Fluids

• A fluid is a collection of molecules that are randomly arranged

and held together by weak cohesive forces and by forces
exerted by the walls of a container.
• Fluids can only exert compressive forces in objects immersed
within them. They cannot exert shearing forces on surfaces as
solids do.

• Both liquids and gases are

fluids.
 Pressure
• If an object is submerged in a static
fluid it experiences compressive
forces from all sides.
• The force exerted by the fluid on
the object is always perpendicular
to the surfaces.
• The pressure P of the fluid at the
level to which the object has been
submerged is the ratio of the force
to the area

F
P
A
 Pressure, cont
• Pressure is a scalar quantity because it is
proportional to the magnitude of the force.
• If the pressure varies over an area, we can
evaluate the infinitesimal forces dF on an
infinitesimal surface of area dA by the
relation:
dF = P dA
• Unit of pressure is pascal (Pa); 1 Pa = 1 N/m2
 Pressure vs. Force
• Note that pressure is a scalar and force is a
vector quantity.
• There is no direction associated with pressure
but the direction of the force producing the
pressure is perpendicular to the surface on
which the pressure acts.
 Example 1
• A horizontal surface of area 5.00 m2 in a fluid
experiences a uniform force of 10.00 N. What
is the pressure applied by the fluid on this
surface?
• Solution:
P = F/A = 10.00 N / 5.00 m2 = 2.00 Pa
 Density
• One of the most important quantities when studying
fluids statics is density.
• Density is defined as the mass per unit volume of the
substance, ρ = m/v
• The values of density for a substance vary slightly
with temperature since volume is temperature
dependent.
• The various densities indicate the average molecular
spacing in a gas is much greater than that in a solid
or liquid
Density Table
 Variation of Pressure with Depth
• Fluids have pressure that varies with depth
• If a fluid is at rest in a container, all portions of the fluid
must be in static equilibrium
• All points at the same depth must be at the same
pressure
– Otherwise, the fluid would not be in equilibrium
 Pressure and Depth
• Consider a liquid of density ρ at rest as
shown. Examine the darker region, a
sample of liquid within a cylinder
– It has a cross-sectional area A
– Extends from depth d to d + h
below the surface
• Three external forces act on the
region;
– Downward force on the top, P0A
– Upward on the bottom, PA
– Gravity acting downward, Mg
M  V   Ah
All these forces are directed vertically
as denoted by the unit vector j in the
diagram
 Pressure and Depth, final
• Since the net force must be zero for fluids at rest:

 F  PAˆ
j  Po Aˆ
j  Mgˆ
j
This chooses upward as positive
• Solving for the pressure and substituting for mass M
gives
P = P0 + gh

• The pressure P at a depth h below a point in the liquid at

which the pressure is P0 is greater by an amount gh
 Atmospheric Pressure
• If the liquid is open to the atmosphere, and P0
is the pressure at the surface of the liquid,
then P0 is atmospheric pressure
• P0 = 1.00 atm = 1.013 x 105 Pa
 Example 2
• A cube of side 2 cm is immersed in water in an
open container so that its top surface, which is
held horizontal, is 5 cm below the water
surface. What is the difference in pressure
between its top and bottom surfaces?

Pt
Pb
 Solution
Pressure at the top surface is:
Pt = P0 + gh = 1 atm + (1000 x 9.8 x 0.05)
= 101790 Pa
Pb = P0 + g(d+h) = 1 atm + (1000 x 9.8 x 0.07)
= 101986 Pa
Difference in pressure = Pb - Pt = gd (d is
height of cube)
= 101986 - 101790 = 196 Pa
 Pascal’s Law
• The pressure in a fluid depends on depth and
on the value of P0
• An increase in pressure at the surface must be
transmitted to every other point in the fluid
• This is the basis of Pascal’s law
 Pascal’s Law, cont
• Named after French scientist Blaise Pascal who first
recognized the concept
• The Pascal’s Law states that a change in the pressure
applied to a fluid is transmitted undiminished to
every point of the fluid and to the walls of the
container
• This can be expressed by the relation below:
P1  P2
F1 F2

A1 A2
 Pascal’s Law, Example
• Consider the diagram of a
hydraulic press (right)
• A large output force can be
applied by means of a small
input force
• Because the liquid is neither
added nor removed, the
volume of liquid pushed
down on the left must equal
the volume pushed up on the
right
 Pascal’s Law, Example cont.
• Since the volumes are equal,

A1x1  A2x2

• Combining the equations gives, (A = F/P, and

P is same at the same level)
F1x1  F2 x2
which means Work1 = Work2

This shows that the concept does not violate the law
of conservation of energy
 Example 4
• A hydraulic press has a
piston of diameter 7
cm on the effort side
and 50 cm on the load
side. What force is
required to lift a car
with a mass of 2
tonnes?
 Solution
Load = F2 = 2000kg x 9.8 N/kg = 19600 N
A2 area of load piston = 1963.5 cm2.
A1 area of effort piston = 38.48 cm2.

