Introduction

A fluid cannot resist a shear stress by a static deflection and it moves and deforms continuously as long as the shear
stressisapplied.
Fluidmechanicsisthestudyoffluidseitherinmotion(fluiddynamics)oratrest(fluidstatics).Bothliquidsandgasesare
classifiedasfluids.
Thereisatheoryavailableforfluidflowproblems,butinallcasesitshouldbebackedupbyexperiment.Itisahighly
visualsubjectwithgoodinstrumentation.
Since theearthis75%coveredwithwaterand100%withair,thescopeoffluidmechanicsisvastandhasnumerous
applications in engineering and human activities. Examples are medical studies of breathing and blood flow,
oceanography, hydrology, energy generation. Other engineering applications include: fans, turbines, pumps, missiles,
airplanestonameafew.
Thebasicequationsoffluidmotionaretoodifficulttoapplytoarbitrarygeometricconfigurations.Thusmosttextbooks
concentrateonflatplates,circularpipes,andothersimplegeometries.Itispossibletoapplynumericaltechniquesto
complexgeometries,thisbranchoffluidmechanicsiscalledcomputationalfluidmechanics(CFD).Ourfocus,however,
willbeontheoreticalapproachinthiscourse.
Viscosity is an internal property of a fluid that offers resistance to flow. Viscosity increases the difficulty of the basic
equations.Italsohasadestabilizingeffectandgivesrisetodisorderly,randomphenomenacalledturbulence.

Fig.1:effectsofviscosityandshapeonthefluidflow.

Historyoffluidmechanics
Ancientcivilizationhadenoughknowledgetosolvecertainflowproblems,e.g.sailingshipswithoars,irrigationsystems.

M.Bahrami FluidMechanics(S09) Intro&fluidproperties 1

Archimedes (285 212 B.C.) postulated the parallelogram law for addition of vectors and the laws of buoyancy and
appliedthemtofloatingandsubmergedobjects.

LeonardodaVinci(14521519)statedtheequationofconservationofmassinonedimensionalsteadystateflow.He
experimentedwithwaves,jets,hydraulicjumps,eddyformation,etc.

EdmeMariotte(16201684)builtthefirstwindtunnelandtestedmodelsinit.

IsaacNewton(16421727)postulatedhislawsofmotionandthelawofviscosityoflinearfluids,nowcallednewtonian.
Thetheoryfirstyieldthefrictionlessassumptionwhichledtoseveralbeautifulmathematicalsolutions.

LeonhardEuler(17071783)developedboththedifferentialequationsofmotionandtheirintegralform,nowcalled
Bernoulliequation.

WilliamFroude(18101879)andhissondevelopedlawsofmodeltestingandLordRayleigh(18421919)proposed
dimensionalanalysis.

OsborneReynolds(18421912)publishedtheclassicpipeexperimentandshowedtheimportanceofthedimensionless
Reynoldsnumber,namedafterhim.

Navier (1785 1836) and Stokes (1819 1903) added newtonian viscous term to the equation of motion, the fluid
motiongoverningequation,i.e.,NavierStokesequationisnamedafterthem.

LudwigPrandtl(18751953)pointedoutthatfluidflowswithsmallviscosity,suchaswaterflowsandairflows,canbe
divided into a thin viscous layer (or boundary layer) near solid surfaces and interfaces, patched onto a nearly inviscid
outerlayer,wheretheEulerandBernoulliequationsapply.

Fig.2:Theconceptofboundarylayer.

Theconceptoffluid
Therearetwoclassesoffluids:
Liquids:arecomposedofrelativelyclosepackedmoleculeswithstrongcohesiveforces.Liquidshaveconstantvolume
(almostincompressible)andwillformafreesurfaceinagravitationalfieldifunconfinedfromabove.
Gases:moleculesarewidelyspacedwithnegligiblecohesiveforces.Agasisfreetoexpanduntilitencountersconfining
walls.Agashasnodefinitevolume,anditformsanatmospherewhenitisnotconfined.Gravitationaleffectsarerarely
concerned.
Liquidsandgasescancoexistintwophasemixturessuchassteamwatermixtures.

M.Bahrami FluidMechanics(S09) Intro&fluidproperties 2

Wecandefinefluidpropertiesandparameters,ascontinuouspointfunctions,ONLYifthecontinuumapproximationis
made.Thisrequiresthatthephysicaldimensionsarelargecomparedtothefluidmolecules.
Thefluiddensityisdefinedas:

lim

wherethe isalimitingvolumeabovewhichmolecularvariationsarenotimportant,thisvolumeforallliquidsand
gasesisabout109mm3.

