Alexandria University 2nd Year - Semester (1)

Faculty of Engineering Academic Year 2010/2011

Dept. of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering

Fluid Mechanics (MR 231)

Lecture Notes (2)
Continued

2. Definitions

Normal and Shear Stresses

Stress is defined as the force per unit area. The normal

component of the force acting on a surface per unit area is
called the normal stress, and the tangential component of the
force acting on a surface per unit area is called shear stress.
In a fluid at rest, the normal stress is called pressure and the
shear stress is equal to zero.
Fig. (4) Normal and shear stresses
at the surface of a fluid element
The No-Slip Condition

Water in a river cannot flow through rocks and goes around them, which means; the
water velocity normal to the rock surface must be zero. Water approaching the rock at
any angle also comes to a complete stop at the rock surface, and thus, the tangential
velocity component of water at the surface is also zero. A fluid in direct contact with a
solid “sticks” to the surface due to viscous effects and there is no slip, this is known as
the no-slip condition and is due to viscosity of the fluid. The no-slip condition is
responsible for the development of the velocity profile. The flow region adjacent to the
wall in which the viscous effects (and thus the velocity gradients) are significant is called
the boundary layer. Another consequence of the no-slip condition is the surface drag,
which is the force a fluid exerts on a surface in the flow direction.

Fig. (5) Fluid flowing over a stationary surface

There is a wide variety of fluid flow problems encountered in practice, and it is usually
convenient to classify them on the basis of some common characteristics to make it
feasible to study them in groups. Classification is also an important tool in making
simplifying assumptions. Some general categories of classification include:

Viscous vs. Inviscid Regions of Flow

When two fluid layers move relative to each other, a friction force develops between
them and, the slower layer tries to slow down the faster layer. This internal resistance to
flow is quantified by the fluid property viscosity, which is a measure of the internal
stickiness of the fluid. There is no fluid with zero viscosity and all fluids involve viscous
effects to some degree. Flows in which frictional effects are significant are called viscous
flows. However, in many flows of practical interest, there are regions (typically regions
not close to solid surfaces) where viscous forces are negligibly small compared to inertial
or pressure forces. Neglecting the viscous terms in such inviscid flow regions greatly
simplifies the analysis without much loss in accuracy.

Fig. (6) The flow of an originally uniform fluid stream over a flat plate, and the regions of viscous
flow (next to the plate on both sides) and inviscid flow (away from the plate)

Internal vs. External Flow

The flow of an unbounded fluid over a surface

such as a plate, a wire or a pipe is external flow.
The flow in a pipe or duct is internal flow if the
fluid is completely bounded by solid surfaces.
Internal flows are dominated by the influence of
viscosity throughout the flow field. In external
flows, viscous effects are limited to boundary
layers near solid surfaces and to wake regions
downstream of bodies.
Fig. (7) External flow over a tennis ball
Compressible vs. Incompressible Flow

A flow can be either compressible or incompressible, depending on the level of variation

of density during flow. Incompressibility is an approximation, and a flow is said to be
incompressible if the density remains nearly constant throughout. Densities of liquids are
essentially constant and thus the flow of liquids is typically assumed incompressible to a
high level of accuracy. Gas flows are highly compressible especially at Mach numbers >
0.3 (Ma = Speed of flow / Speed of sound) where, the density change is over about 5%.

Laminar vs. Turbulent Flow

Laminar flow is a highly ordered fluid

motion characterized by smooth layers of
fluids. The flow of high-viscosity fluids
such as oils at low velocities is typically
laminar. A highly disordered fluid motion
characterized by velocity fluctuations is
called turbulent flow. The flow of low-
viscosity fluids such as air at high velocities
is typically turbulent. A flow that contains
both laminar and turbulent regions is called
transitional. Reynolds number (Re =
ρUL/µ) is the key parameter in determining
whether a flow regime is laminar or
turbulent.

