UNSW SYDNEY

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

T3 2020, ENGG2500 – FLUID MECHANICS FOR ENGINEERS MID-TERM TEST

1. Time allowed: 60 mins

2. Total number of questions: 4
3. Questions are NOT equal value, total marks: 14
4. Answers must be written in ink.
5. Candidate must ensure all calculation procedures are presented clearly and neatly,
including drawing and annotation of diagrams that are necessary to help markers to
understand the presented working steps.
6. Candidate must submit work within the allocated time frame.

QUESTION 1 (4 marks)

A fan-motor unit is used to extract air from a bathroom

whose dimensions are 2 m x 3 m x 3 m. The air velocity
must not exceed 8 m/s within the extraction duct, to
minimise vibration and noise. If the fan is to replace the
entire volume of still air from the bathroom to external of
building (from 1 to 2) in 10 min, determine a) the mass flow
rate of the air, b) the work output that the fan-motor unit needs to provide to achieve the
required mass flow rate of air, c) the efficiency of the fan-motor unit if 2.4 W of electricity is
required to operate the unit, and d) the diameter of the fan casing required. You can take the
air density to be 1.25 kg/m3 and assume that the fan is operating at maximum permissible
velocity.

QUESTION 2 (4 marks)

A car is mounted onto a square platform, with four 5-cm diameter nozzles attached to all four
corners. A water jet with a maximum 20-m/s velocity can be produced from each nozzle. The
car, the platform and the nozzles have a combined mass of 150 kg. Determine (a) the weight
of the car (b) the minimum water jet velocity needed to raise the car setup. Assuming the
maximum jet velocity is used, determine (c) the thrust force involved, and (d) time required to
raise the car setup to reach 10m height.

Page 1
QUESTION 3 (3 marks)

The water in a 25-m-deep reservoir is kept inside by a 200-m-wide wall whose cross section
is an equilateral triangle, as shown in the figure below. Determine (a) the area of the inclined
wall that is submerged under water, (b) the total force (hydrostatic + atmospheric) acting on
the inner surface of the wall, and (c) the line of action of the total force (cited as distance from
the free water surface). You can assume that the atmospheric pressure as 100 kPa.

QUESTION 4 (3 marks)

A 5-m-long, 4-m-high tank contains 2.5-m-deep water when not in motion and is open to the
atmosphere through a vent in the middle. The tank is now accelerated to the right on a level
surface at 2 m/s2. Assuming that the water within the water tank behaves like a rigid body,
determine the (a) the angle of the free surface relative to the horizontal axis, (b) the maximum
water level relative to the bottom of the tank, and (c) the maximum pressure in the tank,
acting at the bottom surface of the tank, relative to the atmospheric pressure.

Page 2 of 2
 T3 2020, ENGG2500 – FLUID MECHANICS FOR ENGINEERS MID-TERM TEST
SOLUTION

QUESTION 1

(a)

𝑉 2𝑚 × 2𝑚 × 3𝑚
𝑉̇ = = = 0.03 𝑚2 /𝑠
∆𝑡 10 × 60𝑠

𝑚̇ = 𝜌𝑉̇ = 1.25𝑘𝑔/𝑚3 × 0.03𝑚2 /𝑠 = 0.0375 𝑘𝑔/𝑠

(b)

𝑃1 𝑉12 𝑃2 𝑉22
𝑚̇ ( + ̇
+ 𝑔𝑧1 ) + 𝑊𝑝𝑢𝑚𝑝 = 𝑚̇ ( + + 𝑔𝑧2 ) + 𝑊̇𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑒 + 𝐸̇𝑚𝑒𝑐ℎ,𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠
𝜌 2 𝜌 2

𝑉22 (8𝑚/𝑠)2
𝑊̇𝑓𝑎𝑛 = 𝑚̇ = (0.0375𝑘𝑔⁄𝑠) = 1.2 𝑊
2 2

(c)

𝑊̇𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 1.2
𝜂= = = 0.5
𝑊̇𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐 2.4

(d)

𝜋𝐷2
𝑉̇ = 𝐴𝑉
⃑ = ⃑
×𝑉
4

𝐷 = 0.069 𝑚
QUESTION 3

(a)

𝐴 = 𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ × 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟

25𝑚
= 200𝑚 ×
sin 60°
= 5773.5 𝑚2

(b)

25𝑚
ℎ𝑐 = = 12.5 𝑚
2
𝐹𝑅 = 𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑔 𝐴 = (𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑚 + 𝜌𝑔ℎ𝑐 )𝐴
= (100,000𝑁/𝑚2 + (1000𝑘𝑔/𝑚3 )(9.81𝑚/𝑠 2 )(12.5𝑚)) × 5773.5𝑚
= 1.2857 × 108 𝑁

(c)

𝑏 𝑏2
𝑦𝑝 = 𝑠 + +
2 12 (𝑠 + 𝑏 + 𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑚 )
2 𝜌𝑔 sin 𝜃
28.87𝑚 (28.87𝑚)2
=0+ +
2 28.87𝑚 100,000
12 (0 + + 1000 × 9.81 × sin 60°)
2
= 17.1 𝑚
QUESTION 4

(a)

Since the body is accelerating horizontally, there is no vertical component:

𝑎𝑥 2
tan 𝜃 = = = 0.2039
𝑔 + 𝑎𝑧 9.81 + 0
𝜃 = 11.5° ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙

(b)

Assuming maximum vertical rise occur at the back of the tank, the middle experiences no drop,

∆𝑧
tan 𝜃 =
𝐿/2
𝐿
∆𝑧 = ( ) × tan 𝜃
2
= 2.5𝑚 × tan 11.5°
= 0.510 𝑚
ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑥 = ∆𝑧 + ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙
= 0.510𝑚 + 2.5𝑚
= 3.01 𝑚
𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝜌𝑔ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑥
= 1000𝑘𝑔/𝑚3 × 9.81𝑚/𝑠 2 × 3.01𝑚
= 29.5 × 103 𝑃𝑎