Chapter 3: Conservation laws

Conservation of Mass

Process Fluid Flow

(PFF260S)

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 3. Conservation Laws
3.1 System and Control volume

• System:
– closed can exchange energy with its surroundings, but cannot
exchange matter across the boundary.

– Open can exchange both matter (mass) and energy with its
surroundings.
• Control volume: the region of space identified for analysis of open systems

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 3. Conservation Laws
3.2 Conservation of Mass

• The amount of mass in a system is constant- conservation of mass.

• For a closed system: dm

0
dt

• For a control volume: dm  in  m

m  out
dt

 in : Total inlet mass flow rate, in SI units kg/s

m

 out : Total outlet mass flow rate, in SI units kg/s

m

dm
: Rate of change of mass within a control volume (CV)
dt
[accumulat ion of mass inside the control volume]

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 3. Conservation Laws
3.3 The Continuity Equation

• We know that: m  V
(V is the volume in m3).

• For a differential volume: dm  dV

• Integrating: m

cv
dV

• Therefore, accumulation of mass inside a control volume is:


dm d
 dV
dt dt cv

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 3. Conservation Laws
• The mass flow through a differential area dA on the control surface:

m   (v .n )dA   (v cos  )dA



n : The unit vector out of the area

v : The flow velocity

• Net rate of flow of mass through the surface:

 

  (v .n )dA   (v cos  )dA
cs cs

dm
• General conservation of mass:  in  m
m  out
dt
(continuity equation)

 
dV    v cos  dA
d
dt cv cv
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 3. Conservation Laws

• When the density and velocity are continuous:

dm
dt

 ( vA)in 
 ( vA)out
Normal flow at exit: θ = 0°
Normal flow at inlet: θ = 180°

• Or
dm
dt

 
m
in

 
m
out

Where, vA  m
;
v  velocity (m/s)
and, vA  Q (Volumetri c flow rate, m3 / s )

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 3. Conservation Laws

3.4 Continuity Equation - Applications

d 
• Steady state flow: Nothing changes with time   0 
 dt 

• Therefore: dm  m in  m out  0  in  m
 m  out
dt

• For steady flows involving more than one stream of a specific fluid:
𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑡

• If the steady flow is also incompressible (constant density), the net

volume flow rate is also zero:

 Qout 
 Qin  0

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 3. Conservation Laws

3.5 Class examples (Continuity Equation)

3.5.1 Class Exercise

Sea water flows steadily through a simple conical-shaped nozzle at the

end of a fire hose as illustrated in the figure below. If the nozzle exit
velocity must be at least 20m/s, determine the minimum pumping
capacity required in m3/s.

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 3. Conservation Laws

3.5.2 Class Exercise

Air flows steadily between two cross sections in a long, straight section of
0.1-m inside diameter pipe. The static temperature and pressure at each
section are indicated in the figure below. If the average air velocity at
section (1) is 205 m/s, determine the average air velocity at section (2).

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 3. Conservation Laws

3.5.3 Class Exercise

Initially, a tank holds 500kg of salt solution containing 10% salt. At point
(1) a stream enters at a constant flow of 10kg/h containing 20% salt. A
stream leaves at point (2) at a constant rate of 5kg/h. The tank is well
stirred. Determine the weight fraction of the salt in the tank wA after
2hrs.

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 3. Conservation Laws

3.5.4 Class Exercise

A nozzle of cross-sectional area A2 is discharged to the atmosphere and is

located in the side of a large tank, in which the open surface of the liquid
in the tank is H m above the center line of the nozzle. Determine the
height of the liquid in the tank as a function of time.

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 3. Conservation Laws

Syllabus

 Introduction to Fluid Mechanics and its Basic Concepts

 Properties of Fluids
 Pressure and Fluid Statics
• Mass, Momentum and Energy Conservation Equations
• Flow in Pipes
• Losses in Piping System
• Piping Network and Pump Selection

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 References (PFF260S)

• Munson, B. R., Young, D. F., and Okiishi, T. H. 2006.

Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics. 5th ed. Wiley: New York.
• White, F.M. 1998. Fluid Mechanics. 4th edition. McGraw-Hill: New
York.
• Geankoplis. C.J. 1993. Transport Processes and Unit Operations.
Prentice Hall: New Jersey.
• Fox, R.W., McDonald, A.T. & Pritchard, P.J. 2004. Introduction to
Fluid Mechanics. 6th edition. Wiley: New York.
• Holland, F.A. 1995. Fluid Flow for Chem. Engineers. 2nd edition.
Edward Arnold: London.
• Welty, J.R., Wicks, C. E., Wilson, R. E. 2001. Fundamentals of
Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer. 4th ed. John Wiley: New
York.

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 References (PFF260S)

• Cengel, Y.A. & Cimbala, J.M. 2013. Fluid Mechanics:

fundamentals and applications. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Perry, R.H., Green, D.W. & Maloney, J.O. (eds). 1998. Perry’s
chemical engineer’s handbook. 7th ed. McGraw Hill: New York.
• Anderson, J.D. 1995. Computational fluid dynamics: the basics
with applications. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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