MM 659 - Transport Phenomenon

Tutorial 2

Problem 1: Counting Canaries Italian style

Italian love birds, many homes have these happy songsters in little cages, and to supply them is a big business.
Tunisian Songburdis, Inc., is a major supplier of canaries for Southern Italy, and every Wednesday a large truck
carrying these chirpy feathered creatures is loaded aboard the midweek Tunnis toNaples ferry. The trucks bird
container is 2.4m wide, 3.0m high, solid ones the sides and bottom, open at the top except for a restraining
screen, and has a total open volume available for birds of 36m3 . On arrival at Naples at a tax of 20lira/bird
is to be charged by the customs agent, but how to determine the amount to be assessed? Since counting these
thousands of birds one by one would be impractical the Italians use the following ingenious methods.

The customer agent sets up his pressure gauges, then loudly bangs the side of the van with a hammer. This
scares the birds off their perches up into the air. Then he carefully records the pressure at the bottom and at
the top of the inside of the van.

If the pressure at the bottom is 103316P a, the pressure at the top is 102875P a, and the temperature is 25o C,
how much tax should the customs agent levy?

Juvenile canaries have a mass of 15gm and density estimated to be 500kg/m3 .

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 Problem 2

A U-tube manometer is used to measure the pressure of water in a pipeline, which is in excess of atmo-
spheric pressure. The right limb of manometer contains mercury and is open to the atmosphere. The contact
between mercury and water is in the left limb. Find the pressure of water in the main line, if the difference in
level of mercury in the limbs of U-tube is 10cm and the free surface of mercury is in level with the centre of pipe.

If the pressure of water in the pipeline is reduced to 9810N/m2 , calculate the new difference in the level
of mercury. Sketch the arrangements in both cases.