Chapter 2

Properties of Fluids
 WHAT IS A FLUID?
Substance exits in three primary phases: solid, liquid, and gas. A
substance in the liquid or gas phase is referred to as a fluid.

• Distinction between a solid and a fluid is made on the basis of the

substance’s ability to resist an applied shear (or tangential) stress
force per unit area) that tends to change its shape.
• Distinction between solid and fluid?
– Solid: can resist an applied shear by deforming but will not
continuously deform.
– Fluid: deforms continuously under applied shear.
 WHAT IS A FLUID?
Stress is defined as force per unit area and is determined by
dividing the force by the area upon which it acts. The normal
component of the force acting on a surface per unit area is called the
normal stress, and tangential component of a force acting on a surface
per unit area is called shear stress. In a fluid at rest, the normal stress
is called pressure.

A fluid at rest is at a state of zero shear stress. When walls are

removed or a liquid container is tiled, a shear develops as the liquid
moves to re-establish a horizontal free surface.
WHAT IS A FLUID?
Liquid
Group of molecules can move relative to each other,
but the volume remains relatively constant because of
strong cohesive forces between the molecules. As a
result, a liquid takes the shape of the container it is in,
and it forms a free surface in a larger container in a
gravitational field.

Gas
Expands until it encounters the walls of the
container and fills the entire available space because
cohesive forces are very small.
Gases cannot form a free surface.
Compressible.
Density not constant with pressure
Gas and vapor are often used as synonymous words
 Properties of Fluids
• Any characteristic of a system is called a property.
– Familiar: pressure P, temperature T, volume V, and mass m.
– Less familiar: viscosity, thermal conductivity, modulus of
elasticity, thermal expansion coefficient, vapor pressure, surface
tension.
• Intensive properties are independent of the mass of the
system. Examples: temperature, pressure, and density.
• Extensive properties are those whose value depends on
the size of the system. Examples: Total mass, total
volume, and total momentum.
• Extensive properties per unit mass are called specific
properties. Examples include specific volume v = V/m
and specific total energy e=E/m.
 Density And Specific Gravity
The density of a substance is the quantity of matter contained in a unit
volume of the substance. It can be expressed in three different ways.

1. Mass Density
• Mass Density, p, (rho), is defined as the mass of substance per unit
volume.
• Units: Kilograms per cubic metre, kg / m3 (or kgm-3 )
• Typical values:
Water = 1000 kgm-3 , Mercury = 13546 kgm-3 Air = 1.23 kgm-3 , Paraffin
Oil = 800 kgm-3 .(at pressure =1.013 x 10-5 N m-2 and Temperature =
288.15 K.)

2.Specific volume
• Is defined as v = 1/= V/m.
• For a gas, density depends on temperature and pressure.
• The density gases is proportional to pressure and inversely proportional
to temperature.
• Unit is m3/kg
3. Specific weight
• Specific Weight  , (sometimes  (gamma),
(gamma) and sometimes known as specific
gravity) is defined as the weight per unit volume.

or

The force exerted by gravity, g, upon a unit volume of the substance.

• The Relationship between g and  can be determined by Newton’s 2nd Law,

since
weight per unit volume = mass per unit volume x g
 = pg
• Units: Newton’s per cubic metre, N/m3(or Nm-3 )

• Typical values:
Water =9814 N m-3 , Mercury = 132943 N m-3 , Air =12.07 N m-3 , Paraffin Oil
=7851 N m-3

4. Specific gravity, or relative density

• Is defined as the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of some
standard substance at a specified temperature (usually water at
4°C), i.e., SG=p/pH20 at 4°C. SG is a dimensionless quantity.
 EXAMPLE 1
Calculate the weight of a reservoir of oil if it has a mass of
825 kg.

Solution
 EXAMPLE 2

5.6m3 of oil weighs 46 800 N. Find its mass density,  , and

relative density, g.

Solution

Weight 46 800 = mg

Mass m = 46 800 / 9.81 = 4770.6 kg

Mass density,  = Mass / volume = 4770.6 / 5.6 = 852 kg/m3

 852
Relative density SG    0.852
 H 2O 1000
 EXAMPLE 3
The density of an oil is 850 kg/m3. Find its relative density and Kinematic
viscosity if the dynamic viscosity is 5 x 10-3 kg/ms.

Solution
 oil = 850 kg/m3
 water = 1000 kg/m3
SGoil = 850 / 1000 = 0.85

Dynamic viscosity = m = 5 x 10-3 kg/ms

Kinematic viscosity =  = / 
 Density of Ideal Gases
• Equation of State: equation for the relationship between
pressure, temperature, and density.
• The simplest and best-known equation of state is the ideal-
gas equation.

