Fluid Mechanics

FLUID MECHANICS
EC 311
DEFINITION
• Fluid mechanics is the study of the behaviour of fluids,

either at rest (fluid statics) or in motion (fluid dynamics).
• Fluid mechanics is involved in nearly all areas of civil

engineering either directly or indirectly.
APPLICATIONS OF FLUID MECHANICS
 Direct application
o Sea and river (flood) defences
o Water distribution/sewerage (sanitation) networks
o Hydraulic design of water/sewage treatment works
o Dams
o Irrigation
o Pumps and turbines
o Water retaining structures
APPLICATIONS OF FLUID MECHANICS
 Indirect application
o Flow of air in or around buildings
o Bridge piers in rivers
o Groundwater flow
CHARACTERISTICS OF FLUIDS
• Three states of matter are recognized:

i. Solid
ii. Liquid
Fluids
iii. Gas
DEFINITION OF A FLUID
• A fluid is a substance that deforms continuously when

subjected to a shear stress, no matter how small that
shear stress maybe.
B B’ C C’
F
F
A D
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LIQUIDS AND GASES
LIQUIDS GASES
1
Molecular movement is Molecular movement is
restricated by cohesive forces unrestricated by cohesive forces
2
Has a fixed volume Has no shape or volume
3
Incompressible Compressible
4
Has free surface Has no free surface
THE CONTINUUM
• Continuous distribution of matter with no empty space.

PROPERTIES OF FLUIDS
• Density, ρ
‒ defined as mass per unit volume
m
  lim
V  V
‒ In gases density is highly variable and it is nearly constant in

liquids
‒ In gases density increases proportionally to the pressure level
whereas in liquids it is considered independent to the pressure
level
‒ Typical values at atmospheric pressure: water, 1000 kg/m3; air,
1.23 kg/m3.
• Specific weight, w or γ
‒ defined as weight per unit volume
w  g
‒ Units: newtons per cubic metre (N/m3)
‒ Typical values: water, 9.81 x 103 N/m3 (9.81 kN/m3); air,
12.07 N/m3
• Specific gravity, s.g

‒ defined as the ratio of density of a fluid to the density of a
standard reference fluid, usually water at 4oC for liquids, and
air for gases.
‒ For liquids
density of substance  substan ce
s.g  
density of water at 4 C  water at 4o C
o
Example
• Mercury has a density of 13600 kg/m3. What are its

specific weight and specific gravity?
• Specific volume, v
‒ defined as the volume occupied by a unit mass of fluid.
‒ it is simply a reciprocal of density
V 1
  
m 
• Temperature
‒ Temperature T is related to the internal energy level of a fluid.
Engineers often use Celsius or Fahrenheit scales for
convenience, many applications require absolute (Kelvin or
Rankine) temperature scales.
• Vapour pressure
‒ defined as the partial pressure exerted by the vapour
molecules on the liquid surface
‒ The vapour pressure of a given fluid depends on the
temperature, and increases with increasing temperature
‒ Boiling of liquids occurs when pressure above the liquid
equals the vapour pressure of the liquid
‒ In flowing liquids boiling would occur if the pressure of the
liquid is reduced to below the vapour pressure
• Compressibility
‒ all matter is to some extent compressible
‒ compressibility of a perfect gas is described by the
perfect gas law
‒ compressibility of liquids is described by the bulk
modulus of elasticity, K
‒ In liquids, compressibility is only possible in situations
involving either sudden or great changes in pressure
• Compressibility
‒ For liquids, bulk modulus of elasticity is given by
P
K 
V
V
‒ where δp = increase in pressure

δV = decrease in volume
‒ Compressibility is the reciprocal of bulk modulus of
elasticity
• Surface tension, σ
‒ Caused by the force of cohesion at the free surface
‒ At the free surface a thin layer of molecules is formed
‒ It is because of this film that a small needle can float
on the free surface.
‒ Surface tension is usually expressed in N/m.
‒ Formation of bubbles, droplets and free jets are due to
the surface tension of the liquid.
• Surface tension, σ
• Pressure inside a water droplet

