Fluid Mechanics

P V Suresh

Introduction
Fluid mechanics is the study of forces and motions in fluids
Fluid is a substance that tends to deform/flow continuously under the
application of a shear stress, no matter how small the shear stress may
be.
Fluid is any substance that can not sustain a shear stress when at rest.
Solid is a substance that deforms slightly when subjected to a shear
force and then stop moving and permanently resist the force.
The amount of deformation of the solid depends on the solids modulus
of rigidity, G, while the rate of deformation of the fluid depends on the
fluids viscosity, .
Solids are being referred as elastic
Fluids are being referred as viscous.

Basic Laws
The conservation of mass
Newtons second law of motion
First law of Thermodynamics
Second law of Thermodynamics
All the above are generalizations of experimental
data.
None of them can be deduced from others or
from any other prior principle
None of them can be proven mathematically
Rather they stand on their ability to predict
correctly the results of any experiment ever run
to test them

Methods of analysis

First step in analyzing a problem is to define the system

System or Control volume
Focus in thermodynamics is on energy
Focus in Fluid mechanics is on forces and motion
System: A fixed, identifiable quantity of mass; the system
boundaries separate the system from surroundings.
Boundaries of the system may be fixed or movable
No mass crosses the system boundaries
Control volume: An arbitrary volume in space through
which fluid flows. Geometric boundary of CV is called control
surface.
Control surface may be real or imaginary; may be at rest or
in motion