1 BASIC PRINCIPLES, CONCEPTS AND DEFINITION

Essentials of Fluid Mechanics

1.1 Types of Flows

The flow field can be described as steady or unsteady, uniform or non-uniform,
compressible or incompressible, rotational or irrotational, one-, two-, or three-dimensional,
and can also be described as laminar or turbulent. The flow is said to be steady if the velocity
vector at any point in the flow field does not change with time.
Accordingly, the local component of acceleration (alocal) vanishes if the flow is steady. The
flow can also be described as uniform if the velocity vector does not change in the streamwise
direction. For example, the pipe flow shown in Figure 1.1 is uniform since the velocity vector
does not change downstream, but the flow in the bend shown in Figure 1.2 is non-uniform.

Figure 1.1 Laminar flow in a pipe as an example of uniform flow

Figure 1.2 Flow in a 90○ bend as an example of non-uniform flow

 Figure 1.3 One-dimensional flow in a pipe with constriction

The flow is described as incompressible if the density change within the flow field
does not exceed 5%. Accordingly, most of the flows in engineering applications are
incompressible as, for example, flow of different liquids in pipelines and flow of air over a
building. However, compressible flows occur in various applications such as flow in the
nozzles of gas and steam turbines and in high speed flow in centrifugal and axial
compressors. In general, the flow becomes compressible if the flow velocity is comparable
to the local speed of sound. For example, the flow of air in any flow field can be assumed
incompressible up to a Mach number of 0.3.
The flow is called one-dimensional (1-D) if the flow parameters are the same
throughout any cross-section. These parameters (such as the velocity) may change from one
section to another. As an approximation, we may call pipe or nozzle flows 1-D if we are
interested in describing the average velocity and its variation along the flow passage. Figure
1.3 shows an example of 1-D flow in a pipe with constriction. On the other hand, the flow is
called 2-D if it is not 1-D and is identical in parallel planes. For example, the viscous flow
between the two diverging plates shown in Figure 1.4 is two-dimensional. In this case, two
coordinates are needed to describe the velocity field.
If the flow is not 1-D or 2-D, it is then three-dimensional. For example, flow of exhaust
gases out of a smoke stack is three-dimensional. Also, air flow over a car or over an airplane
is three- dimensional

1.2 Some Important Applications

In the case of a pump, the work is done by the prime mover, and the total head developed
by the pump can be obtained by applying Eq. (1.24) between the inlet (1) and exit (2)
sections shown in Figure 1.4 as follows:

H1 + hp = H2 + hL
where hp is the head developed by the pump (hp = − w) and hL is the friction head loss
between sections 1 and 2.
 The rate of doing work by the pump on the fluid, Pf, can be obtained from
Pf = γ Q hp

Figure 1.4 Schematic of a pump, showing the suction and discharge nozzles
The application of Eq. to the case of a hydraulic turbine (Figure 1.4) results in

H1 = H2 + ht + hL
where ht is the work produced by the turbine per unit weight of fluid (ht = w) and hL is the
friction head loss between sections 1 and 2.
The power extracted from the fluid by the turbine will be

Pf = γ Q ht
The application of Eq to the case of flow in a pipe (Figure 1.5) gives

hL = H1 − H2
The power loss in pipe friction can be obtained from

Pfriction = γ Q hL

Figure 1.5 Schematic of flow in a pipe

 The power loss in fluid friction represents a transformation of energy from a useful form
to a less useful form (heat). Accordingly, the heat generation by fluid friction will cause an
increase in the fluid temperature. If we assume a thermally insulated pipe, the increase in
fluid temperature (ΔT) can be obtained from the energy balance as follows:

Pfriction = γ Q hL = m Cp ΔT = ρQCp ΔT
This equation can be simplified to obtain

ΔT = ghL
Cp
The above temperature increase is only appreciable in long pipelines. In long crude oil
pipelines, heat exchangers are used at intermediate stations for cooling the pumped fluid
especially during the summer in hot areas.

1.3 Laminar and Turbulent Flows

In laminar flows, the fluid moves in layers, every layer sliding over the adjacent one.
There is no interchange of momentum due to the movement of fluid particles between
different layers. The only forces between fluid layers are the viscous shear forces in addition
to pressure forces.
On the other hand, turbulent flows are characterized by a high degree of mixing due to
the erratic movement of fluid particles between adjacent fluid layers, as shown in Figure 1.6.
In addition to the viscous and pressure forces, there is a considerable turbulent shear force
arising from the strong interchange of momentum between adjacent layers. In fact, the
turbulent shear stress is much greater than the viscous shear stress in turbulent flows.

Figure 1.6 The velocity profiles in laminar and turbulent flows

1.4 Flow Separation

The main stream may detach (separate) from the body surface as a result of the
positive pressure gradient (∂p/∂x) due to the surface curvature. Separation may cause a
transition to turbulence. The location of the point of separation depends on the flow
Reynolds number, the body shape, and the surface roughness

1.5 Cavitation
Cavitation is a phenomenon that is completely different from flow separation. It refers
to the formation of vapor cavities in liquid flow as a result of the drop in liquid pressure
below the vapor pressure. Cavitation always starts at the point of minimum pressure and it
may cause severe damage in pump impellers and turbine runners due to the accompanying
material erosion. Figure 1.15 shows a typical p–T diagram for a pure substance. In
thermodynamics, the vapor pressure is normally referred to as the saturation pressure, and
it increases with the increase in liquid temperature. At every temperature there is only one
value for the vapor pressure.

1.6 Friction Losses in Pipes and Pipe Fittings

Friction losses in piping systems are normally divided into two parts: major losses and
minor losses. The major losses represent the friction losses in straight pipes while the minor
losses represent the losses in various types of pipe fittings including bends, valves, filters,
and flowmeters.

1.6.1 Major Loses

These losses represent the pipe friction losses and can be calculated using the Darcy–
Weisbach formula which takes the form
where f is the coefficient of friction, D is the pipe internal diameter, L is the pipe length, and
V is the average velocity in the pipe. Up to Reynolds number Re = 2000, the flow can be
considered laminar in normal engineering applications and f can be calculated from f =
64/Re. For values of Re > 2000, the flow can be considered turbulent and the friction
coefficient can be obtained from the Moody chart shown in Figure 1.7. In this case, f depends
on the Reynolds number and the pipe relative roughness and can be expressed as

where ks/D is the relative roughness. In the high Reynolds number range, the friction
coefficient in rough pipes becomes more dependent on the relative roughness.
The variation of the friction coefficient, f, with Re and ks/D is also given in a correlation known
as the Colebrook–White formula that can be written as:

The above formula can be used with reasonable accuracy in computational codes.
Figure 1.16 Friction factor versus Re (Reprinted with minor variations after Moody (1944) with permission from ASME)
cw

3.07x10-4 = 0.000307

4.53x105 = 453 000

TDH = pressure head + velocity head + elevation + head loss

WP = water power = gamma x flow rate x total dynamic head = 50.40378 kW

Pump efficiency = 70%

Motor efficiency = 72.0054kW