Fig. (8) Laminar, transitional and turbulent flow

Steady vs. Unsteady Flow

In a steady flow, the fluid properties-such as volume, mass and total energy content- can
change from point to point within a flow-device or a flow-section, but remain constant
with time at a particular point. Unsteady flows can appear steady if time-averaged, as
seen in figure (9). While the instantaneous snapshot from a high-speed motion picture -in
fig. (9a)- show an unsteady wake shed from the blunt base of the object, fig (9b) shows
the same flow field, but the film is exposed for a longer time so that the image is time
averaged over 12 cycles. The resulting time-averaged flow field appears steady since the
details of the unsteady oscillations have been lost in the long exposure.
 (a)
(b)
Fig. (9) Oscillating wave of a blunt-based airfoil at Mach number 0.6. Fig. (a): an instantaneous
image and Fig. (b): a time-averaged image

One-, Two- and Three-dimensional Flows

A flow field is best characterized by the velocity distribution, and thus, a flow is said to
be one-, two-, or three-dimensional if the flow velocity varies in one-, two-, or three
primary dimensions, respectively. A typical fluid flow involves a three-dimensional
geometry; however, the variation of velocity in certain directions can be small relative to
variation in other directions and can be ignored with negligible error. In such cases, the
flow can be modeled conveniently as being one- or two-dimensional, which is easier to
analyze.
Consider the steady flow of a fluid through a circular pipe. The fluid velocity everywhere
on the pipe surface is zero because of the no-slip condition, and the flow is two-
dimensional in the entrance region of the pipe since the velocity changes in both the r-
and z-directions. The velocity profile develops fully and remains unchanged after some
distance from the inlet and the flow in this region is said to be fully developed. The fully
developed flow in a circular pipe is one-dimensional since the velocity varies in the radial
r-direction only but is the same at any axial z-location and symmetric about the axis of
the pipe.

t
Fig. (10) V = V(r, z): The flow is two-dimensional in the entrance region. V = V(r): The flow is
one-dimensional downstream when the velocity profile is fully developed
System and Control Volume

A system is defined as a quantity of matter or a region in space chosen for study. The
mass or region outside the system is called the surroundings. The real or imaginary
surface that separates the system from its surroundings is called the boundary. The
boundary of a system can be fixed or movable and is considered to be the contact surface
shared by both, the system and the surroundings.

Systems can be either closed or open, depending on whether a fixed mass or a volume in
space is chosen for study. A closed system (also known as a control mass) consists of a
fixed amount of mass and no mass can cross its boundary, but energy, in the form of heat
or work, can cross the boundary and the volume of a closed system doesn’t have to be
fixed.

An open system (also known as a control volume) is a properly selected region in space.
It usually encloses a device that involved mass flow such as a compressor, turbine or
nozzle. Flow through these devices is best studied by selecting the region within the
device as the control volume. Both mass and energy can cross the boundary of a control
volume.

Fig. (11) A closed system

(control mass) with a
moving boundary

Fig. (12) An open system (control volume) may involve fixed, moving, real and imaginary
boundaries
3. Properties

Any characteristic of a system is called a property. Some familiar properties are pressure
P, temperature T, volume V and mass m. less familiar properties include viscosity,
thermal conductivity, modulus of elasticity, thermal expansion coefficient etc….
Properties are considered to be either intensive or extensive. Intensive properties are
those that are independent of the mass of a system, such as; temperature, pressure and
density. Extensive properties are those whose values depend on the size –or extent- of
the system. Total mass, total volume and total momentum are some examples of
extensive properties. An easy way to determine whether a property is intensive or
extensive is to divide the system into two equal parts with an imaginary partition. Each
part will have the same value of intensive properties as the original system, but half the
value of the extensive properties.
Extensive properties per unit mass are called specific properties. Some examples are;
specific volume (v = V/m) and specific total energy (e = E/m).
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the state of a simple compressible system is
completely specified by two independent i.e. intensive properties. Two properties are
independent if one property can be varied while the other one is held constant.

½m ½m Extensive
properties
½V ½V

T T
Intensive
P P
properties
ρ ρ

Fig. (13) Criteria to differentiate intensive and extensive properties

Continuum

Continuum is to disregard the atomic nature of a substance and view it as a continuous,

homogeneous matter with no holes. The continuum idealization allows us to treat
properties as point functions and to assume that properties vary continually in space with
no jump. This idealization is valid as long as the size of the system we deal with is large
relative to the space between the molecules. This is the case in practically all problems,
except some specialized ones.

Example: At one atm. pressure and 20oC, the distance between 2 oxygen molecules is
6.3 * 10 -8 m. In addition, there about 2.5 x 1016 molecules in the tiny volume of 1 mm3,
hence, continuum can be applied.
At very high vacuums or very high elevations, the distance between any 2 molecules
becomes larger (about 0.1 m for atmospheric air at an elevation of 100 km) and hence,
continuum cannot be applied (rarefied gas flow theory is applicable).

Fig. (13) Despite the large gaps between molecules, a substance can be treated as a continuum
because of the very large number of molecules even in an extremely small volume