Chapter 3

Momentum Flux

We have seen in Chapter 1 that a fluid (either a gas or a liquid) is a

substance that takes the shape of the vessel containing it. We have also seen
that all real fluids have a property called viscosity associated with them.
Let us consider two parallel flat plates with a fluid (say water) in
between them. Now let us consider the situation when the bottom plate is
carefully moved in the x direction with a reasonably small velocity, vx. If
the velocity is small enough, we can assume that the bottom-most liquid
layer adhering to the plate will also move with the same velocity as that of
the plate. The shear stress due to the shear force exerted by the bottom-
most layer of fluid influences the velocity of the fluid layer above it. The
shear stress exerted by the layer above the bottom-most layer influences the
velocity of the layer above it, and so on. The resulting steady state velocity
profile of the fluid between the two plates is given in Fig. 3-1.
Stress is denoted by τyx, where yx refers to the fact that the stress
(force per unit area) that arises due to a force acting in the x direction on
a surface, causes an effect in the y direction. Thus, τyx is a shear stress –
the direction of effect is orthogonal to the direction of motion, and, as we
shall better understand later, τxx is a normal stress. The idea of the flow
being in layers as shown in Fig. 3-1, and the shear stress idea subsequently
conveyed are simplistic, only for didactic purposes. We will make the ideas
more general when needed, later in the chapter.
It can be recalled that the shear or normal stress is force per unit area,
and that force is rate of momentum change (from Newton’s second law).
Or

Force MLT −2 [M(LT −1 )]T −1

τyx = = =
Area L2 L2
Rate of momentum change
=
Area
= Momentum flux

G.K. Suraishkumar, Continuum Analysis of Biological Systems, Biosystems & Biorobotics 5, 71

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-54468-2_3, © Anamaya Publishers, New Delhi, India 2014
72 3 Momentum Flux

Fig. 3-1 Velocity

distribution of a fluid
between two parallel,
closely spaced plates
with the bottom plate
being moved at a vx(y)
velocity, vx

x vx

Note that although the direction of action is orthogonal in the example

mentioned above, the change happens in the x momentum of the subsequent
layers.

3.1 Rheology

The relationship between the shear stress, τyx and a ‘shear rate’, or velocity
dv x
gradient was experimentally observed by Isaac Newton as
dy
dvx
τ yx = − µ (3.1-1)
dy
The constant of proportionality, µ, is called viscosity, and is a fundamental
material property. Readers interested in acquainting themselves with the
methods to estimate viscosity of gases and liquids, and to evaluate the effect
of temperature and pressure on viscosity can refer to books like Transport
Phenomena (Bird et al. 2002). The above equation is a constitutive equation,
and is called the ‘Newton’s law of viscosity’. Recall that Fick’s I law was
also a constitutive equation. As generalised in Section 2.2.1, it follows the
following relationship: Flux is proportional to the gradient of its primary
driving force.
Dimensionally, shear stress can be written from the introductory section
as

 MT −1  (LT −1 ) 
  
 L  L 
Thus, the dimensions of viscosity are ML–1T–1.