ME 3301: Fluid Mechanics I

(Week 6: Part 2)

Kamran Nazir
Department of Mechanical Engineering
National University of Technology

Spring 2021
Chapter 4: Fluid Kinematics

Lagrangian and Eulerian Descriptions

Fundamentals of Flow Visualization
Plots of Fluid Flow Data
Other Kinematic Descriptions
The Reynolds Transport Theorem
Types of Studies in Fluid Mechanics
• Experimental
• Numerical
• Analytical
Flow Visualization
• Stream Line
A streamline is a curve that is everywhere tangent
to the instantaneous local velocity vector

A streamtube consists of a bundle of streamlines

Flow Visualization
• Path Line
• A pathline is the actual path traveled by an
individual fluid particle over some time period.
Flow Visualization
• Streak Lines
A streakline is the locus of fluid particles that have
passed sequentially through a prescribed point in
the flow.

Streaklines produced by colored fluid introduced

upstream; since the flow is steady, these streaklines are
the same as streamlines and pathlines.
PLOTS OF FLUID FLOW DATA
• Profile Plots
A profile plot indicates how the value of a scalar
property varies along some desired direction in
the flow field.
PLOTS OF FLUID FLOW DATA
• Vector Plots
A vector plot is an array of arrows indicating the
magnitude and direction of a vector property at
an instant in time.
PLOTS OF FLUID FLOW DATA
• Contour Plots
A contour plot shows curves of constant values of
a scalar property (or magnitude of a vector
property) at an instant in time.
Contour Plots