Basics of Mechanical

Engineering (Part–A)
GAURAV KUMAR

RESEARCH SCHOLAR

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

UNIT-4
Properties and Classification of Fluids
Ideal & real fluids, Newton’s law of viscosity
Pressure at a point, Pascal’s law, Pressure variation in a static fluid
General description of fluid motion, stream lines, continuity equation, Bernoulli’s equation,
Steady and unsteady flow.

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Introduction
Mechanics is the oldest physical science that deals with both stationary and moving bodies
under the influence of forces.

Mechanics

Statics Dynamics
(Bodies at Rest) (Bodies in Motion)

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 Introduction
Fluid mechanics is defined as the science that deals with the behavior of fluids at
rest (fluid statics) or in motion (fluid dynamics), and the interaction of fluids with
Fluid Mechanics solids or other fluids at the boundaries.

Fluid mechanics is also referred to

as fluid dynamics by considering
Hydrodynamics Gas Dynamics Aerodynamics
fluids at rest as a special case of
(The study of the motion of fluids (Deals with the flow of fluid that (Deals with the flow of gases;
that are practically incompressible; undergo significant density changes, especially air over bodies such as motion with zero velocity.
such as liquid especially water and such as the flow of gases through aircraft, rocket and automobiles at
gases at low speeds ) nozzles at high speeds) high or low speeds)

Hydraulics
(Deals with liquid flows in pipes and
open channels)

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What is a Fluid?
A fluid is a substance that deforms continuously under the application of a shear (tangential)
stress no matter how small the shear stress may be.
Because the fluid motion continues under the application of a shear stress, we can also define
a fluid as any substance that cannot sustain a shear stress when at rest.
Hence liquids and gases (or vapors) are the forms, or phases, that fluids can take.

 The vapor phase of a substance is

customarily called a gas when it is
above the critical temperature.
Vapor usually implies a gas that is
not far from a state of
condensation.

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Fluid as continuum
Matter is made up of atoms that are widely spaced in the gas phase. Yet it is very convenient to
disregard the atomic nature of a substance and view it as a continuous, homogeneous matter
with no holes, that is, a continuum.
The continuum idealization allows us to treat properties as point functions and to assume that
the properties vary continually in space with no jump discontinuities.
As a consequence of the continuum assumption, each fluid property is assumed to have a
definite value at every point in space. Thus fluid properties such as density, temperature,
velocity, and so on are considered to be continuous functions of position and time.

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DENSITY AND SPECIFIC GRAVITY
Density is defined as mass per unit volume.
The reciprocal of density is the specific volume v, which is defined as volume per unit mass.
The density of a substance, in general, depends on temperature and pressure. The density of most
gases is proportional to pressure and inversely proportional to temperature. Liquids and solids, on the
other hand, are essentially incompressible substances, and the variation of their density with
pressure is usually negligible.
Sometimes the density of a substance is given relative to the density of a well-known substance.
Then it is called specific gravity, or relative density, and 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,
for which ρH2O = 1000 kg/𝑚 ).
Note that substances with specific gravities less than 1 are lighter than water, and thus they would
float on water.
The weight of a unit volume of a substance is called specific weight and is expressed as

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Density of Ideal Gases
Any equation that relates the pressure, temperature, and density (or specific volume) of a
substance is called an equation of state.
The simplest and best-known equation of state for substances in the gas phase is the ideal-gas
equation of state, expressed as
where P is the absolute pressure, v is the specific volume, T is the thermodynamic (absolute)
temperature, ρ is the density, and R is the gas constant. The gas constant R is different for each
gas and is determined from R = Ru/M, where Ru is the universal gas constant whose value is Ru =
8.314 kJ/kmol·K =1.986 Btu/lbmol ·
Above equation is called the ideal-gas equation of state, or simply the ideal-gas relation, and a
gas that obeys this relation is called an ideal gas. For an ideal gas of volume V, mass m, and
number of moles N = m/M, the ideal-gas equation of state can also be written as PV = mRT or PV
= NRuT. For a fixed mass m, writing the ideal-gas relation twice and simplifying, the properties of
an ideal gas at two different states are related to each other by P1V1/T1= P2V2/T2.

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VAPOR PRESSURE AND CAVITATION
At a given pressure, the temperature at which a pure substance changes phase is called the
saturation temperature Tsat.
Likewise, at a given temperature, the pressure at which a pure substance changes phase is called the
saturation pressure Psat.
At an absolute pressure of 1 standard atmosphere (1 atm or 101.325 kPa)
The vapor pressure Pv of a pure substance is defined as the pressure exerted by its vapor in phase
equilibrium with its liquid at a given temperature. Pv is a property of the pure substance, and turns
out to be identical to the saturation pressure Psat of the liquid (Pv = Psat).
We must be careful not to confuse vapor pressure with partial pressure. Partial pressure is defined
as the pressure of a gas or vapor in a mixture with other gases.
However, when both vapor and liquid are present and the system is in phase equilibrium, the partial
pressure of the vapor must equal the vapor pressure, and the system is said to be saturated.

