Department of Mechanical EngineeringThe University of Hong Kong

Foundations of Engineering MechanicsENGG1010 (2008 – 2009)"Mechanics of Fluids"

Lecturer:

Dr. C.O. Ng (office: HW7-1; phone: 28592622; email: cong@hku.hk)

Required Text

Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics

Ed., B.R. Munson, D.F. Young & T.H.Okiishi, Wiley Asia Student Edition.

References

: 1)

Fluid

Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications

, Y.A. Cengel & J.M. Cimbala,McGraw-Hill. Highly recommended.2)

Fluid Mechanics

Ed., F.M.White, McGraw-Hill.

Assessment

: In-course continuous assessment 10%-

mid-term quiz (details to be announced in due course)Examination 90%

Topics Covered

:1. Properties of fluids

•

Definition of a fluid

•

Density

•

Viscosity

•

Surface tension

•

Compressibility2. Hydrostatics

•

Hydrostatic pressure distribution

•

Pressure measuring devices (manometers)

•

Hydrostatic force acting on submerged plane and curved surfaces

•

Equilibrium of a hydraulic structure under hydrostatic and applied forces3. Fluid in Motion

•

Continuity equation (conservation of mass)

•

Bernoulli’s equation (conservation of mechanical energy)

•

Momentum equation (force and rate of change of momentum)

•

Applications

Velocity measurement with a Pitot tube

Jet issuing from an orifice

Flow-rate measurement with a Venturi-meter

Impact force by a jet on a flat plate

Impact force on a pipe bend

(I)

INTRODUCTION

What is Fluid Mechanics?

First, what is a

fluid

•

Three common states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas.

•

fluid

is either a

liquid

or a

gas

•

If surface effects are not present, flow behaves similarly in all common fluids, whether gasesor liquids.

•

Formal definition of a fluid - A

fluid

is a substance which

deforms

continuously under theapplication of a

shear

stress

Definition of

stress

- A stress is defined as a force per unit area, acting on aninfinitesimal surface element.

Stresses have both

magnitude

(force per unit area) and

direction

, and the direction isrelative to the

surface

on which the stress acts.

There are

normal

stresses and

tangential

stresses.normal stressshear stress

F dAF dA

Pressure

is an example of a

normal

stress, and acts inward, toward the surface, andperpendicular to the surface.

shear

stress is an example of a

tangential

stress, i.e. it acts along the surface,parallel to the surface. Friction due to fluid viscosity is the primary source of shearstresses in a fluid.

One can construct a free body diagram of a little fluid particle to visualize both thenormal and shear stresses acting on the body:Free body diagram for a fluidparticle at rest.Consider a tiny fluid element (a very small chunk of thefluid) in a case where the fluid is at rest (or moving atconstant speed in a straight line). A fluid at rest can haveonly normal stresses, since a fluid at rest cannot resist ashear stress. In this case, the sum of all the forces mustbalance the weight of the fluid element. This condition isknown as hydrostatics. Here, pressure is the only normalstress which exists. Pressure always acts positively inward.Obviously, the pressure at the bottom of the fluid elementmust be slightly larger than that at the top, in order for thetotal pressure force to balance the weight of the element.Meanwhile, the pressure at the right face must be equal tothat on the left face, so that the sum of forces in thehorizontal direction is zero. [Note: This diagram is two-dimensional, but an actual fluid element is three-dimensional. Hence, the pressure on the front face mustalso balance that on the back face.]2

Free body diagram for a fluidparticle in motion.Consider a tiny fluid element (a very small chunk of thefluid) that is moving around in some flow field. Since thefluid is in motion, it can have both normal and shearstresses, as shown by the free body diagram. The vectorsum of all forces acting on the fluid element must equal themass of the element times its acceleration (Newton'ssecond law). Likewise, the net moment about the center of the body can be obtained by summing the forces due toeach shear stress times its moment arm. [Note: To obtainforce, one must multiply each stress by the surface area onwhich it acts, since stress is defined as force per unit area.]

Fluids at rest cannot resist a shear stress

; in other words, when a shear stress isapplied to a fluid at rest, the fluid will not remain at rest, but will move because of theshear stress.

For a good illustration of this, consider the comparison of a fluid and a solid underapplication of a shear stress: A fluid can easily be distinguished from a solid byapplication of a shear stress, since, by definition, a fluid at rest cannot resist a shearstress. If a shear stress is applied to the surface of a solid, the solid will deform a little,and then remain at rest (in its new distorted shape). One can say that the solid (at rest)is able to resist the shear stress. Now consider a fluid (in a container). When a shearstress is applied to the surface of the fluid, the fluid will continuously deform, i.e. itwill set up some kind of flow pattern inside the container. In other words, one can saythat the fluid (at rest) is unable to resist the shear stress. That is to say, it cannotremain at rest under application of a shear stress.

Next, what is

mechanics

•

Mechanics is essentially the application of the laws of force and motion. Conventionally, it isdivided into two branches, statics and dynamics.

So, putting it all together, there are two branches of fluid mechanics:

•

Fluid

tatics

hydrostatics

is the study of fluids

at rest