‒ Liquids have a tendency of minimizing their surface area
‒ As such drops of liquid tend to take a spherical shape in
order to minimize surface area
• Pressure inside a water droplet

‒ From free body diagram, we have
 2
i. Pressure force, F  P  d
4
ii. Surface tension force acting around the circumference
   d
‒ Under equilibrium conditions these two forces will be equal
and opposite i.e.
 4
P d    d
2
P
4 d
Example
• In order to form a stream of bubbles, air is introduced

through a nozzle into a tank of water at 20oC. If the
process requires 3.0 mm diameter bubbles to be formed,
by how much the air pressure at the nozzle must exceed
that of the surrounding water?
Take surface tension of water at 20oC = 0.0735 N/m.
• Capillarity
‒ Rise or fall of a liquid in a capillary tube
Causes of rise and fall
 cohesion
‒ when cohesion is greater than adhesion liquid level in a
tube will fall
 adhesion
‒ when adhesion is greater than cohesion liquid level in a
tube will rise
• Capillarity
• Liquids rise in tubes they wet and fall in tubes they do not wet .
• Capillarity - wetting and contact angle
 This represents the case of a liquid which wets a

solid surface well.
 The angle θ shown is the contact angle between
the edge of the liquid surface and the solid surface.
 It measures the quality of wetting.
 For perfect wetting, in which the liquid spreads as
a thin film over the surface of the solid, θ is zero.
• Capillarity - wetting and

contact angle
 This represents the case of no wetting.
 If there was exactly zero wetting, θ would be 180o.
• Capillarity - height of capillary rise

4  cos 
h 
 gd
• Example
Water has a surface tension of 0.4 N/m. In a 3 mm diameter
vertical tube a liquid rises 6 mm above the liquid outside the
tube, calculate the contact angle.
• Viscosity, μ
‒ property of a fluid which offers resistance to shear
deformation
‒ resistance to shear deformation is achieved by cohesion
and interaction between molecules
‒ the resisting forces are referred to as shear forces and
these forces induce shear stresses in the fluid as a result
of particle movement
• Viscosity, μ
‒ Consider the flow in a pipe in which water is flowing
‒ At the pipe wall the velocity of fluid particles is zero
‒ At the centre of the pipe the velocity is maximum
‒ This way adjacent fluid particles will have different
velocities
• particles closer to the pipe boundary will move slower
than the particles closer to the centre
• Viscosity, μ
Velocity profile
• Viscosity, μ - Newton's law of viscosity

• Viscosity, μ - Newton's law

of viscosity
• F = shear force
F F
 shear sress   
A z  x
• Shear stress is measured by
the deformation angle Φ, the
shear strain
x
shear strain,  
y

of viscosity
• Experimentally, shear stress is
directly proportional to rate of
shear strain
x u
rate of shear strain  
ty y
u
   constant 
y

of viscosity
• Proportionality constant is the
viscosity, μ
• In differential form
du
 
dy

Fluid Mechanics

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Fluid Mechanics

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FLUID MECHANICS

• Fluid mechanics is the study of the behaviour of fluids,

• Fluid mechanics is involved in nearly all areas of civil

• Three states of matter are recognized:

• A fluid is a substance that deforms continuously when

• Continuous distribution of matter with no empty space.

‒ In gases density is highly variable and it is nearly constant in

• Specific gravity, s.g

• Mercury has a density of 13600 kg/m3. What are its

‒ where δp = increase in pressure

• Pressure inside a water droplet

• Pressure inside a water droplet

• In order to form a stream of bubbles, air is introduced

• Capillarity - wetting and contact angle

 This represents the case of a liquid which wets a

• Capillarity - wetting and

• Capillarity - height of capillary rise

• Viscosity, μ - Newton's law of viscosity

• Viscosity, μ - Newton's law

• Viscosity, μ - Newton's law

• Viscosity, μ - Newton's law

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