Fluid properties

Any fluid has different properties which can be summarized as follow:

1- Density, 

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑘𝑔
It is the mass per unit volume, 𝜌= =
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑚3

Density in liquids is nearly constant (incompressible fluids); the density

of water (about 1000 kg/m3) increases only 1 percent if the pressure is
increased by a factor of 220. The heaviest common liquid is mercury
(Mercury:  ≅ 13600 kg/m3)

Density is highly variable in gases (compressible fluids) and increases

nearly proportionally to the pressure level. The lightest gas is hydrogen
(Hydrogen:  = 0.0838 kg/m3 at atmospheric conditions). The density of
air at atmospheric conditions =1.205 kg/m3

2- Specific volume, 𝒗

𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑚3
It is the volume per unit mass, 𝑣 = = = 1⁄𝜌
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑘𝑔

3- Specific weight, 𝜸

𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑁
It is the weight per unit volume, 𝛾= =
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑚3

Since, 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 × 𝑔; then,

𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 × 𝑔
𝛾= = = 𝜌𝑔
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
 𝛾𝑤 = 𝜌𝑤 𝑔 = 9.81 × 1000 𝑁⁄𝑚3

𝛾𝑚 = 𝜌𝑚 𝑔 ≅ 9.81 × 13600 𝑁⁄𝑚3

4- Specific gravity (density ratio), S

It is the weight of a volume of a liquid to the weight of an equal volume

of water at 4 Co,

𝑉×𝜌×𝑔 𝛾 𝜌
𝑆= = =
𝑉 × 𝜌𝑤 × 𝑔 𝛾𝑤 𝜌𝑤

𝑆𝑤 = 1

𝑆𝑚 = 13.6

If Soil=0.9, then

𝜌𝑜𝑖𝑙 = 𝑆𝑜𝑖𝑙 × 𝜌𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 0.9 × 1000 = 900 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚3

𝛾𝑜𝑖𝑙 = 𝜌𝑜𝑖𝑙 . 𝑔 = 900 × 9.81 𝑁 ⁄𝑚 3

5- Vapor pressure, Pvap

It is the absolute pressure at or below which the liquid will be turned into
vapor. It is function of the type of liquid and its temperature,

𝑃𝑣𝑎𝑝 = 𝑓(𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑒, 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒)

It is called saturation temperature in thermodynamics science since 2

phases will start to appear.
6- Viscosity

The viscosity of the fluid is the frictional resistance of the fluid to the
motion (flow under shearing forces). Or, it is a property that represents
the internal resistance of a fluid to motion or to the fluidity. This
resistance force is called the frictional force, the drag force, the
shearing force or the viscous force.

To understand better this property:

Consider a fluid between two parallel plates with gap thickness (t). The
lower plate is fixed and the upper is moving with velocity (U) by the
shearing force (F).

For no slipping conditions, the fluid

layers will take the velocity of the
boundary contact surfaces.

𝑢=0 𝑎𝑡 𝑦 = 0

𝑢=𝑈 𝑎𝑡 𝑦 = 𝑡

So, the velocity distribution of the fluid layers will be as shown (it
increases from zero at fixed plate to max. velocity U at the upper plate
with assumed linear velocity distribution)

As a result of this velocity distribution, the fluid in the area abcd will
move to position ab'c'd (after period of time dt). It is deformed with
angular deformation d.

From experiment, we can find that:

1
𝐹 ∝ 𝐴, 𝐹 ∝ 𝑈, 𝐹∝
𝑡
 𝑈
So, 𝐹∝𝐴
𝑡

𝑈
And, 𝐹=𝜇𝐴
𝑡

A is the area of the moving plate

𝜇 is the dynamic (absolute) viscosity coefficient

We can write the above equation as,

𝐹 𝑈
=𝜇
𝐴 𝑡
𝐹
is the shear stress, 𝜏
𝐴

𝑈
is the angular velocity of the line, (ab)
𝑡

𝑈 𝑑𝜃
is the rate of angular deformation,
𝑡 𝑑𝑡

𝑈 𝑑𝜃
is the rate of strain (angular strain), , since
𝑡 𝑑𝑡

𝑏𝑏′
𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝜃 = 𝑑𝜃 = = 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛
𝑎𝑏

𝑈
Also, is the slope of the linear velocity distribution to the y axis, in
𝑡
𝑑𝑢
general (to be valid for any velocity distribution) this slope is equal to
𝑑𝑦