P  RT or P  RT
• where P is the absolute pressure, v is the specific volume, T
is the thermodynamic (absolute) temperature, and R is the
constant. The value of R for several substance is given in
Table A-1.
• Ideal-gas equation holds for most gases.
• However, dense gases such as water vapor and refrigerant
vapor should not be treated as ideal gases. Tables should be
consulted for their properties, e.g., Tables A-4 in textbook.
 EXAMPLE 4
Determine the density, specific gravity, and mass of the air in a room whose
dimensions are 4 m x 5 m x 6 m at 100 kPa and 25°C.

The density of air is determined from the ideal-gas relation P  RT

to be

P 100kPa
   1. 17 kg / m 3

RT  
0.287kPa.m 3 / kg.K  25  273 K

Then the specific gravity of air becomes

 1.17kg / m 3
SG    0.00117
 H 2O 1000kg / m3
Finally, the volume and the mass of air in the room are

V   4m  5m  6m   120m 3
  
m  V  1.17kg / m 3 120m 3  140kg
 Viscosity
• Viscosity is a property that represents the internal resistance of a
fluid to motion or the “fluidity”.

•To obtain a relation for viscosity, consider a fluid layer between two very large
parallel plates separated by a distance ℓ. A constant parallel force F is applied to
the upper plate while the lower plate is held fixed. The fluid in contact with the
upper plate sticks to the plate surface and moves with it at the same velocity, and
shear stress acting on this fluid layer is
F

A
Using the no-slip condition,
u(0) = 0 and u(ℓ) = V, the velocity profile and gradient are

y du V
u y   V and 
 dy 
•Shear stress for “Newtonian Fluids” obey the linear relationship given by
Newton’s law of viscosity, du .
  Newtonian
dy
fluids -Fluids for
 is the “coefficient of dynamic viscosity” – see next slide. which the rate of
deformation is
•The shear force acting on a Newtonian fluid layer is proportional to
the shear stress.
du
F  A  A
dy
where A is the contact area between the plate and the fluid

The rate of deformation (velocity gradient)
of a Newtonian fluid is proportional to
shear stress, and the constant of
proportionality is the viscosity.
Variation of shear stress with the
rate of deformation for
Newtonian and non-Newtonian
fluids (the slope of a curve at a
point is the apparent viscosity of
the fluid at that point).
 Coefficient of Dynamic Viscosity
(absolute viscosity)
The Coefficient of Dynamic Viscosity,  , is defined as the shear force, per unit
area, (or shear stress,  ),required to drag one layer of fluid with unit velocity past
another layer a unit distance away.

du Force Velocity Force  Time Mass

    
dy Area Dis tan ce Area Length  Area

Units: Newton seconds per square metre, N sm-2 or Kilograms per meter per
second, kgm-1 s-1 .

(Although note that  is often expressed in Poise, P, where 10 P = 1 kgm-1 s-1 .)

Typical values:
Water =1.14 x10-3 kgm-1 s-1 , Air =1.78 x10-5 kgm-1 s-1 , Mercury =1.552 kgm-1 s-1,
Paraffin Oil =1.9 kgm-1 s-1 .
 Coefficient of Kinematic Viscosity
Kinematic Viscosity, , is defined as the ratio of dynamic viscosity to mass density.

Units: square metres per second, m2 s-1

(Although note that n is often expressed in Stokes, St, where 104 St = 1 m2 s-1 .)

Typical values:
Water =1.14 x 10-6 m2 s-1 , Air =1.46 x 10-5 m2 s-1 , Mercury =1.145 x 10-4 m2 s-1 ,
Paraffin Oil =2.375 x 10-3 m2 s-1 .
 More About Viscosity
The viscosity of liquids decreases
and the viscosity of gases
increases with temperature.
(dynamic & kinematics viscosity)
 Example 5
If the viscosity of a liquid is 0.01 pa.s, find its viscosity in centipoises.

Solution
1 pa.s = 10 poise
1 pa.s = 1000 centipoise

Therefore
1 pa.s
 0.01 pa.s 
1000centipoise
 10centipoise
 Example 6
The density of an oil is 850 kg/m3. Find its relative density and Kinematic
viscosity if the dynamic viscosity is 5 x 10-3 kg/ms.

Solution

oil = 850 kg/m3  water = 1000 kg/m3

SG
oil
= 850 / 1000 = 0.85

Dynamic viscosity =  = 5x 10-3 kg/ms

Kinematic viscosity =  =  / 
 Example 7
The velocity distribution of a viscous liquid (dynamic viscosity  = 0.9 Ns/m2)
flowing over a fixed plate is given by u = 0.68y - y2 (u is velocity in m/s and y is
the distance from the plate in m).
What are the shear stresses at the plate surface and at y=0.34m?