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VAPOR PRESSURE AND CAVITATION
The reason for our interest in vapor pressure is the possibility of the liquid pressure in liquid-flow
systems dropping below the vapor pressure at some locations, and the resulting unplanned
vaporization.
For example, water at 10°C will flash into vapor and form bubbles at locations (such as the tip
regions of impellers or suction sides of pumps) where the pressure drops below 1.23 kPa.
The vapor bubbles (called cavitation bubbles since they form “cavities” in the liquid) collapse as they
are swept away from the low-pressure regions, generating highly destructive, extremely high-
pressure waves.
This phenomenon, which is a common cause for drop in performance and even the erosion of
impeller blades, is called cavitation, and it is an important consideration in the design of hydraulic
turbines and pumps.
Cavitation must be avoided (or at least minimized) in flow systems since it reduces performance,
generates annoying vibrations and noise, and causes damage to equipment.

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COEFFICIENT OF COMPRESSIBILITY
We know from experience that the volume (or density) of a fluid changes with a
change in its temperature or pressure.
Fluids usually expand as they are heated or depressurized and contract as they are The inverse of the
cooled or pressurized. coefficient of
compressibility is called
the isothermal
But the amount of volume change is different for different fluids, and we need to compressibility α and is
define properties that relate volume changes to the changes in pressure and expressed as
temperature.
Two such properties are the bulk modulus of elasticity k and the coefficient of
volume expansion β. The isothermal
compressibility of a fluid
Therefore, in an analogous manner to Young’s modulus of elasticity for solids, it is represents the fractional
change in volume or
appropriate to define a coefficient of compressibility k (also called the bulk modulus density corresponding to
of compressibility or bulk modulus of elasticity) for fluids as a unit change in
pressure.

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Coefficient of Volume Expansion
The density of a fluid, in general, depends more strongly on temperature than it does on
pressure, and the variation of density with temperature is responsible for numerous natural
phenomena such as winds, currents in oceans, rise of plumes in chimneys, the operation of hot-
air balloons, heat transfer by natural convection, and even the rise of hot air.
To quantify these effects, we need a property that represents the variation of the density of a
fluid with temperature at constant pressure.

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VISCOSITY
When two solid bodies in contact move relative to each other, a friction force develops at the
contact surface in the direction opposite to motion.
The situation is similar when a fluid moves relative to a solid or when two fluids move relative
to each other.
It appears that there is a property that represents the internal resistance of a fluid to motion or
the “fluidity,” and that property is the viscosity.
The force a flowing fluid exerts on a body in the flow direction is called the drag force, and the
magnitude of this force depends, in part, on viscosity.

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GK1

VISCOSITY
The fluid in contact with the upper plate sticks to the plate surface and moves with it at the
same velocity, and the shear stress t acting on this fluid layer is

 where the constant of proportionality μ is called the coefficient of viscosity or the Fluids for which the rate of
dynamic (or absolute) viscosity of the fluid, whose unit is kg/m·s, or equivalently, deformation is proportional to
N·s/𝒎𝟐 (or Pa.s where Pa is the pressure unit pascal). the shear stress are called
 A common viscosity unit is poise, which is equivalent to 0.1 Pa.s (or centipoise, which is Newtonian fluids after Sir Isaac
one-hundredth of a poise). Newton, who expressed it first
 The viscosity of water at 20°C is 1 centipoise, and thus the unit centipoise serves as a in 1687.
useful reference.

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Slide 14

GK1 Further, it can be verified experimentally that for most fluids the rate of deformation (and thus the velocity
gradient) is directly proportional to the shear stress τ
Gaurav Kumar, 12-07-2022
VISCOSITY
The shear force acting on a Newtonian fluid layer (or, by Newton’s third law, the force acting on
the plate) is
In fluid mechanics and heat transfer, the ratio of dynamic viscosity to density appears
frequently. For convenience, this ratio is given the name kinematic viscosity 𝝂 and is expressed
as 𝛎=μ/ρ.
Two common units of kinematic viscosity are 𝑚 /s and stoke (1 stoke = 1 𝑐𝑚 /s = 0.0001
𝑚 /s).

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SURFACE TENSION
Liquid droplets behave like small spherical balloons filled with the liquid, and the
surface of the liquid acts like a stretched elastic membrane under tension.
The pulling force that causes this tension acts parallel to the surface and is due to the
attractive forces between the molecules of the liquid. The magnitude of this force per
unit length is called surface tension σs and is usually expressed in the unit N/m.

The attractive forces applied on the interior molecule by the surrounding molecules balance each other because of symmetry. But the
attractive forces acting on the surface molecule are not symmetric, and the attractive forces applied by the gas molecules above are usually
very small. Therefore, there is a net attractive force acting on the molecule at the surface of the liquid, which tends to pull the molecules on
the surface toward the interior of the liquid. This force is balanced by the repulsive forces from the molecules below the surface that are being
compressed. The resulting compression effect causes the liquid to minimize its surface area. This is the reason for the tendency of the liquid
droplets to attain a spherical shape, which has the minimum surface area for a given volume.

