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Introduction to Fluid Mechanics

Assignment- Week 5
TYPE OF QUESTION: MCQ
Number of questions: 15 Total mark: 15 X 1 = 15
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QUESTION 1:
A two dimensional flow is described in the Lagrangian system as
x  x0e kt  y0 (1  e2kt ) and y  y0ekt
The equation of path line of the particle will be
(a)  x  y0  y 2  x0 y0 y  y03  0
(b)  x  y0  y 2  x0 y0  y02  0
(c)  x  x0  y 2  x0 y0 y  y02  0
(d)  x  x0  y 2  x0 y0 y  y03  0

Correct Answer: a

Detailed Solution: It is given that y  y0ekt

y
or, e kt 
y0
x  x0e kt  y0 (1  e2kt )
y0   y 2 
or x  x0  y0 1   0  
y   y  
or  x  y0  y 2  x0 y0 y  y03  0
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QUESTION 2:
A two-dimensional flow field has velocities along the x and y directions given by u  x 2t
and v  2 xyt respectively, where t is time. The equation of streamline for the given
velocity field will be
(a) xy  constant
(b) x2 y  constant
(c) xy 2  constant
(d) x2  y 2  constant
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Correct Answer: b

Detailed Solution:
The equation of a streamline in two-dimensional flow is
dx dy

u v
Substituting the x and y component of velocities in the equation of streamline, we have
dx dy
2

xt 2 xyt
dx dy
or, 2 
x y
Integrating the above equation, one can write
2ln x   ln y  ln C
whereC is integration constant
ln x 2 y  ln C
or, x2 y  constant
The equation of streamline is x2 y  constant

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QUESTION 3:
The velocity field in a fluid flow is given by
V  x 2tiˆ  2 xytjˆ  2 yztkˆ
The acceleration of a fluid particle at (2,-1, 1) at t  1s will be
(a) 12iˆ  28 ˆj  6kˆ
(b) 12iˆ  28 ˆj  14kˆ
(c) 20iˆ  28 ˆj  6kˆ
(d) 20iˆ  28 ˆj  14kˆ

Correct Answer: c

Detailed Solution:

Acceleration is given by
DV V
a
Dt

t
 
 V . V

Here, V  x 2tiˆ  2 xytjˆ  2 yztkˆ

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V
 x 2iˆ  2 xyjˆ  2 yzkˆ
Hence, t

V . V   u x  v y  w z V

 
    
  u  v  w   x 2tiˆ  2 xytjˆ  2 yztkˆ 
 x y z 
     
 u 2 xtiˆ  2 ytjˆ  v 2 xtjˆ  2 ztkˆ  w 2 ytkˆ
 x t  2 xtiˆ  2 ytjˆ   2 xyt  2 xtjˆ  2 ztkˆ   2 yzt  2 ytkˆ 
2

 2 x3t 2iˆ  6 x 2 yt 2 ˆj   4 xyzt 2  4 y 2 zt 2  kˆ

Finally, the acceleration field can be expressed as
a  x 2iˆ  2 xyjˆ  2 yzkˆ  2 x3t 2iˆ  6 x 2 yt 2 ˆj   4 xyzt 2  4 y 2 zt 2  kˆ
  x2  2 x3t 2  iˆ   2 xy  6 x 2 yt 2  ˆj   2 yz  4 xyzt 2  4 y 2 zt 2  kˆ
The acceleration vector at the point (2,-1, 1) and at time t  1 s can be found by substituting the
values of x,y,z and t in the above expression as
a   22   2  23 12  iˆ   2  2  1  6  22   1 12  ˆj

 2  11  4  2  11 12   4  1 1 12   kˆ

2
 
ˆ
 20iˆ  28 ˆj  6k

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QUESTION 4:
Given an unsteady temperature field T   xy  z  3t  K and unsteady velocity field
V  xyi  zj  5tk , what will be the rate of change of temperature of a particle at a
point  2, 2,1 at the time t=2s will be
(a) 3 K/s
(b) 1 K/s
(c) 4 K/s
(d) 23 K/s
Correct Answer: d

Detailed Solution: Material derivative of temperature is

DT T T T T
 u v w
Dt t x y z
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 3   xy  y    z  x    5t 1
 3  xy 2  xz  5t K/s
The rate of change of temperature of a particle at a point (2,-2,1) at the time t=2s is
DT
 3   2  2    2 1  5  2  =23 K/s
2

Dt  2,2,1

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QUESTION 5: The velocity components for a flow field are given as

u  ax , v  ay , w  0 .
The rate of volumetric deformation of a fluid element for the above velocity field will be
(a) a
(b) a
(c) 0
(d) 2a
Correct Answer: c

Detailed Solution: Rate of linear deformation along x-direction

u
 xx  a
x
Rate of linear deformation along y-direction
v
 yy   a
y

Rate of volumetric deformation

 vol   xx   yy  a  a  0

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QUESTION 6:
u v w
The condition    0 ( .V  0 , where V is the velocity vector)
x y z

(a) is not valid for unsteady, incompressible flows

(b) is valid for incompressible flows whether the flow is steady or unsteady
(c) is valid for steady flow, whether compressible or incompressible
(d) is valid for ideal fluid flow only
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Correct Answer: b

Detailed Solution:

1 D
For incompressible flow, the rate of volumetric dilation per unit volume ( ) of a fluid
 Dt
u v w
element in motion is zero. That is   0
x y z
u v w
Thus, the continuity equation    0 ( .V  0 , where V is the velocity vector)is
x y z
valid for incompressible flows both for steady and unsteady flow.