Solution

At the plate face y = 0m,

 Calculate the shear stress at the plate face

At y = 0.34m,

As the velocity gradient is zero at y=0.34 then the shear stress must also be zero.
 Example 8
In a fluid the velocity measured at a distance of 75mm from the boundary is
1.125m/s. The fluid has absolute viscosity 0.048 Pa s and relative density 0.913.
What is the velocity gradient and shear stress at the boundary assuming a linear
velocity distribution.

Solution
= 0.048 Pa s
 = 0.913
 Example 9
For a parallel plate arrangement of the type shown in slide 14, it is found that
when the distance between plates is 2 mm, a shearing stress of 150 Pa
develops at the upper plate when it is pulled at a velocity of 1 m/s. Determine
the viscosity of the fluid between the plates.

Answer:
 Example 10
A 25-mm-diameter shaft is pulled through a cylindrical bearing as
shown in above. The lubricant that fills the 0.3-mm gap between
the shaft and bearing is an oil having a kinematic viscosity of 0.8 x
10^-4 m^2/s and specific gravity of 0.91. Determine the force P
required to pull the shaft at a velocity of 3 m/s. Assume the velocity
distribution in the gap is linear.
Answer:
VISCOMETRY

• How is viscosity measured?

A rotating viscometer.
– Two concentric cylinders with
a fluid in the small gap ℓ.
– Inner cylinder is rotating,
outer one is fixed.
MEASUREMENT OF VISCOSITY
T  FR
du
F  A  A
dy
V
F  A A  2RL
l V  R
  2n

4 R n L
2 3
T 

 Example 11
The space between two 40-cm-long concentric cylinders is filled with glycerin
(viscosity = 0.158 N.s/m^2). The inner cylinder has a radius of 11 cm and the
gap width between cylinder is 0.15 cm. Determine the torque and power
required to rotate the inner cylinder at 300 rev/min. The outer cylinder is fixed.
Assume the velocity distribution in the gap to be linear.
 Surface Tension
Examples
Water droplets from rain hang from
branches or leaves of trees (Picture)
 WHAT IS SURFACE TENSION
• The cohesive forces between molecules down into a liquid are
shared with all neighboring atoms. Those on the surface have no
neighboring atoms above, and exhibit stronger attractive forces
upon their nearest neighbors on the surface. This enhancement of
the intermolecular attractive forces at the surface is called
surface tension.
 Capillary Effect
Capillary effect: The rise or fall of a liquid in a small-diameter tube inserted into the
liquid.
Capillaries: Such narrow tubes or confined flow channels.
The capillary effect is partially responsible for the rise of water to the top of tall trees.
Meniscus: The curved free surface of a liquid in a capillary tube.
The strength of the capillary effect is
quantified by the contact (or wetting)
angle, defined as the angle that the
tangent to the liquid surface makes with
the solid surface at the point of contact.

The meniscus of colored water in a

4-mm-inner-diameter glass tube.
Note that the edge of the meniscus
meets the wall of the capillary tube
The contact angle for wetting and at a very small contact angle.
nonwetting fluids.
A liquid is said to wet the surface when Ø<90° and not to wet the surface
when Ø>90°. In atmospheric air, the contact angle of water (and most
other organic liquids) with glass is nearly zero, Ø≈0°.

When the attractive forces are between unlike molecules, they are said to be
adhesive forces. The adhesive forces between water molecules and the
walls of a glass tube are stronger than the cohesive forces (attraction
between like molecules) lead to an upward turning meniscus at the walls of
the vessel and contribute to capillary action.
 Vapor Pressure
The pressure at which a liquid will boil is called its vapor pressure. This pressure is
a function of temperature (vapor pressure increases with temperature). In this
context we usually think about the temperature at which boiling occurs.

For example, water boils at 100C at sea-level atmospheric pressure (1 atm abs).
However, in terms of vapor pressure, we can say that by increasing the temperature
of water at sea level to 100C, we increase the vapor pressure to the point at which it
is equal to the atmospheric pressure (1 atm abs), so that boiling occurs.

It is easy to visualize that boiling can also occur in water at temperatures much
below 100°C if the pressure in the water is reduced to its vapor pressure. For
example, the vapor pressure of water at 10°C is 0.01 atm.

Therefore, if the pressure within water at that temperature is reduced to that value,
the water boils. Such boiling often occurs in flowing liquids, such as on the suction
side of a pump or tip regions of impellers. When such boiling does occur in the
flowing liquids, vapor bubbles start growing in local regions of very low pressure
(high velocity) and then collapse in regions of high downstream pressure (low
viscosity). This phenomenon is called as cavitation. Cavitations must be avoided
(or at least minimized) in most flow systems since it reduces performances,
generates annoying vibrations and noise, and causes damage to equipment.