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SURFACE TENSION

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Capillary Effect
Another interesting consequence of surface tension is the capillary effect, which is the rise or
fall of a liquid in a small-diameter tube inserted into the liquid. Such narrow tubes or confined
flow channels are called capillaries.
The strength of the capillary effect is quantified by the contact (or wetting) angle Ф, defined as
the angle that the tangent to the liquid surface makes with the solid surface at the point of
contact.
The surface tension force acts along this tangent line toward the solid surface.
A liquid is said to wet the surface when Ф<90° and not to wet the surface when Ф>90°.

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Capillary Effect
The phenomenon of capillary effect can be explained microscopically by considering cohesive
forces (the forces between like molecules, such as water and water) and adhesive forces (the
forces between unlike molecules, such as water and glass).

 In practice, the capillary effect is usually negligible in tubes whose diameter

is greater than 1 cm.

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PRESSURE
Pressure is defined as a normal force exerted by a fluid per unit area.
Since pressure is defined as force per unit area, it has the unit of newtons per square meter
(N/𝑚 ), which is called a pascal (Pa).

 Pressures below atmospheric pressure are

called vacuum pressures and are measured
by vacuum gages that indicate the difference
between the atmospheric pressure and the
absolute pressure.

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Pressure at a Point
Pressure is the compressive force per unit area, and it gives the impression of being a vector.
However, pressure at any point in a fluid is the same in all directions. That is, it has magnitude
but not a specific direction, and thus it is a scalar quantity.

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 Variation of Pressure with Depth
where W = mg = ρg
Δx Δz

Specific Weight

If we take point 1 to be at the free surface of a liquid open

to the atmosphere , where the pressure is the atmospheric
pressure Patm, then the pressure at a depth h from the free
 For a given fluid, the vertical distance
surface become
Δz is sometimes used as a measure of
pressure, and it is called the pressure
head.
 Liquids are essentially incompressible substances, and thus the variation of density with depth is negligible. Also, at
great depths such as those encountered in oceans, the change in the density of a liquid can be significant because of
the compression by the tremendous amount of liquid weight above.

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 Variation of Pressure with Depth
For fluids whose density changes significantly with elevation, a relation for the variation of
pressure with elevation can be obtained by dividing previous equation by Δx Δz, and taking the
limit as Δz → 0. It gives The negative sign is due to our taking the positive z direction to be
upward so that dP is negative when dz is positive since pressure
decreases in an upward direction.

A consequence of the pressure in a fluid remaining constant in the horizontal

direction is that the pressure applied to a confined fluid increases the pressure
throughout by the same amount. This is called Pascal’s law, after Blaise Pascal
(1623–1662).

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THE MANOMETER
We notice from previous equations that an elevation change of Δz in a fluid at rest corresponds
to ΔP/ρg, which suggests that a fluid column can be used to measure pressure differences. A
device based on this principle is called a manometer, and it is commonly used to measure small
and moderate pressure differences.
since pressure in a fluid does not vary in the horizontal direction within a fluid, the pressure at
point 2 is the same as the pressure at point 1, P2 = P1.
The differential fluid column of height h is in static equilibrium, and it is open to the
atmosphere. Then the pressure at point 2 is determined directly

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THE BAROMETER AND ATMOSPHERIC
PRESSURE
Atmospheric pressure is measured by a device called a barometer; thus, the
atmospheric pressure is often referred to as the barometric pressure.
The pressure at point B is equal to the atmospheric pressure, and the pressure at C can
be taken to be zero since there is only mercury vapor above point C and the pressure is
very low relative to Patm and can be neglected to an excellent approximation. Writing a
force balance in the vertical direction gives Patm = ρgh

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HYDROSTATIC FORCES ON SUBMERGED
PLANE SURFACES
A plate exposed to a liquid, such as a gate valve in a dam, the wall of a liquid storage tank, or
the hull of a ship at rest, is subjected to fluid pressure distributed over its surface.
On a plane surface, the hydrostatic forces form a system of parallel forces, and we often need
to determine the magnitude of the force and its point of application, which is called the center
of pressure. Absolute
pressure at
any point,
where h is
the vertical
distance of
the point
from the
free surface

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HYDROSTATIC FORCES ON SUBMERGED
PLANE SURFACES
The resultant hydrostatic force FR acting on the surface is determined by integrating the force P
dA acting on a differential area dA over the entire surface area,

But the first moment of area is related to the y-coordinate of the centroid (or center) of
the surface by

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Center of Pressure
The point of intersection of the line of action of the resultant force and the surface is the
center of pressure.
The vertical location of the line of action is determined by equating the moment of the
resultant force to the moment of the distributed pressure force about the x-axis.

Fortunately, the second moments of area about two parallel axes are related to each other by
the parallel axis theorem, which in this case is expressed as
After substitution, we get Knowing yP, the vertical distance
of the center of pressure from
the free surface is determined
from hP = yP sinθ.

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Center of Pressure

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