FLUID KINEMATICS

BY
GP CAPT NC CHATTOPADHYAY
 Fluid Kinematics

 Velocity Field

 Continuity Equation
 Fluid Kinematics

What is fluid kinematics?

 Fluid kinematics is the study on fluid motion in

space and time without considering the force
which causes the fluid motion.

 According to the continuum hypothesis the

local velocity of fluid is the velocity of an
infinitesimally small fluid particle/element at a
given instant t. It is generally a continuous
function in space and time.
 Velocity Field
 Eulerian Flow Description

 Lagrangian Flow Description

 Streamline

 Pathline

 Streakline
 In the Eulerian Method

 The flow quantities, like p,u,T,ρ are

described as a function of space and time
without referring to any individual identity
of the fluid particle (ALL PARTICLES ARE
CONSIDERED)
 Streamline
 A line in the fluid whose tangent
at a point is parallel to the
instantaneous velocity vector at
a given instant t. So, the tangent
indicates the velocity at that
point.
 The family of streamlines at time
t are solutions of dx/ u= dy/v=
dz/w (so, the equations of
stream lines are……..)
 Where u,v,w are functions of
x,y,z,t and u,v,w are velocity
components in the respective
direction
 TYPES OF FLOW
 Steady flow : the streamlines are fixed in
space for all time. d(k)/dt=0 (NO CHANGE
W.R.T. TIME)

 Unsteady flow : the streamlines are changing

from instant to instant. d(k)/dt=0
 Flow Dimensionality
 Most of the real flows are
3-dimensional and unsteady : u (x,y,z,t)
 For many situations simplifications can be
made :
2-dimensional unsteady and steady flow
u (x,y,t)
1-dimensional unsteady and steady flow
u (x,t)
 In the Lagrangian Method
 The flow quantities are described for each
individually identifiable fluid particle moving
through flow field of interest. The position of the
individual fluid particle is a function of time.
(STUDY OF EACH PARTICLE IS CUMBERSOME)
 Pathline
 A line traced by an
individual fluid
particle : r(t)

 For a steady flow

the path lines are
identical with the
streamlines.
 Streakline
 A streak line consists of all fluid
particles in a flow that have
previously passed through a
common point. Such a line can
be produced by continuously
injecting marked fluid (smoke
in air, or dye in water) at a
given location. (locus of particles at
a particular station)
 For steady flow : The
streamline, the path line, and
the streak line are the same.
 Stream-tube and Continuity
Equation

 Stream-tube

 Continuity
Equation of a
Steady Flow
 Stream-tube

 Is the surface formed

instantaneously by all the
streamlines that pass through a
given closed curve in the fluid.
 DEFINITIONS
 LAMINAR: FLOW IS LAMINAR IFPARTICLES
MOVE IN DEFINED LAYERS IN DEFINED PATH,(NO
CROSSING OF LAYERS, flow on ac skin)

 TURBULENT: PARTICLES MOVE IN A ZIG-

ZAG WAY (PARTICLES CROSS EACH OTHER/ LAYERS,
high speed flow in pipe)
 DEFINITIONS
 ROTATIONAL: PARTICLES ROTATE ABOUT
OWN AXIS (FLOW NEAR SOLID BOUNDARY, ROTATING
TANK)

 IRROTATIONAL : PARTICLES MAINTAIN

SAME ORIENTATION (FLOW ON LOW SPEED
AEROFOIL)
 STREAM FUNCTION &
VELOCITY POTENTIAL FUNCTION
 STREAM FUNCTION (Ψ) A FUNCTION IN THE 2 D FLOW
FIELD WHOSE DERIVATIVES REPRESENT VELOCITIES ALONG
RESPECTIVE AXES. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO NEIGHBOURING
STREAM FUNCTIONS INDICATE VOLUMETRIC FLOW i.e. Ψ1 – Ψ2
= VOL THROUGH THE STREAM LINES.
ALSO, u = ∂ ψ/∂ y and v= - ∂ Ψ/∂ x,