Dimensionsandunits
Any physical quantity can be characterized by dimensions. The arbitrary magnitudes assigned to the dimensions are
called units. There are two types of dimensions, primary or fundamental and secondary or derived dimensions. Some
primary dimensions are: mass, m; length, L; time, t; temperature, T. Secondary dimensions are the ones that can be
derivedfromprimarydimensionssuchas:velocity(m/s),pressure(Pa=kg/m.s2).

TherearetwounitsystemscurrentlyavailableSI(InternationalSystem)andUSCS(UnitedStatesCustomarySystem)or
Englishsystem.We,however,willuseSIunitsexclusivelyinthiscourse.TheSIsystemisbasedon7fundamentalunits:
length, meter (m); mass, kilogram (kg); time, second (s); electric current, ampere (A); amount of light, candela (cd);
amountofmatter,mole(mol).

TheSIunitsarebasedondecimalrelationshipbetweenunits.Theprefixesusedtoexpressthemultiplesofthevarious
unitsarelistedinTable1.

Table1:StandardprefixesinSIunits.

MULTIPLE 1012 109 106 103 102 103 106 109 1012

PREFIX tetra,T giga,G mega,M kilo,k centi,c mili,m micro, nano,n pico,p

Important note: in engineering all equations must be dimensionally homogenous. This means that every term in an
equationmusthavethesameunits.Itcanbeusedasasanitycheckforyoursolution.

Example1:UnitConversion

Theheatdissipationrate densityofanelectronic deviceisreportedas10.72mW/mm2bythe manufacturer.Convert

thistoW/m2.

2
mW 1000mm 1W W
10.72 10720 2
mm 1m 1000mW
2
m

EulerianandLagrangianPointofView
Therearetwodifferentpointsofviewinanalyzingproblemsinmechanics.
IntheEulerianpointofview,thedynamicbehaviorofthefluidisstudiedfromafixedpointinspace.Therefore,fluid
properties and parameters are computed as filed functions, e.g. p(x,y,z,t). Most measurement devices work based on
Eulerianmethod.

M.Bahrami FluidMechanics(S09) Intro&fluidproperties 3

ThesystemconceptrepresentsaLagrangianpointofviewwherethedynamicbehaviorofafluidparticleisconsidered.
TostimulateaLagrangianmeasurement,theprobewouldhavetomovedownstreamatthefluidparticlespeed.

Fluidvelocityfield
Velocity:therateofchangeoffluidpositionatapointinaflowfield.Velocityingeneralisavectorfunctionofposition
andtime,thushasthreecomponentsu,v,andw,eachascalarfieldinitself:

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Velocity is used to specify flow filed characteristics, flow rate, momentum, and viscous effects for a fluid in motion.
Furthermore,velocityfieldmustbeknowntosolveheatandmasstransferproblems.

Thermodynamicpropertiesofafluid
Anycharacteristicofasystemiscalledaproperty.Inthiscourse,thefluidisassumedtobeacontinuum,homogenous
matterwithnomicroscopicholes.Thisassumptionholdsaslongasthevolumes,andlengthscalesarelargewithrespect
totheintermolecularspacing.

Thermodynamicpropertiesdescribethestateofasystem.

Systemisdefinedasacollectionofmatteroffixedidentitythatinteractswithitssurroundings.

For a singlephase substance such as water or oxygen, two basic (independent) properties such as pressure and
temperaturecanidentifythestateofasystem;andthusthevalueofallotherproperties.

Note:Inthiscourse,importantnonequilibriumeffectssuchaschemical,nuclear,andmagneticeffectsareneglected.

Temperature
Temperatureisameasureoftheinternalenergy,itisalsoapointerforthedirectionofenergytransferasheat.

Fig.1:Heattransferoccursinthedirectionofhighertolowertemperature.

Whenthetemperaturesoftwobodiesarethesame,thermalequilibriumisreached.Theequalityoftemperatureisthe
onlyrequirementforthermalequilibrium.

Experimentally obtained Temperature Scales, the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales, are based on the melting and boiling
pointsofwater.Theyarealsocalledtwopointscales.

M.Bahrami FluidMechanics(S09) Intro&fluidproperties 4

Conventionalthermometrydependsonmaterialpropertiese.g.mercuryexpandswithtemperatureinarepeatableand
predictableway.

ThermodynamicTemperatureScales(independentofthematerial),theKelvinandRankinescales,aredeterminedusing
aconstantvolumegasthermometer.Therelationshipsbetweenthesescalesare:

273.15

459.67

1.8

1.8 32

M.Bahrami FluidMechanics(S09) Intro&fluidproperties 5