Bernoullis Equation

Terms

Term Meaning Relationship SI Units
a Acceleration -
(

2
sec
m

F Force on accelerati mass
(

2
sec
m kg
,
Newton (N)
g
Gravitational
Acceleration
-
2
sec
m
9.81
W Weight
g mass
(

2
sec
m kg
,
Newton (N)
A area
2
length [ ]
3
m
V Volume
3
length [ ]
3
m
Density
volume
mass

(

3
m
kg


Specific
Weight
g
volume
g mass
volume
weight
=

=
(

3
m
N

P Pressure
area
force

(

2
m
N
,
Pascal (Pa)
w Work
distance force
[ ] m N ,
Joule (J)
E Energy Ability to do work
[ ] m N ,
Joule (J)
z Elevation - [ ] m
Velocity
time
distance

(

sec
m

H
Hydraulic
Head
g g
P
z
g mass
Energy
2
2

+ + =

[ ] m


Derivation of Bernoullis Equation

Bernoullis Equation is the equation for the total energy in water normalized by the
product of the unit mass and gravitational acceleration.

The three types of energy in water are:

1. Potential Energy (EP) due to gravity

2. Kinetic Energy (Ek) due to motion

3. Non flow energy (En) associated with work on system by pressure and volume
(hydraulics)

=
=
=
) (
2
1
0 1
2
P P V E
m E
mgz E
n
k
p
Equations for different types of energy (Equation 1)

+ + + = mgz E E E E
n k P

2
2
1
m + ( )
0 1
P P V (Equation 2)
Remember:

m
V
V
m
= = (Equation 3)

Substituting equation 3 for the volume (V) in equation 2:

( ) ( )
0 1
2
0 1
2
2
1
2
1
P P
m
m mgz P P V m mgz E + + + + =

(Equation 4)

In natural systems we assume the P0 is atmospheric pressure (Pa), which one can
assume is a constant over the entire system. P1 is pore pressure (Pp) including
atmospheric pressure. So, we can express the difference between P1 and P0 as just the
pore pressure (Equation 5).

p a p a
a
p a
P P P P P P
P P
P P P
= + =
=
+ =
0 1
0
1
(Equation 5)


Equation 4 can be rewritten as:

P
m
m mgz E

+ + =
2
2
1
(Equation 6)

Finally, if one normalizes the energy (E) by the force of a unit mass of water (mg),
equation 6 can be rewritten as:

g
P
g
z H
mg
E
g
P
g
z
g m
P m
g m
m
g m
z g m
mg
mP
mg
m
mg
mgz
mg
E
+ + = =
+ + =
/
/
+
/
/
+
/
/
/
/
= + + =
2
2 2 2
2
2 2 2
(Equation 7)

Equation 7 defines hydraulic head (H) as the sum of three terms. Hydraulic head has
units of length. The three terms in the equation for hydraulic head are elevation head,
velocity head and pressure head (Equation 8).

head pressure
g
P
head velocity
g
head elevation z


2

2

(Equation 8)