Curtin Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Curtin University of Technology

FLUID MECHANICS 230
FEEDBACK ON MID-SEMESTER TEST 2012

READ THIS EVEN IF YOU DID WELL IN THE TEST!

The average mark was 23.3/40 (or 58.3%); a number of students scored in the high 30s, thereby
demonstrating that the scope and depth of the test was appropriate. Many students elected to do all three
questions; as advised all three were marked and the overall score developed from the students best two
questions.
I noted a number of students leaving the test early. This is not advisable! If you have completed the questions,
then it is a good idea to check back carefully, even if more than once many slip-ups (that were found when
marking) could have been avoided, quite a number of which arose from mismatched units or incorrect
evaluation using a calculator these types of error can easily be found and addressed.
While the knowledge and application of Fluid Mechanics was largely positive, a number of students made
basic errors, or had misconceptions, in conventional mechanics. These should have been learned in, and
carried forward from, earlier years of study. Some may suggest that a formula sheet should be provided for
these but there is fundamental knowledge that engineers should have without recourse to a crib-sheet.
Think ahead: when at work in three years time your boss will not be impressed if when he talks to you about
power in a meeting, you have to pull out a formula sheet! There is a language of ideas that engineers should
have available to them without the use of a dictionary (the same applies to other professions, e.g. think about
Medicine!) You need to learn and practise that vocabulary of fundamental engineering concepts.
Finally, the presentation in many papers was often unsatisfactory. In some cases the organisation and quality
of handwriting was so bad that we had great difficulty following what might have been a sound argument.
Annotation was often absent you need to briefly say what your approach is and, if introducing symbols
you need to say what these mean (a diagram in which these are defined is often best) - the examiner cannot
read your mind! Poor presentation makes it difficult to award due marks for working when the examiner
cannot follow your line of thinking/logic (that may be perfectly valid). Finally, please adhere to the
instructions on the front of the answer booklet in particular:
1. Commence each question on a new page.
2. Write in ink or ball point pen (NOT pencil it is hard to read) on both sides of the paper.
3. ...
4. . In column Q (NOT M) strike out the numbers of the questions you have attempted.
These are to make your answers more readable to the examiner if they are more readable, you can gain
more marks. Moreover, in future, you may encounter examiners who, quite legitimately, refuse to mark your
answers when the above rules are not followed. The idea of the test is for you to learn and not repeat such
errors in future.
The tests have been handed back to the assignments office for your collection. Brief comment on the actual
questions is as follows; these are best read in conjunction with the model solutions posted on blackboard. The
mid-term has been handed back to you as feedback, so you can prepare for the final exam. Note that we will
not be remarking entire scripts. If you feel that a specific part of a specific question has been marked
incorrectly, fill out the form (available on blackboard), and contact me with your request.

Question 1
Overall, the definition of the Reynolds number was well described by the vast majority of the students, many
however struggled with the definition of the critical length (in this case, the length perpendicular to the flow).
Be precise in your description and use the correct terminology, for example, "laminated", "torbolar", (or even
"the other kind of") flow are incorrect!
The sketch in part b) i) needed to clearly show that the problem could be reduced to a flow between two
parallel plates. It was expected that the distance between the plates, a velocity profile and the direction of flow
would be labelled. In part b) ii), students often confused the symbols for torque (T) and shear stress ().
Although many students were able to recite the correct basic equations for torque, shear stress and power,
only few used used the correct units. Remember to convert SI units to basic values at the start of the question
to avoid this problem - eg if a length is provided in millimetres, rewrite it in metres. The assumptions made in
b) iv) were generally plausible, however often far too trivial to earn a mark (i.e. "the shaft is solid", "no oil
leaks").
Question 2
The majority of students tackled the task well, however some common mistakes were noted. A sketch helps to
clarify where, and in which direction forces act. Some 'sanity checking' would help - it is clear, (simply by
inspection), that the resultant force on the dam does not point skywards approach the problem not only from
a mathematical point of view, but also ask yourself whether your result is plausible. Reckoning, or 'sanity
checking' is an incredibly important skill for Engineers - don't just cite a mathematical result, think about
what it means, (how many 'bags of sugar' is that force, does that length look sensible? Is my answer wrong?).
A major source of error was the calculation of the force acting in horizontal direction on the dam. The
hydrostatic force acting horizontally depends upon the pressure, which in turn depends upon the depth (i.e.
the amount of water above) and thus the pressure increases towards the bottom.
In part b), clear definitions and a sketch of the forces acting on the tank and the cables helped establish a force
balance. Overall the task was solved adequately. A force balance in y-direction was sufficient and it should be
noted that for the calculation of the forces acting on the cables, trigonometric functions needed to be used. If
you have trouble with these, you need to revise them! Also, read the question carefully it was stated that 2
pairs of 2 cables each (= 4 cables !) hold the tank in place.
Question 3
This task was tackled by the majority of students, and on average the highest marks out of the three questions
were awarded here. Momentum balances and basic definitions of momentum were needed for part a). The
outlet forces needed to be decomposed into x and y directions using trigonometric functions this however
was fairly easy for most students.
In the last part of the question, major errors were made by the majority of students. A sketch would have
helped to identify directions clearly. Again, some 'sanity checking' would have helped - imagine which
direction the water have to be accelerated in to cause it to change direction - this is the direction of the force
on the water. The majority of the students chose the wrong direction (the force acting on the vane is equal and
opposite to the force acting on the fluid !)
Again, in this part it is important to draw a sketch and re-check the results for plausibility in particular the
direction the forces act in.
Prepared by J. Jewkes/A. Bredin: April 2012