34 3 Work, heat and energy

3.2 Flow work

Consider a nozzle that is used to generate a high-speed jet exhaust in an aircraft

engine. A simplified nozzle is a converging duct, where air enters at high pressure
and is accelerated to high velocity. Pressure of the gas decreases in this process and it
is usually called expansion through a nozzle (opposite of compression that increases
the pressure). It is a flow-through device operating under steady state condition,
where fluid continuously enters at station 1 and leaves at station 2, without any
accumulation of mass in the nozzle as shown in figure 3.5 .

P1 2

control volume

control surface

Fig. 3.5 Flow-through a converging duct

The flow is caused by the pressure difference between the inlet and the exit stations.
If we consider the region enclosed by the nozzle as our control volume, then the high
pressure at the entrance (p1 ) pushes the fluid into the nozzle. Let us assume that fluid
of volume dV1 enters the nozzle in a small time dt. If A1 is the cross-sectional area,
then dV1 = A1 ⇤dl1 , where dl1 is the thickness of the slice of fluid matter entering the
nozzle. Now, if we consider an imaginary piston of area A1 displacing the fluid by
distance dl1 in time dt. The displacement work done by the piston is equal to p1 dV1 .
In the absence of our imaginary piston, this work is done by the high pressure fluid
immediately upstream of the inlet station, and is called the flow work the work done
by the fluid itself to drive the flow through the device.

If we write in terms of the specific volume of the fluid, as is done for many flow-
through devices, dV 1 = v1 ⇤ dm, where v1 is the volume per unit mass and dm is the
mass of the fluid entering the CV . Then the flow work done at the inlet is

¯ in = p1 n1 dm
dW (3.2)
3.2 Flow work 35

Similarly, at the outlet, the work done by the fluid inside the control volume to push
a part of the flow out of the nozzle is

¯ out = p2 n2 dm
dW (3.3)

where p2 and v2 are the pressure and specific volume of the fluid at the exit station.
The mass of fluid entering and exiting in time dt is equal to dm at both ends, and this
is a consequence of conservation of mass for a steady state process. In the special
case of incompressible flow, the specific volume or the density of the fluid does not
change appreciably, i.e. v1 = v2 and thus we can show that the volume of the fluid
dV1 = v1 ⇤ dm entering is identical to the volume of the fluid dV2 = v2 ⇤ dm leaving
the control volume.

In general, the flow work in a flow-through device is written as dW f low = p ⇤ v ⇤ dm,

or the flow work per unit mass is simply pv, and we will encounter this at several
places in this course. If we follow the sign convention for work done, the work done
by the fluid in the control volume, i.e. in pushing the flow out at the exit station,
is taken to be positive. By the same logic, the work done by the fluid outside the
control volume that pushes the flow into the nozzle is to be taken negative. The net
flow work per unit mass of the fluid flowing through the nozzle is then

W f low = p2 n2 p1 n1 (3.4)

A simple flow-through device like a nozzle shows an interesting parallel between

the control volume framework and the system/surrounding approach. If we consider
the mass of fluid filling up the nozzle at a given instant of time, and add to it the slice
of fluid that would enter the nozzle in the next dt time interval to make our system
(marked by red dashed line in the figure below). At a later time t + dt, the same fixed
mass of fluid, initially identified as the system, has changed its shape and size, and
has moved with the flow. It now extends downstream of the exit station, in addition
to exactly filling up the space inside the nozzle (identified by the orange line in
the figure 3.6). Now, the work interactions between this system and its surrounding
happens because of the motion of its boundaries. The work done is equal to the
force acting on the bounding surfaces times the distance traveled by the respective
boundary. It is easy to see that the work done at the inlet is equal to that given earlier
in the control volume framework in terms of the pressure, area and distance traveled
by the inlet boundary. Similarly, the work done at the exit station is related to the
pressure exerted by the fluid just upstream of the outlet boundary.
36 3 Work, heat and energy

P1 2

control volume

control surface

1
Moving system
P1 2

control volume

control surface

Fig. 3.6 Flow-through a converging duct like nozzle