Cain Department of Chemical Engineering

210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road

Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

Lec 01 ChE 7130-Transprot Phenomena Spring 2024

Recommended Text book: Bird, B. R. et al., Transport Phenomena, John Wiley (2007).
[ISBN13: 978-0470115398]

See the extensive reading list in the course outline document.

From Bird, Stewart & Lightfoot (2007)

Watch the video by GI Taylor on “Low Reynolds number Hydrodynamics”. There is a link to
this and other videos on Moodle for this course.
Watch the video on Powers of Ten.
 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

Importance of fluid mechanics in chemical manufacturing

Increasing vapor flow rate

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 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

Definitions and concepts (See also Wiki):

• Fluid mechanics is the study of how fluids move when subjected various forces on them.
(Fluids include liquids and gases.)
• Fluid mechanics can be divided into fluid statics, the study of fluids at rest, and fluid
dynamics, the study of fluids in motion.
• It is a branch of continuum mechanics, a subject which models matter without using the
information that it is made out of atoms.
• Fluid mechanics is an active field of research with many unsolved or partly solved
problems.
• Fluid mechanics can be mathematically complex. Sometimes it can best be solved by
numerical methods, typically using computers. A modern discipline, called
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is devoted to this approach to solving fluid
mechanics problems.
• Experimental Fluid Dynamics (EFD) attempts to understand the physics of fluids by
observations and measurements of actual systems. Laser Doppler anemometer, Particle
Image velocimetry, Hot wire anemometer are devices used to measure detailed velocity
fields in complex flows at high spatial and temporal resolutions.

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 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

After viewing the following GI Taylor video do the following TPS exercise:
LowRe_Kinematics.wmv
• Explain the mechanism underlying the observation, What is happening and why?
• When will this kind of behaviour not happen?

Units and measures and on scales

To appreciate the phenomena observed in the Universe on different scales (from astrophysics to
particle physics) see the video entitled Powers of 10. I have put a copy on Moodle. You can find
more information in Wiki also. See also the website
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/

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 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

(from where I have captured the following video)

Next view the video on powers of 10. Do the following TPS exercise:
PowersOF10.wmv
• What is the meaning of a point?
Δ𝑓𝑓 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
• In the definition, lim Δ𝑥𝑥 = 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑, what does Δ𝑥𝑥 → 0 mean?
Δ𝑥𝑥→0
• Can you think of water as a continuum?
• Can you think of a galaxy as a continuum?

On what scale do we study Transprot phenomena?

1. On molecular scale one can use statistical mechanics or molecular dynamics approach.
2. On continuum scale we lose such detailed definitions, but instead talk of a fluid particle
or a fluid element as a collection of molecules.

Molecular Dynamics simulations study events, interaction between molecules and can predict the
average behavior, while in continuum mechanics we have to capture the effect of those events
through phenomenological models. See for example the book by Daan Frenkel and B. Smit,
Understanding Molecular Simulation - From Algorithms to Applications, 2nd Edition, Elsevier
(2001). [ISBN: 978-0-12-267351-1].
You need description of molecular interactions, due to electron cloud interactions. A typical
example is given below as a interaction energy potential (Leonard-Jones potential being one
common example).

Continuum Postulate: The mathematical limit of a point going to zero occurs on a scale that
remains large compared to molecular dimensions.

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 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

When we talk of velocity at a point, the point is not of zero dimension, but is large enough to
have many molecules and we talk of average velocity of all those molecules.
𝜆𝜆
The Knudsen number is a dimensionless number defined as: 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 = 𝐿𝐿

Where λ = mean free path [L1]

L = representative physical length scale [L1]

Continuum Postulate is valid if 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 << 1

Relationship to continuum mechanics

Fluid mechanics is a sub discipline of continuum mechanics, as illustrated in the following table.

Elasticity: which describes materials that return

to their rest shape after an applied stress.
Solid mechanics: the
study of the physics of
continuous materials with Plasticity: which
describes materials that
Continuum a defined rest shape.
permanently deform Rheology: the study of
mechanics the
after a large enough materials with both
study of the physics
applied stress. solid and fluid
of continuous
characteristics
materials
Fluid mechanics: the Non-Newtonian fluids
study of the physics of
continuous materials
which take the shape of
Newtonian fluids
their container.

In a mechanical view, a fluid is a substance that does not support shear stress; that is why a fluid
at rest has the shape of its containing vessel. A fluid at rest has no shear stress.

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 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

Constitutive models – empirical in nature

𝒒𝒒𝑚𝑚 = −𝑘𝑘𝑚𝑚 𝛁𝛁C

• This is an empirical equation – called Ficks law for mass transfer.
• 𝒒𝒒𝒎𝒎 has the units of flux, 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘/𝑚𝑚2 𝑠𝑠. Transported quantity is a scalar, the flux is a vector
• It captures what happens on molecular level by a macroscopic relationship.
• It introduces a new parameter 𝑘𝑘𝑚𝑚 that must be determined experimentally
• 𝑘𝑘𝑚𝑚 is property of the material, called the diffusion coefficient.

