FLUID MECHANICS

ND CIVIL
CODE 578/SO6

Fluid Dynamics

SHEPHERD T NGWENYA
shepherdtngwenya@yahoo.com
+263773453169 or +263733835639

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 Introduction
• Fluid mechanics is the study of how fluids move
and the forces on them. (Fluids include liquids
and gases.) Fluid mechanics can be divided into
fluid statics, the study of fluids at rest, and fluid
dynamics, the study of fluids in motion. It is a
branch of continuum mechanics, a subject which
models matter without using the information that
it is made out of atoms. Fluid mechanics,
especially fluid dynamics, is an active field of
research with many unsolved or partly solved
problems. Sometimes it can best be solved by
numerical methods, typically using computers.
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 Introduction, cntd
Field of Fluid Mechanics can be divided into 3
branches:

• Fluid Statics: mechanics of fluids at rest

• Kinematics: deals with velocities and streamlines

w/o considering forces or energy

• Fluid Dynamics: deals with the relations between

velocities and accelerations and forces exerted by
or upon fluids in motion
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 Fluids
• IDEAL FLUID
A fluid in which there is no friction

• REAL FLUID
A fluid in which shearing forces always exist
whenever motion takes place due to the fluid’s
inner friction –viscosity

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 Ideal Fluids

● Ideal fluid: a fluid with no friction

● Also referred to as an inviscid (zero viscosity)
fluid
● Internal forces at any section within are normal
(pressure forces)
● Practical applications: many flows approximate
frictionless flow away from solid boundaries.
● Do not confuse ideal fluid with a perfect (ideal)
gas.

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 Real Fluids

● Tangential or shearing forces always develop

where there is motion relative to solid body

● Thus, fluid friction is created

● Shear forces oppose motion of one particle past

another

● Friction forces gives rise to a fluid property called

viscosity
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 An ideal fluid is assumed

• to be incompressible (so that its

density does not change),
• to flow at a steady rate,
• to be nonviscous (no friction
between the fluid and the container
through which it is flowing), and
• flows irrotationally (no swirls or
eddies).
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 Properties of Fluids
Distinction between a solid Distinction between a gas
and a fluid and a liquid
● Molecules of solid closer together ● Fluids: gases or liquids
than those of fluid
● Solid: intermolecular forces larger GAS:
than in fluid – Molecules farther apart
– Very compressible
Elastic solid – Tends to expand indefinitely
– deforms under load
– recovers original state when ● LIQUID:
unloaded
– Relatively incompressible
– If external pressure removed, does
Plastic solid: not expand
– deforms under sufficient load – May have a free surface (subject to
– continues deforming as long as its own vapor pressure)
load is applied
– does not return to original state
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 Properties of Fluids
Distinction between a gas Distinction between a solid
and a liquid and a fluid
● VAPOR: ● Intermolecular forces in fluid not
– Gas whose T and P very near the large enough to hold elements
liquid phase together
– Steam is a vapor, state near that
of water ● Fluid flows under slightest stress
● GAS: and continues flowing as long as
stress is present
– Super-heated vapor, far away from
liquid phase
– Volume of gas or vapor greatly
affected by ΔT and ΔP
● Thermodynamics
– Study of heat phenomena
– Important if significant ΔT or phase
changes involved

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 Applications of fluid mechanics

•Transport of gas and fluids in pipes and channels

•Societal supply of safe energy and water
•Energy production(oil, hydropower, nuclear
energy, natural gas)
•Environmental engineering and water
treatment(channels, basins, filtering)
•Process technology (relationship temperature,
pressure, and energy)
•Protectionagainstclimateextremes/
catastrophes(flooding, harbours, windforces)

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 Streamlines
A streamline is a line that is tangential to
the instantaneous velocity direction
(velocity is a vector that has a direction
and a magnitude)

Instantaneous streamlines in flow around a cylinder

 Intro…con’t
Mechanics of fluids is extremely important in
many areas of engineering and science
especially in:
• Civil Engineering
– Transport of river sediments
– Pollution of air and water
– Design of piping systems
– Flood control systems
 Dimensions and Units
• Before going into details of fluid
mechanics, we stress importance of
units
• In Zimbabwe, one primary set of
units is used:

– 1. SI (Systeme International) units

 Unit Table
Quantity SI Unit
Length (L) Meter (m)
Mass (m) Kilogram (kg)
Time (T) Second (s)
Temperature ( ) Celcius (oC)
Force Newton (N)=kg*m/s2
 Fluid mechanics
1. Hydrostatic pressure
There is a need to understand the concept of pressure as it
applies to fluids in order to;

a) Apply the relationship between pressure, force, and

area.
b) Apply the principle that a fluid exerts pressure in all
directions.
c) Apply the principle that a fluid at rest exerts pressure
perpendicular to any surface that it contacts.