Effort = F1 = F2 (A1/A2) = 384.2 N.

 Pressure Measurements:
Barometer
• We frequently need to measure gas pressure such
as pressure inside gas bottles, pressure in vehicle
tyres or atmospheric pressure.
• Atmospheric pressure is measured by an
instrument called a barometer.
• A mercury column barometer is shown.
• It consists of a long closed tube filled with mercury
and inverted in a dish of mercury
– The closed end is nearly a vacuum
• It measures atmospheric pressure as Po = Hggh
• One 1 atm = 760 mm (of Hg)
 Pressure Measurements:
Manometer
• A manometer is a device used for
measuring the pressure of a gas
contained in a vessel
• One end of the U-shaped tube is open
to the atmosphere
• The other end is connected to the
pressure to be measured
• As the gas pressure is same as pressure
at point A, which is equal to the
pressure at point B, the pressure of the
gas is measured by determining the
Pressure at B which is P = P0+ρgh
 Absolute vs. Gauge Pressure
• Note that the total pressure P = P0 + gh is
the pressure due to liquid column plus the
atmospheric pressure.
• P is called the absolute pressure
• P – P0 is the gauge pressure
– This is also gh
– This is what you measure in your tires
 Buoyant Force
• Have you ever tried pushing a beach ball down under
water? See diagram below. Yes, it is really difficult
because there is a large force exerted by the water on
the ball. The upward force exerted by the fluid on any
immersed object is called a buoyant force.
 Buoyant Force, cont
• The buoyant force is the resultant force due to
all forces applied by the fluid surrounding the
parcel.
• It is a consequence of the difference in
pressure in the fluid due to its depth h.
• Archimedes’s principle basically follows this
concept .
 Archimedes’s Principle
• Archimedes was a Greek
mathematician, physicist and
engineer. He computed ratio of
circle’s circumference to diameter,
calculated volumes of various
shapes, and discovered the nature
of buoyant force.

• Archimedes’s Principle states that

the magnitude of the buoyant
force always equals the weight of
the fluid displaced by the object.
Archimedes
– scientists with the beard
https://www.famousscientists.org
/top-10-scientists-beards/
 Archimedes’s Principle, proof
• Consider a cube fully immersed in a
fluid as shown.
• The pressure at the top of the cube
causes a downward force of Ptop A
• The pressure at the bottom of the cube
causes an upward force of Pbot A
• B = (Pbot – Ptop) A (Pbot – Ptop = fluid gh we
= fluid ghA obtained earlier)
= fluid g Vobject
= Mg = weight of fluid displaced
M = mass of fluid displaced since Vobject
= Vfluid
 Archimedes's Principle: Totally
Submerged Object
• For an object totally submerged in a fluid of
density fluid the upward buoyant force is
B = fluid g Vfluid = fluid g Vobject

• The downward gravitational force is

Fg = Mg = obj g Vobj

• The net force is B - Fg = (fluid – obj) g Vobj

For a sunk object, obj> fluid, therefore net force is neg.