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 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

• Its units should be derived such that the defining equation remains dimensionally
homogeneous.

Similarly for heat transfer we have Fourier’s law of heat conduction, an empirical equation as,
𝒒𝒒 = −𝑘𝑘𝛁𝛁𝑇𝑇
2
• Here 𝒒𝒒 is the heat flux, 𝐽𝐽/𝑚𝑚 𝑠𝑠.
𝜕𝜕𝜕𝜕
• It can be represented in index notation as, 𝑞𝑞𝑖𝑖 = −𝑘𝑘 𝜕𝜕𝑥𝑥 , 𝑖𝑖 is called the free index.
𝑖𝑖
• Note that concentration and temperatures are scalars. But velocity is a vector. That can
complicate the form of the constitutive relation. But the molecular processes that
equalizes concentration or temperature also equalizes momentum.

𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝜌𝜌 𝑑𝑑(𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌) 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑

𝜏𝜏 = 𝜇𝜇 = = 𝜈𝜈
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝜇𝜇 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
This is called the Newton’s law of viscosity,
Here 𝜇𝜇 is called the dynamic velocity (𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘/𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚) and 𝜈𝜈 is kinematic viscosity (𝑚𝑚2 /𝑠𝑠).
Since there are three components of velocities in three spatial directions, there are nine
possible gradients that one can define. So the most general linear relation that we can
write between shear stress, 𝝉𝝉 and the rate of strain 𝛁𝛁𝒗𝒗 is more complicated.

Also note that although physical evidence suggests that the linear relation is adequate for
heat and mass transfer processes, for flow phenomena, non-linear behaviour is also quite
common, depending on the nature of the fluid.

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 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

Non-Newtonian behaviour

Rheopectic Apparent viscosity increases with duration of stress Some lubricants

Time-dependent
viscosity
Some Clays, Some Drilling Mud, synovial
Thixotropic Apparent viscosity decreases with duration of stress
fluid, Honeyunder certain conditions

Dilatant Apparent viscosity increases with increased stress Suspensions of corn starch or sand in water

Shear-stress-
dependent viscosity
Shear Paper pulp in water, latex paint, blood plasma,
Apparent viscosity decreases with increased stress
thinning syrup, molasses

Stress depends on normal and shear strain rates and also

Generalized Newtonian fluids Blood, Custard
the pressure applied on it

Surface tension:
At a gas/liquid (vapor/liquid) interface, the nature of molecular interactions is different as
compared to similar interactions between molecules in the bulk. [Why?]

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 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

This creates an effective force that we call surface tension. How do we model this?
Young-Laplace equation provides a model.

Another way of looking at this is as a force balance as follows.

(𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑖 − 𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑜 )𝜋𝜋𝑅𝑅 2 = 𝛾𝛾2𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋
2𝛾𝛾
(𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑖 − 𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑜 ) =
𝑅𝑅

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 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

Summary:
• Note that invocation of the continuum postulate necessitates the introduction of
phenomenological models such as Newton’s law of viscosity, Fourier’s law of heat
conduction, Fick’s law of diffusion, Young-Laplace model for surface tension etc.
• In each case there is a new property that is introduced which must be measured
• Molecular dynamics simulation can predict such properties!
• But molecular dynamic simulation, in turn, requires force field description for describing
the interaction between molecules.

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 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

Fluid Statics:

Although pressure is force per unit area and hence has a direction and magnitude, pressure at a
point is the same in all directions. It always acts normal to a surface.

Force balance in x-direction yields,

𝑝𝑝1 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 − 𝑝𝑝3 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = 0
But 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠. Therefore, 𝑝𝑝1 = 𝑝𝑝3 as the volume shrinks to zero.

Force balance in z-direction yields,

1
−𝑝𝑝1 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 − 𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 + 𝑝𝑝2 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = 0
2
1
But 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐. Above simplifies to, 𝑝𝑝1 − 𝑝𝑝2 + 2 𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = 0
As volume shrinks to zero (a point), gravity term drops out. We get 𝑝𝑝1 = 𝑝𝑝2
Thus pressure is isotropic.

𝑝𝑝𝑥𝑥 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 − 𝑝𝑝𝑥𝑥+𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = 0

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 Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
210 Chemical Engineering, South Stadium Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
K. Nandakumar
Phone (Office): +1 225 578 2361, Cell: +1 225 278 7174, e-mail: nandakumar@lsu.edu

Divide by𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 and take the limit of 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 → 0. We get,

𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
=0
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
Similarly in y-direction, we get
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
=0
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
In the 𝑧𝑧 direction,
𝑝𝑝𝑧𝑧 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 − 𝑝𝑝𝑧𝑧+𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 − 𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌 = 0
Divide by 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 and take the limit of 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 → 0. We get,
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
= −𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
Its generalization in 3D is
∇𝑝𝑝 = −𝜌𝜌𝒈𝒈
If 𝜌𝜌 and 𝑔𝑔 are constant, then we can integrate the above equation to get pressure distribution in
vertical direction as, 𝑝𝑝 = 𝑝𝑝0 − 𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌 𝑧𝑧.

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