So, the above equation is written as:

𝑑𝑢
𝜏=𝜇
𝑑𝑦
rate of strain
Shear stress
Dynamic viscosity coefficient
 It is the Newton's law of viscosity. According to
this law, the fluids are classified into two main
groups:

- Newtonian fluids, the fluids that have linear

relationship between the shear stress and the
rate of strain, 𝜇 = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡
- Non- Newtonian fluids, the fluids that have
non-linear relationship between the shear stress
and the rate of strain, 𝜇 ≠ 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡

Rheological behavior of various

viscous materials:stress versus
strain rate
Dimensions of :

𝑑𝑢
𝜏=𝜇
𝑑𝑦

𝑁 𝑚
= 𝜇
𝑚2 𝑚𝑠

𝑁
𝜇= 𝑠 = 𝑃𝑎. 𝑠
𝑚2

Other units are,

𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑒
𝜇= 𝑠 = 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑒 = 0.1 𝑃𝑎. 𝑠
𝑐𝑚2

Centipoise=0.01 poise

Kinematic viscosity, 

It is the ratio of the dynamic viscosity coefficient to the mass density.

𝑁
𝜇 (𝑚2 𝑠) 𝑁 𝑚3 𝑘𝑔. 𝑚2 𝑠 𝑚2
𝜈= = = 2𝑠× = 2 =
𝜌 𝑘𝑔 𝑚 𝑘𝑔 𝑠 𝑘𝑔 𝑠
( 3)
𝑚

Another unit is,

𝑐𝑚2
𝜈= = 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑘𝑒
𝑠

Effect of temperature on viscosity

The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its “stickiness” or “resistance to

shear.” It is due to the internal frictional force that develops between
different layers of fluids as they are forced to move relative to each other.
Viscosity is caused by the cohesive forces between the molecules in
liquids, and by the molecular collisions in gases, and it varies greatly
with temperature. The viscosity of liquids decreases with temperature,
whereas the viscosity of gases increases with temperature. This is
because in a liquid the molecules possess more energy at higher
temperatures, and they can oppose the large cohesive intermolecular
forces more strongly. As a result, the energized liquid molecules can
move more freely.

In a gas, on the other hand, the

intermolecular forces are negligible, and
the gas molecules at high temperatures
move randomly at higher velocities. This
results in more molecular collisions per
unit volume per unit time, and therefore in
greater resistance to flow. The viscosity of
a fluid is directly related to power needed
to transport a fluid in a pipe or to move a
body (such as a car in air or a submarine
in the sea) through a fluid.

Effect of pressure on the viscosity can be neglected. It is the case of

dynamic and kinematic viscosity for the liquids. For gases, the dynamic
viscosity is not affected; but the kinematic viscosity is affected because
the density of gases is affected by the pressure.
Example: Determining the Viscosity of a Fluid

The viscosity of a fluid is to be measured by

a viscometer constructed of two 40-cm-long
concentric cylinders. The outer diameter of
the inner cylinder is 12 cm, and the gap
between the two cylinders is 0.15 cm. The
inner cylinder is rotated at 300 rpm, and the
torque is measured to be 1.8 N.m. Determine
the viscosity of the fluid.

Solution:

𝑑𝑢
𝜏=𝜇
𝑑𝑦

For linear velocity distribution,

𝑑𝑢 𝑈 𝜔𝑅
= =
𝑑𝑦 𝑡 𝑡

𝐹 𝜔𝑅
=𝜇
𝐴 𝑡

𝐹 𝜔𝑅
=𝜇
2𝜋𝑅𝐿 𝑡

𝑇 (𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑞𝑢𝑒) = 𝐹. 𝑅

𝑇 𝜔𝑅
= 𝜇
2𝜋𝑅2 𝐿 𝑡

2𝜋𝑛
𝜔=
60

𝑇 𝜔𝑅
= 𝜇
2𝜋𝑅2 𝐿 𝑡
 𝑇 2𝜋𝑛𝑅
= 𝜇
2𝜋𝑅2 𝐿 60𝑡

60 𝑡 𝑇 60 × 0.0015 × 1.8
𝜇= = = 0.158 𝑃𝑎. 𝑠
4𝜋 2 𝑅3 𝐿 𝑛 4𝜋 2 (0.06)3 × 0.4 × 300