific Weight

 Specific Weight , is defined as the weight per unit

volume. or
 The force exerted by gravity, g, upon a unit volume of
the substance.

Weight W mg
= = = = g
Volume V V
Units: N/m3
Typical values:
Water = 9814 N/m3 , Mercury = 132943 N/m3, Air =12.07 N/m3,
Paraffin Oil =7851 N/m3
 Relative Density (specific gravity)

 Relative Density, S, is defined as the ratio of mass

density of a substance to some standard mass density.
 For solids and liquids this standard mass density is the
maximum mass density for water (which occurs at 4
oc) at atmospheric pressure.

 subs tan ce
S=
 H O ( at 4 oC )
2

Units: None

Typical values:
Water = 1, Mercury = 13.5, Paraffin Oil =0.8.
 Viscosity

 It is defined as the property of a fluid which offers

resistance to the movement of one layer of fluid over
another adjacent layer of the fluid.
 Newton's law of viscosity

 It states that the shear stress () on a fluid element

layer is directly proportional to the rate of shear strain.
du
 =
dy
• Fluids witch obey the above relation is known as Newtonian
fluids and the fluid which do not obey the above relation are
called Non-Newtonian fluids
 Coefficient of dynamic viscosity

 The Coefficient of Dynamic Viscosity,  , is defined as

the shear force, per unit area, (or shear stress ),
required to drag one layer of fluid with unit velocity
past another layer a unit distance away.

Units: N.s/m2 or pa.s or Kilograms per meter per second, Kg/m s.

(Although note that  is often expressed in Poise, P, where P = 0.1
pa.s)

Typical values:
Water =1.14x10-3 Kg/m s., Air =1.78 x10-5 Kg/m s., Mercury=1.552
Kg/m s
 Kinematic Viscosity

 Kinematic Viscosity, , is defined as the ratio of

dynamic viscosity to mass density

Units: m2/s
(Although note that n is often expressed in Stokes, St, where
104 St = 1 m2/s
 Fluid pressure

 It is the normal force exerted by a fluid per unit area

F
p=
A

Fluid pressure is transmitted with equal intensity in all

directions and acts normal to any plane. In the same
horizontal plane the pressure intensities in a liquid are
equal
 Compressibility
 All fluids may be compressed by the application of
pressure, elastic energy being stored in the process
 The bulk modulus of elasticity (E) expresses the
compressibility of a fluid. It is the ratio of change in
unit pressure to the corresponding volume change
per unit of volume
dp
E=
− dV / V