Fluid Mechanics I (ME 214) - Tutorial 4

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
1. Fluid flows steadily through a converging nozzle of length L. Flow can be approximated
as one-dimensional such that the axial velocity varies linearly from entrance to exit.
The velocities at entrance and exit are V0 and 4V0 respectively. Find out an expression
of the acceleration of a particle flowing through the nozzle.

Figure 1
2. A U-tube acts as a water siphon. The bend in the tube is 1 m above the water surface;
the tube outlet is 7 m below the water surface. The water issues from the bottom of the
siphon as a free jet at atmospheric pressure. Determine (after listing the necessary
assumptions) the speed of the free jet and the minimum absolute pressure of the water
in the bend.

Figure 2
3. A piston compresses gas in a cylinder by moving at constant speed V, as in fig. 3. Let
the gas density and length at t = 0 be ρ0 and L0, respectively. Let the gas velocity vary
linearly from u = V at the piston face to u = 0 at x = L. If the gas density varies only
with time, find an expression for ρ(t).

Figure 3
4. Oil, of density ρ and viscosity μ, drains steadily down the side of a vertical plate, as in
fig. 4. After a development region near the top of the plate, the oil film will become
independent of z and of constant thickness δ. Assume that w = w(x) only and that the
atmosphere offers no shear resistance to the surface of the film. Solve the Navier-Stokes
equation for w(x), and sketch its approximate shape.

Figure 4