 Archimedes’s Principle: Totally
Submerged Object, cont
• If the density of the object is less
than the density of the fluid, the
unsupported object accelerates
upward
• If the density of the object is
more than the density of the
fluid, the unsupported object
sinks
• The direction of the motion of an
object in a fluid is determined
only by the densities of the fluid
and the object
 Archimedes’s Principle:
Floating Object
• Suppose the object is in static equilibrium.
That is the upward buoyant force is balanced
by the downward force of gravity.
• The volume of the fluid displaced corresponds
to the volume of the object beneath the fluid
level.
 Archimedes’s Principle:
Floating Object, cont
• The fraction of the volume
of a floating object that is
below the fluid surface is
equal to the ratio of the
density of the object to
that of the fluid.
• This is left for you to prove
as an exercise.
• Remember B = Fg for
floating objects.
 Archimedes’s Principle,
The Crown Example
• Archimedes was asked to determine whether
a crown made for the king consisted of pure
gold. According to legends, he solved the
problem by weighing the crown first in air and
then in water.
• Crown’s weight in air = 7.84 N
• Weight in water (submerged) = 6.84 N
• The buoyant force equals the apparent weight
loss.
 Archimedes’s Principle, Crown
Example, cont.
• SF = B + T2 – Fg = 0
• B = Fg – T2
(Weight in air – “weight” in water)
• Archimedes’s principle says
B = Ρw gVc (Vc = Vw)
• Using this equation volume of
the crown V is determined.
• To determine if the crown is
pure gold he then calculates its
density crown = mcrown in air / V
• The king has ordered you to
calculate the density of the
crown, can you?
 Archimedes’s Principle, Iceberg
Example
• An iceberg floating in seawater is
extremely dangerous because most of
the ice is below the surface. This hidden
ice can damage a ship that is still a
considerable distance from visible ice.
What fraction of the iceberg lies below
the water level? Go over this yourself!!

• The iceberg is only partially submerged

and so
Vseawater disp / Vice = ice / seawater applies
(weight/mass of sea water disp. =
weight/mass of ice)
• The fraction below the water is the ratio
of the volumes (Vseawater / Vice)
 Archimedes’s Principle, Iceberg
Example, cont
• Vice is the total volume of the iceberg
• Vseawater is the volume of the water displaced

• This will be equal to the volume of the iceberg

submerged

• About 89% of the ice is below the water’s surface

Fluid Dynamics: Types of Fluid Flow
• So far we have considered properties of fluids at
rest. The study of fluids in motion is called fluid
dynamics.
• Fluid flow can be either laminar or turbulent.
• Laminar flow is characterized as follows:
– Steady flow.
– Each particle of the fluid follows a smooth path.
– The paths of the different particles never cross each other.
– Every given fluid particle arriving at a given point has the
same velocity.
– The path taken by the particles is called a streamline.
 Types of Fluid Flow – Turbulent
• Turbulent flows are characterized by:
– An irregular flow characterized by small whirlpool-
like regions.
– Turbulent flow occurs when the particles go above
some critical speed.
 Viscosity
• Viscosity characterizes the degree of internal
friction in a fluid.
• This internal friction, viscous force, is
associated with the resistance that two
adjacent layers of the fluid have to moving
relative to each other.
• It causes part of the kinetic energy of a fluid to
be converted to internal energy
 Ideal Fluid Flow
• Because the motion of real fluids is very complex and still not
fully understood, we will make simplifying assumptions in our
approach.
• There are four assumptions made to the complex flow of
fluids to make the analysis easier
(1) The fluid is non-viscous – internal friction is neglected
(2) The flow is steady – the velocity of each point remains
constant
(3) The fluid is incompressible – the density remains constant
(4) The flow is irrotational – the fluid has no angular
momentum about any point
• Such fluid flow is called ideal fluid flow.
 Equation of Continuity
• The first law that we can establish
for ideal fluid flow is called the
equation of continuity.
• Consider a fluid moving through a
pipe of non-uniform size as shown.
• The particles move along
streamlines in steady flow.
• The fluid mass that crosses A1 in
some time interval is the same as
the mass that crosses A2 in that
same time interval.
 Equation of Continuity, cont
• Q1 (mass flow rate at point 1) = Q2 (mass flow rate at
point 2)
m1 / Δt = m2 / Δt
V1 / Δt = V2 / Δt
A1 Δx1 / Δt = A2 Δx2 / Δt
A1v1 = A2v2 (v = Δx/Δt = velocity)
• Since the fluid is incompressible,  is a constant it is
cancelled in the expression and we are left with:
A1v1 = A2v2
– This the equation of continuity for fluids
– The product of the cross-sectional area and the fluid speed at all
points along a pipe is constant for an incompressible fluid
 Equation of Continuity, Implications
• The equation of continuity implies that:
– The speed is high where the tube is constricted (small A)
– The speed is low where the tube is wide (large A)
– The product, Av, is called the volume flux or the flow rate
– Av = constant is equivalent to saying the volume that enters one end
of the tube in a given time interval equals the volume leaving the
other end in the same time if no leaks are present

