THEORY

Bernoulli’s principle is essentially a work energy conservation principle which states

that an ideal fluid or for situations where effects of viscosity are neglected, with no
work being performed on the fluid, the total energy is constant. This principle also
states that the sum of all forms of energy in a fluid flowing along an enclosed path (a
streamline) is the same at any two points in that path.

The pressure, speed and height (h) at two points in a steady-flowing, non-viscous,
incompressible fluid are related by the equation:

1 2 1 2
𝑃1 + 𝜌𝑣1 + 𝜌𝑔ℎ1 = 𝑃2 + 𝜌𝑣 + 𝜌𝑔ℎ2
2 2 2

This equation is the sum of the kinetic energy, potential energy and gravitational energy
at height. If the equation was multiplied through by the volume, the density can be
replaced by mass and the pressure replaced by force times distance. As the replacement,
we can see that the difference in pressure does work which can be used to change the
kinetic energy and the potential energy of the fluid for this equation.

The continuity equation of continuity states that for an incompressible fluid flowing in
a tube of varying cross-section, the mass flow rate is the same everywhere in the tube.
The equation of continuity can be written as:

𝜌1 𝐴1 𝑣1 = 𝜌2 𝐴2 𝑣2

ρ = density , A = cross sectional area , v = velocity

The density stay at the constant and then it is simply the flow rate (Av) that is constant.
The velocity of fluid is greater in the narrow section as we applied the continuity
equation.

Bernoulli's principle also states that if a non-viscous flow along a pipe of varying cross
section. Then, an increment in the speed of the fluid simultaneously with a drop in
pressure or a decrease in the fluid’s potential energy and the pressure increases when
the pipe opens out and the fluid stagnate. Thus, pressure would decreases when the
velocity increases.

This is expressed with the following equation:

 p v2
  z  h *  Constant
 g 2g

Where,

p = Fluid static pressure at the cross section

ρ = Density of the flowing fluid

g = Acceleration due to gravity

v = Mean velocity of fluid flow at the cross section

z = Elevation head of the center at the cross section with respect to a

datum

h* = Total (stagnation) head

The sum of the pressure head (h), velocity head (hv ) and the elevation head (z) is
known as the total head (h*). The total head h* at any cross section is constant according
to the Bernoulli’s theorem of fluid flow through a pipe. The results will deviate from
the theoretical ones in real flow due to friction, other imperfections and the
measurement uncertainties.

The centerline of all the cross sections we are considering lie on the same horizontal
plane (which we may choose as the datum, z = 0, and thus, all the ‘z’ values are zeros so
that the above equation reduces to:

p v2
  h *  Constant
 g 2g

This represents the total head at cross section.