 VELOCITY POTENTIAL FUNCTION (Φ) A SCALER

FUNCTION WHOSE NEGATIVE DERIVATIVES REPRESENT
RESPECTIVE VELOCITIES. IT INDICATES IRROTATIONAL OR
P0TENTIAL FLOW. MATHEMATICALLY,
u = - ∂ Φ /∂ x and v = - ∂ Φ /∂y, w = - ∂ Φ/∂z
 DEFINITIONS
 Continuity
 Matter cannot be created or
destroyed - (it is simply changed
in to a different form of matter).
This principle is know as the
conservation of mass and we use
it in the analysis of flowing
fluids.
 The principle is applied to fixed
volumes, known as control
volumes For steady flow -
Mass entering per unit time
= Mass leaving per unit time
 CONTINUITY
A liquid is flowing from left to right
and the pipe is narrowing in the
same direction. By the continuity
principle, the mass flow rate must
be the same at each section - the
mass going into the pipe is equal to
the mass going out of the pipe. So
we can write
 Continuity Equation of
a Steady Flow
 For a steady flow the stream-tube formed
by a closed curved fixed in space is also
fixed in space, and no fluid can penetrate
through the stream-tube surface, like a
duct wall.
 Considering a stream-tube of cylindrical cross sections A1 and A2
with velocities u1 and u2 perpendicular to the cross sections A1 and A2
and densities 1 and  2 at the respective cross sections A1 and A2
and assuming the velocities and densities are constant across the
whole cross section
A1 and A2 , a fluid mass closed between cross
u1  dtdtand
section 1 and 2 at an instant t will be moved after a time interval byu2  dt
to the cross section 1’ and 2’ respectively.
Because the closed mass between 1 and 2 must be the same between 1’
and 2’, and the mass between 1’ and 2 for a steady flow can not change
from t and t+dt, the mass between 1 and 1’ moved in dt, i.e 1 A1 u1 dt
must be the same as the mass between 2 and 2’ moved in the same time dt
i.e  2 A2 u2 dt :
• Therefore the continuity equation of steady flow :
1 A1 u1   2 A2 u2

Interpretation : The mass flow rate m   A u  const.

through a steady stream-tube or a duct.
• For incompressible fluid with 1   2 :
A1 u1  A2 u2

Interpretation : The volume flow rate V  A u  const.

• From the continuity equation for incompressible fluid :

u1 A
 2
u2 A1 for a stream-tube.
CONTINUITY OF FLOW
 DISCHARGE
 Discharge and
mean velocity
 If we know the size of a pipe,
and we know the discharge,
we can deduce the mean
velocity AS Um= Q/A
Discharge in a pipe
 If the area of cross section of
the pipe at point X is A, and
the mean velocity here is Um.
During a time t, a cylinder of
fluid will pass point X with a
volume Q. The volume per
unit time (the discharge) will
thus be
 DEFINITIONS
 Mass flow rate – MASS/ TIME

• Volume flow rate – (Discharge)

Simply called flow rate The symbol normally used for discharge is Q. The
discharge is the volume of fluid flowing per unit time. Multiplying this by
the density of the fluid gives us the mass flow rate. Consequently, if the
density of the fluid for example is 850 and time is 1 sec for 0.857 cubic m
 Derivation of the Continuity Equation

 Let’s start with a small, fixed volume of fluid

somewhere in the middle of a flow stream.
This elemental volume has sides of lengths Dx,
Dy and Dz (see Figure 1).
  

The rate of mass entering a face is the product of

the density, the fluid velocity and the face area.
For example, on the side facing the reader, the
density (r) is multiplied by the velocity in the x
direction (u) and the area of the face Dy Dz. Thus,
the mass flux entering the volume through this
face is
 CONTINUITY EQUATION
 The mass leaving the volume on the opposite side of the volume is
again the product of density, velocity and area, but the density and
velocity may have changed as the fluid passed through the volume.
We will express these changes as small quantities (since our volume
is small enough), i.e., ρ+ Δ ρ and u + Δ u. The mass flux leaving that
face is thus

 Performing the same analysis on the mass entering the

volume through the other faces of the volume gives us

 Similarly, the mass fluxes leaving the volume on the opposite faces are


 CONTINUITY EQUATION
 All of these added together must equal
the mass of fluid accumulating in the
volume,

 Putting all of these together,

we have
 CONTINUITY EQUATION

 Multiplying out the quantities in parentheses results in the cancellation

of some terms and the appearance of higher-order terms such as Δρ, Δu
Δx Δy Δz . Since the quantities preceded by Δ are very small, products of
these quantities will be extremely small, depending on the number of Δ
terms included in the product. The terms with four of these will be much
smaller than the terms with only three Δ terms. Thus, all higher order
terms are neglected. This leaves

 which, when divided by and rearranged, yields

 CONTINUITY EQUATION

The application of basic calculus (taking the limit as Δt tends to 0) allows us

to write this equation as

The Continuity Equation may be simplified for some common flow situations
as follows. If the fluid may be treated as incompressible (as is the case with
water or in low velocity air flows), the density will be constant. The Continuity
Equation then becomes
 CONTINUITY
 Another example of the
use of the continuity
principle is to determine
the velocities in pipes
coming from a junction.
Total mass flow into the junction
= Total mass flow out of the
junction
r1Q1 = r2Q2 + r3Q3
When the flow is incompressible
(e.g. if it is water) r1 = r2 = r
 PROBLEM
 If pipe 1 diameter = 50mm,
mean velocity 2m/s, pipe 2
diameter 40mm takes 30% of
total discharge and pipe 3
diameter 60mm. What are the
values of discharge and mean
velocity in each pipe?
 Practice numericals
 As discussed