1 Fluids in motion

1.1 Units and dimensions

Mass, length and time are commonly used primary units, other units
being derived from them. Their dimensions are written as M, L and T
respectively. Sometimes force is used as a primary unit. In the Syst~me
International d'Unit~s, commonly known as the SI system of units, the
primary units are the kilogramme kg, the metre m, and the second s. A
number of derived units are listed in Table I.I.

1.2 Description of fluids and fluid flow

1.2.1 Continuumhypothesis
Although gases and liquids consist of molecules, it is possible in most cases
to treat them as continuous media for the purposes of fluid flow
calculations. On a length scale comparable to the mean free path between
collisions, large rapid fluctuations of properties such as the velocity and
density occur. However, fluid flow is concerned with the macroscopic
scale" the typical length scale of the equipment is many orders of
magnitude greater than the mean free path. Even when an instrument is
placed in the fluid to measure some property such as the pressure, the
measurement is not made at a point--rather, the instrument is sensitive to
the properties of a small volume of fluid around its measuring element.
Although this measurement volume may be minute compared with the
volume of fluid in the equipment, it will generally contain millions of
molecules and consequently the instrument measures an average value of
the property. In almost all fluid flow problems it is possible to select a
measurement volume that is very small compared with the flow field yet
contains so many molecules that the properties of individual molecules are
averaged out.
2 FLUID FLOW FOR CHEMICAL ENGINEERS

Table 1.1
i i

Relationship to
Quantify Derived unit Symbol primaryunits
Force newton N kg m/s 2
Work, energy, joule J Nm
quantity of heat
Power watt W J/s = N m/s
Area square metre m2
Volume cubic metre m3
Density kilogramme per cubic kg/m 3
metre
Velocity metre per second m/s
Acceleration metre per second per m/s 2
second
Pressure pascal, or newton per Pa N/m 2
square metre
Surface tension newton per metre N/m
Dynamic viscosity pascal second, or Pa s N s/m 2
newton second per
square metre
Kinematic viscosity square metre per m%
second

It follows from the above facts that fluids can be treated as continuous
media with continuous distributions of properties such as the pressure,
density, temperature and velocity. Not only does this imply that it is
unnecessary to consider the molecular nature of the fluid but also that
meaning can be attached to spatial derivatives, such as the pressure
gradient dP/dx, allowing the standard tools of mathematical analysis to be
used in solving fluid flow problems.
Two examples where the continuum hypothesis may be invalid are low
pressure gas flow in which the mean free path may be comparable to a
linear dimension of the equipment, and high speed gas flow when large
changes of properties occur across a (very thin) shock wave.

1.2.2 Homogeneityand isotropy

Two other simplifications that should be noted are that in most fluid flow
problems the fluid is assumed to be homogeneous and isotropic. A