FUNDAMENTALS

OF
FLUID MECHANICS
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Fluid mechanics is encountered in almost every area of our physical lives. Blood flows
through our veins and arteries, a ship moves through water and water flows through rivers,
airplanes fly in the air and air flows around wind machines, air is compressed in a
compressor and steam expands around turbine blades, a dam holds back water, air is heated
and cooled in our homes, and computers require air to cool components. All engineering
disciplines require some expertise in the area of fluid mechanics.
Fluid mechanics is a physical science dealing with the action of fluids at rest or in motion,
and with applications and devices in engineering using fluids. Fluid mechanics can be
subdivided into two major areas, Fluid Statics, which deals with fluid at rest, and Fluid
Dynamics, concerned with fluids in motion.

TYPES OF FLUID
Fluids are generally subdivided into two categories: ideal fluid and real fluid
Ideal Fluid
 Assumed to have a viscosity(and hence, no resistance to shear)
 Incompressible
 Have uniform velocity when flowing
 No friction between moving layers of fluid
 No eddy current or turbulence

Real Fluid
 Exhibit infinite viscosities
 Non uniform velocity distribution when flowing
 Compressible
 Experience friction and turbulence in flow

1.2 UNITS AND DIMENSIONS

MKS system of units
This is the system of units where the meter (m) is used for the unit of length, kilogram (kg)
for the unit of mass, and second (s) for the unit of time as the base units.
CGS system of units
This is the system of units where the centimeter (cm) is used for length, gram (g) for mass,
and second (s) for time as the base units.
International system of units (SI?
SI, the abbreviation of La Systkme International d’Unites, is the system developed from the
MKS system of units. It is a consistent and reasonable system of units which makes it a rule
to adopt only one unit for each of the various quantities used in such fields as science,
education and industry.
There are seven fundamental SI units, namely: meter (m) for length, kilogram (kg) for mass,
second (s) for time, ampere (A) for electric current, Kelvin (K) for thermodynamic
temperature, mole (mol) for mass quantity and candela (cd) for intensity of light. Derived
units consist of these units.
 Table 1.1 Basic Dimensions and Their Units

Quantity Dimension SI Units English Units

Length L Meters m Foot ft

Mass M Kilogram kg slug slug

Time t Seconds sec second sec

Temperature T Kelvin K Rankine R

Plane angle ϴ radian rad radian rad

Table 1.2 Derived Dimensions and Their Units

Quantity SI units English units

Area, A m2 ft 2

Volume, V m3 ft 3

m ft
Velocity, v
s s
ft
Acceleration, a
s2

Force, F kg.m
s2 or N slug.ft
s2 or lb

Pressure, P N.m2 lb.ft 2

Work , W N.m ft.lb

1.3 DENSITY, SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND SPECIFIC VOLUME

The mass per unit volume of material is called the density, which is generally expressed by
the symbol p. The density of a gas changes according to the pressure, but that of a liquid
may be considered unchangeable in general. The units of density are kg/m3 (SI). The density
of water at 4°C and 1 atm (101 325 Pa, standard atmospheric pressure; see Section 3.1.1) is
1000 kg/m3.
The ratio of the density of a material p to the density of water p , is called the specific
gravity, which is expressed by the symbol s:
𝜌
S₌
𝜌𝑊

The reciprocal of density, i.e. the volume per unit mass, is called the specific volume, which
is generally expressed by the symbol u:
1 𝑚3
𝜈₌ 𝜌 (
𝑘𝑔
)

Values for the density p of water and air under standard atmospheric pressure are given in
Table 1.3.

Table 1.3 Density of water and air (standard atmospheric pressure)

Temperature 0 10 15 20 40 60 80 100
("C)
p (kg/m') Water 999.8 999.7 999.1 998.2 992.2 983.2 971.8 958.4
Air 1.293 1.247 1.226 1.205 1.128 1.060 1.000 0.9464

1.4 ABSOLUTE VISCOSITY AND KINEMATIC VISCOSITY

Viscosity is a property of a fluid which determines the amount of its resistance to shearing
force. A perfect fluid would have no viscosity.
𝜏
𝜇₌
𝑑𝑉
𝑑𝑦
Where:
𝜇₌absolute viscosity
𝜏₌shear stress
𝑉 ₌velocity
𝑦₌distance between plates
Kinematic viscosity is the ratio of the dynamic viscosity of the fluid, 𝜇, to its mass density, 𝜌.
𝜇
𝑣₌
𝜌
Where:
𝜇 ₌absolute viscosity in Pa.sec
𝑘𝑔
𝜌₌density in
𝑚3

Table 1.4 Common Units of Viscosity

SYSTEM ABSOLUTE VISCOSITY, 𝜇 KINEMATIC VISCOSITY, 𝜈
ENGLISH lb₋sec/ft 2 ft 2 /sec
(slug/ft.sec)
METRIC dyne₋sec/cm2 cm2 /s
(poise) (stroke)
S.I. Pa₋sec m2 /s
(N.s/m2 )