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 Fluid mechanics, cont.
d) Determine locations of equal pressure in a
fluid.

e) Determine the values of absolute and gauge

pressure for a particular situation.

f) Apply the relationship between pressure and

depth in a liquid, P = g h

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 Density &
Specific Gravity
• The mass density  of a substance is
the mass of the substance divided
by the volume it occupies:
unit: kg/m3
m
  for aluminum 2700 kg/m3 or 2.70 g/cm3
V mass can be written as m = V and
weight as mg = Vg
Specific Gravity:  substance /  water

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 Problem
5. (II) A bottle has a mass of 35.00 g when empty
and 98.44 g when filled with water. When filled
with another fluid, the mass is 88.78 g. What is
the specific gravity of this other fluid?
5. Take the ratio of the density of the fluid to that
of water, noting that the same volume is used
for both liquids.

 fluid  m V fluid mfluid 88.78 g  35.00 g

SGfluid 
SJ     0.8477
 water  m V water mwater 98.44 g  35.00 g
fluid

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 Static Pressure and Head
• A force or pressure is exerted by a fluid on the
surfaces with which it is in contact , or by one
part of a fluid on the adjoining part

• The intensity of pressure at any point is the force

exerted on unit area at that point and is
measured in newtons per square metre (pascals)

• In practice, intensity of pressure is abbreviated to

pressure

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 Pressure Intensity
Intensity of Pressure = Force / Area
Example
A mass m of 50kg acts on a piston of area A of 100cm2. What is the
intensity of pressure on the water in contact with the underside of
the piston if the piston is in equilibrium

Solution
Force acting on piston = mg
= 50 x 9.81
= 490.5 N

Area of piston A = 100 cm2

= (1 / 100) m2

Intensity of Pressure = Force / Area

= (490.5 / 0.01) N/m2 20
= 0.4905 bar
 Pressure Head
• Pressure (P) in a fluid can be expressed in terms
of the height h of the column of the fluid which
causes the pressure

P = pgh

• The intensity of pressure in a liquid at rest in the

same horizontal plane is the same.

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 Pressure
Any fluid can exert a force
perpendicular to its surface on the
walls of its container. The force is
described in terms of the pressure it
exerts, or force per unit area:
Units: N/m2 or Pa (1 Pascal*)
F dynes/cm2 or PSI (lb/in2)
p 1 atm = 1.013 x 105 Pa or 15 lbs/in2
A *One atmosphere is the pressure exerted on us
every day by the earth’s atmosphere.

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 The pressure is the same in every
direction in a fluid at a given depth.

Pressure varies with depth. 

P = F = Ahg so P = gh
A A
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A FLUID AT REST EXERTS
PRESSURE PERPENDICULAR TO
ANY SURFACE THAT IT
CONTACTS. THERE IS NO
PARALLEL COMPONENT THAT
WOULD CAUSE A FLUID AT REST
TO FLOW.

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 PROBLEM
9. (I) (a) Calculate the total force of the
atmosphere acting on the top of a table that
measures 1.6 m  2.9 m.
(b) What is the total force acting upward on the
underside of the table?
9. (a) The total force of the atmosphere on the
table will be the air pressure times the area of
the table.

F  PA  1.013  10 N m 5 2
 1.6 m  2.9 m   4.7 10 N 5

(b) Since the atmospheric pressure is the same on the underside of the
table (the height difference is minimal), the upward force of air pressure is
the same as the downward force of air on the top of the table,

4.7  10 N 5

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 Atmospheric Pressure and Gauge Pressure
p1
p1 p1

h h h
p2 p2 p2

• The pressure p1 on the surface of the water is 1

atm, or 1.013 x 105 Pa. If we go down to a depth
h below the surface, the pressure becomes
greater by the product of the density of the water
, the acceleration due to gravity g, and the
depth h. Thus the pressure p2 at this depth is

p 2  p1  gh
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 In this case, p2 is called the absolute pressure --
the total static pressure at a certain depth in a
fluid, including the pressure at the surface of the
fluid
The difference in pressure between the surface and
the depth h is gauge pressure

p2  p1  gh
Note that the pressure at any depth does not depend
of the shape of the container, only the pressure at
some reference level (like the surface) and the
vertical distance below that level.

p1
p1 p1

h h h
p2 p2 p2
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 14.(II) (a) What are the total force and the
absolute pressure on the bottom of a swimming
pool 22.0 m by 8.5 m whose uniform depth is 2.0
m? (b) What will be the pressure against the side
of the pool near the bottom?
(a)The absolute pressure is given by Eq. 10-3c, and
the total force is the absolute pressure times the
area of the bottom of the pool.

 
P  P0   gh  1.013  105 N m 2  1.00  103 kg m 3 9.80 m s 2  2.0 m 
 1.21  105 N m 2


F  PA  1.21  105 N m 2   22.0 m  8.5 m   2.3  10 7
N

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(b) The pressure against the side of
the pool, near the bottom, will be the
same as the pressure at the
bottom,

P  1.21  10 N m
5 2

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 Pascal’s Principle
• Pascal’s Principle - if an external pressure
is applied to a confined fluid, the pressure at
every point within the fluid increases by that
amount. Applications: hydraulic lift and brakes

Pout = Pin
And since P = F/a
Fout = Fin
Aout Ain
Mechanical Advantage:
Fout = Aout
Fin Ain

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