CHAPTER 1

Session 1
INTRODUCTION
Learning outcome
At the end of this chapter and having
completing the essential readings and
activities, the students should be able to:
• Have clear understanding of historical
background of biofluid mechanics
• Explain fluid and properties of fluid
1.1 History of Biofluid
Mechanics
People have written about the circulation of
blood for thousands of years.

Huang Ti
• lived in China from about 2700 to 2600
BC
• wrote one of the first works dealing with
circulation
Hippocrates
• lived in Greece around 400 BC
• The first to separate medicine from magic
Cont.

Aristotle
• lived in Greece between 384 and 322 BC
• He wrote that the heart was the focus of
blood vessels, but did not make a
distinction between arteries and veins
Praxagoras
• The first Greek physician to Recognize
the difference between arteries (carriers
of air, as he thought) and veins (carriers
of blood).
Cont.

Hippocrates. Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine

Images from the History of Medicine
State of Matter

Solids Liquids Gases

Definite Shape No definite Shape No Definite Shape

Definite Volume Definite Volume No Definite Volume

High Density Mid to High Density Low Density

Slightly Slightly Highly compressible

compressible compressible
Cont.

Particle level classification

• Distance between the particles

• Force of attraction between the particles

• Kinetic energy of the particles
 ?
Cont.

Sponge is solid but

1 why it is
compressible?
1.2 Fluid and fluid
properties
• Movement of gas or liquid (collectively
called ‘fluid’) is called the ‘flow’, and the
study of this (the action of forces on fluids)
is ‘fluid mechanics’.

• Fluid mechanics
1. Fluid statics: Which treats fluids in the
equilibrium state

2. Fluid dynamics: Which treats when

portions of fluid are in motion relative to
other parts.
Properties of Fluid
1)Density
• Density is defined as the mass per unit
volume of a substance
• Denoted by the Greek character ρ (rho)
• The SI units for ρ is kg/m3
• The average density of blood is 1060
kg/m3
Cont.

2) Specific weight
• Specific weight is defined as the weight
per unit volume of a substance.
• The specific weight considers how the
gravitation constant can effect the
weight of a fluid
• The SI units for specific weight are
N/m3.
Cont.

3) Specific Gravity(Relative Density)

• The specific gravity is used to compare
the density of a fluid to the density of
water. 
• This is done by taking the ratio the
density of the fluid in relation to water. 
• The resulting ratio will be unit less. 
Cont.

What does it tell us?

Cont.

4) Specific Volume
• Sometimes specific volume will be used
to related an objects mass to its
volume. 
• This, however, is just the reciprocal of
density
Cont.
• From ideal gas equation and The Universal
Gas Constant, Ru

• From ideal gas equation and

The Individual Gas Constant - r

p = absolute pressure [N/m2]

V = volume [m3]
m = mass [kg]
r = individual gas constant [J/kg K] depends on the particular gas and the
Molar mass
T = absolute temperature [K]
n = is the number of moles of the gas present
R = universal gas constant [J/mol K] = 8.3145 [J/mol K]= 0.08206 [L atm/mol
K]
Sample Problem 1

The specific weight of water at ordinary

pressure and temperature is 9.81 kN/m3.
The specific gravity of mercury is 13.56.
Compute
A. The density(g/mL) of water
B. The specific weight of mercury (kN/m3)
C. Density of mercury(Mg/m3).
g=9.81m/s2
Sample Problem 2
• What is the density (in g/L) of a sample of
so2 at 932mmhg and 65 ° c (R=0.0821
L.atm/k.mol ),(Ms=32.1g/mol, Mo=16
g/mol)
Sample Problem 3

A gas has a density of 2.1 g/L at STP. What

is
A. It’s specific weight(N/m3)
B. specific gravity
C. specific volume(m 3 /kg)
D. Molar mass.
(ρwater= 1000kg/m3 )
G=10m/s2
Sample Problem 4

The body of a man whose weight is 690N

contains about 5.2x10-3 m3 of blood
A. Find the blood’s Weight
B. Express it as percentage of body weight
use density of blood as 1060kg/m3 and
g=9.8m/s2