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QUESTION 7:
Streamline, pathline and streakline are always identical when
(a) the flow is uniform
(b) the flow is steady
(c) the flow velocities do not change steadily with time
(d) the flow is unsteady but uniform
Correct Answer: b

Detailed Solution: Streamline, pathline and streakline are always identical when the flow is
steady.
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QUESTION 8:
V
The material acceleration ( a   V V ) is always zero for a
t
(a) steady flow
(b) steady and uniform flow
(c) unsteady and uniform flow
(d) unsteady and non-uniform flow.
Correct Answer: b
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Detailed Solution:

The material acceleration is always zero for a steady and uniform flow.
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QUESTION 9:
A Pitot-static probe can often be seen protruding from the underside of an airplane (as shown in
figure). As the airplane flies, the probe measures relative wind speed. This measurement
process (relative to the aeroplane) is

(a) A Lagrangian approach.

(b) A combination of Lagrangian and Eulerian approach.
(c) An Eulerian approach.
(d) Cannot be stated since the airplane is flying.
Correct Answer: c

Detailed Solution:

Relative to the airplane, the probe is fixed and the air flows around it. We are not following
individual fluid particles as they move. Instead, we are measuring a field variable at a particular
location in space relative to the moving airplane. Thus this is an Eulerian measurement.

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QUESTION 10:
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In a Lagrangian description, the position of a fluid particle in a flow is described as x  x0e kt and
y  y0ekt where t is the time while x0 , y0 , are position of the particle at t  0 and k is a
constant. In Eulerian description the flow is
(a) unsteady but depends on the initial location
(b) steady
(c) cannot be ascertained
(d) unsteady
Correct Answer: b

Detailed Solution:

For steady flow the velocity components have to be independent of time. Now in the Lagrangian
description the velocity components are:
dx
Here u p   x0 (k )e kt and
dt
dy
vp   y0 (k )e kt .
dt
(u p , v p ) basically describes a pathline.

Now to get the Eulerian velocity components u( x, t ), v( x, t ) , we have to

eliminate the initial position parameters.

Thus u  kx and v  ky .

Thus the flow field in the Eulerian description is steady.

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QUESTION 11:
The flow field in the previous problem is
(a) incompressible and irrotational
(b) compressible and irrotational
(c) compressible and rotational
(d) incompressible and rotational
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Correct Answer: a

Detailed Solution:

Checking for incompressiblity:

u v
  k  k  0. Thus incompressible.
x y

Checking for irrotationality

u v
  0  0  0 . Thus irrotational.
y x

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QUESTION 12:
For a two dimensional incompressible flow field given by u  A( xiˆ  yjˆ) , where A  0 , which

one of the following statements is TRUE?

(a) Its streamlines are circular .
(b Its streamlines are hyperbolic
(c) Its streamlines are given by x  y

(d) Its streamlines are parabolic .

Correct Answer: b

Detailed Solution:

dx dy
Streamline equation is 
u v
dx dy
or 
Ax  Ay

dx dy
or, 
x y

integrating we get ln( x)   ln( y)  ln(c) or , xy  constant

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QUESTION 13:
x ˆ y ˆj . Now identify the
For a 2-D flow, the velocity field is u  i 2
x y
2 2
x  y2

correct statements from below:

(i) The flow is incompressible
(ii) The flow is unsteady
y
(iii) y-component of acceleration is, a y 
( x  y 2 )2
2

( y  x )
(iv) z-component of acceleration is, ax  .
( x 2  y 2 )2

(a) (1)
(b) (2) and (3)
(c) (3)
(d) (1) and (2)
Correct Answer: a

Detailed Solution:

x y
. u , v 2
x y
2 2
x  y2
Clearly the flow field is steady. Thus it will only have the spatial components of acceleration and no
temporal component.

u u x
Hence ax  u v  2
x y ( x  y 2 )2

v v y
and a y  u v  2
x y ( x  y 2 )2

u v 2 x 2 1 2 y 2 1
Now   2  2  2  2  0 . Thus incompressible.
x y ( x  y ) ( x  y ) ( x  y ) ( x  y 2 )
2 2 2 2 2

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QUESTION 14:
An idealized incompressible flow has the proposed three-dimensional velocity distribution
V  2 xy 2iˆ  f ( y) ˆj  zy 2 kˆ . What will be the appropriate form of the function f ( y) which
satisfies the incompressibility condition?

(a) f ( y)  3 y3  constant

(b) f ( y)  2 y  constant

(c) f ( y)  y 3  constant

y3
(d) f ( y )    constant
3
Correct Answer: c

Detailed Solution:

The velocity components are u  2 xy 2 , v  f ( y), w   zy 2

u v w
Incompressibility:   0
x y z

df
2 y 2   y2  0
dy
df
or ,  3y2
dy
or , f  y 3  constant

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QUESTION 15:
 b
The velocity components of a flow in polar components are given as Vr  k cos( ) 1   and
 r2 

 b
V  k sin( ) 1  2  . The flow field will be
 r 

[Given: The divergence of a two-dimensional vector f in cylindrical polar coordinates reads:

1  1 f 
(rf r )  .
r r r  
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(a) Unsteady, incompressible

(b) Steady, compressible

(c) Unsteady, compressible

(d) Steady, incompressible

Correct Answer: d

Detailed Solution:

Incompressibility condition in polar coordinates:

1  1 V
(rVr )  0
r r r 
Plugging in the given expressions for velocity components in the above equation, we see that the
incompressibility condition is satisfied. Hence the flow field will be steady and incompressible.

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