Dimensional Analysis

Unit Systems
The SI system consists of six primary units, from which all quantities may be described. For convenience secondary units are used in general practice which are made from combinations of these primary units. There are many derived units all obtained from combination of the above primary units.

Primary Units

Derived Units

List of quantities and dimensions

Example

Dimensional consistency:
in

any equation, all terms must have the same dimensions or they cannot be added. both sides of an equation must have the same dimensions arguments of many functions (log, sin, exp, etc.) and all exponents must be dimensionless.

Example
The equation known as Stokes' law describing the terminal velocity of a spherical particle falling through a viscous fluid. Check their dimension homogenity

Dimensionless Equations
When such an equation is divided by any one of its terms, all units in each term cancel and only numerical magnitudes remain. A combination of variables for which all dimensions cancel in this manner is called a dimensionless group

Example of dimensionless group

The advantages of using dimensionless groups in studying complicated phenomena

A significant reduction in the number of variables to be investigated Predicting the effect of changing one of the individual variables in a process Making the results independent of the scale of the system and of the system of units being used. Simplifying the scaling-up or scaling-down of results obtained with models of systems Deducing variation in importance of mechanisms in a process from the numerical values of the dimensionless groups involved

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