• You usually demonstrate the equation of continuity every

time you water your garden with your thumb over the end of
a garden hose. By partially blocking the opening with your
thumb, you reduce the cross-sectional area through which the
water passes. As a result the speed of the water increases as it
exits the hose, and the water can be spread over a longer
distance.
 Example 5
• A water hose with a diameter of 5 cm at one
end has a nozzle of diameter 1 cm fitted at the
other end. If the speed of the water at the first
end (hose end) is 1.5 m/s, what is:
a) the volume flow rate at the first end?
b) The speed of the water at the nozzle?
 Solution
a) Volume flow = A1v1 = πr12 v1
= π × 0.0252 x 1.5 = 2.95 × 10-3 m3/s

b) A1v1 = A2v2  v2 = 2.95 × 10-3 m3/s /A2 =

37.60 m/s
A2 = π(5 × 10-3)2 = 7.85 × 10-5 m2
 Bernoulli’s Equation
• The motion of fluid within a pipe is related to the
pressure, speed and height of the pipe.
• As a fluid moves through a region where its speed
and/or elevation above the Earth’s surface changes,
the pressure in the fluid varies with these changes.
• The relationship between fluid speed, pressure and
elevation was first derived by Daniel Bernoulli and is
now known as the Bernoulli’s equation.
 Bernoulli’s Equation, 2
• Consider the two shaded
segments of fluid flow as shown.
• The volumes of both segments
are equal.
• Work done at point 1 and 2

• The net work done on the

segment is W =(P1 – P2) V.
• Part of this work goes into
changing the kinetic energy and
some to changing the
gravitational potential energy.
 Bernoulli’s Equation, 3
• The change in kinetic energy:
K = ½ mv22 - ½ mv12
– There is no change in the kinetic energy of the
unshaded portion since we are assuming
streamline flow
– The masses are the same since the volumes are
the same
 Bernoulli’s Equation, 4
• The change in gravitational potential energy:
U = mgy2 – mgy1
• The work also equals the change in energy
• Combining the equations give:

(P1 – P2)V = ½ mv22 - ½ mv12 + mgy2 – mgy1

 Bernoulli’s Equation, 5
• After rearranging and expressing mass in terms of density
we obtain:
P1 + ½ v12 + gy1 = P2 + ½ v22 + gy2

• This is Bernoulli’s Equation and is often expressed as

P + ½ v2 + gy = constant

• When the fluid is at rest, this becomes P1 – P2 = gh

which is consistent with the pressure variation with
depth we found earlier
 Bernoulli’s Equation, Final
• The general behavior of pressure with speed is
true even for gases
– As the speed increases, the pressure decreases
 Example 6
• A tall cylindrical water tank of height 2 m has a
tap at its bottom to draw water from. The tank
is open at the top. Assuming the speed at
which the water level at the top falls when the
tap is open is negligible, estimate the speed
with which water runs from the open tap.
 Solution
• We use Bernoulli’s equation:
P1 + ½ v12 + gy1 = P2 + ½ v22 + gy2
• Take point 1 to be at the top of the tank and point 2
at the opening of the tap at the bottom.
• P1 = P2 = Po = 1 atm since both ends are open.
• v1 = 0 by our assumption and y2 = 0 taking heights
from the bottom of the tank.
• The equation reduces to:
Po + 0 + gy1 = Po + ½ v22 + 0
v2 = (2gy1)1/2 = 6.26 m/s
 Applications of Fluid Dynamics
• Streamline flow around a moving
airplane wing. Its aerodynamic shape
causes the winds to be faster on
above producing a lower pressure
than below.
• The Lift is the upward force on the
wing from the air and is a
consequence of the pressure
difference between the top and the
bottom of the wings.
• Drag is the resistance
• The lift depends on the speed of the
airplane, the area of the wing, its
curvature, and the angle between
the wing and the horizontal
 Lift – General
• In general, an object moving through a fluid
experiences lift as a result of any effect that
causes the fluid to change its direction as it
flows past the object
• Some factors that influence lift are:
– The shape of the object
– The object’s orientation with respect to the fluid
flow
– Any spinning of the object
– The texture of the object’s surface
 Atomizer
• In an atomizer a stream of air
passes over one end of an
open tube as shown.
• The other end is immersed in
a liquid.
• The moving air reduces the
pressure above the tube.
• The fluid rises into the air
stream and is dispersed into a
fine spray of droplets