FLUID MECHANICS NOTES

BASIC PHYSICS 1 (FMAX 0111)

Surface Tension
1. Up to now, we have mainly been studying what happens to fluids as a whole.
But the surface of a liquid at rest also behaves in an interesting way.
2. A droplet of water has a spherical shape because the surface of a liquid tends to
pull itself in as if it were an elastic membrane.
3. This phenomenon, known as surface tension, is ultimately caused by the pull
of the molecules below the surface of the liquid on the molecules at the
surface. It also tends to pull the surface into a smooth and compact layer.
4. Surface tension gives rise to such phenomena as a steel needle being able to
float on a water surface, even though the density of the metal object is much
greater than that of water (Figure 9a).
5. The surface tension is defined as the force per unit length exerted by a liquid
surface on an object, along its boundary of contact with the object. This force
is parallel to the liquid surface and perpendicular to the boundary line of
contact. For a straight boundary of length L and a total force F,
F
...11.31
L
6. In Figure 9(b) we show a soap membrane supporting a slide wire of weight W
and length b. The surface tension pulls perpendicular to the wire and along the
membrane.
7. Because the soap membrane has two surfaces, the total upward force is
F = 2b . Since the wire is in equilibrium,
W = F, and so = W/2b...(11.32)

Figure 9
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8. Unlike an actual elastic membrane, the surface tension does not increase as the
surface is stretched. Thus, if the soap membrane of Fig. 9(b) were stretched by
pulling the wire down to a lower position, the wire would remain in equilibrium in
the new position upon release, since and hence F will not have changed.
9. The value of the surface tension does not change because more molecules enter
the surface from the interior as the membrane is stretched and the intermolecular
spacing stays the same.
10. Surface tension does change when the liquid temperature or pressure changes or
when chemical substances are brought into contact with the surface.

11. Table 9.4 gives the value of surface tensions for various liquids. Notice that, for
water at higher temperature will have lower surface tension.
12. The concept of surface tension can be also thought of as the energy content of the
fluid at its surface per unit surface area.
13. In order to picture this, consider increasing the surface area of a liquid. Hence a
force is required and work must be done to bring molecules from the interior to
the surface.
14. This work increases the potential energy of the molecules and is sometimes called
surface energy.
15. The amount of work will be given as
W F x
W L x A ...(11.33)
where x is the change in distance and A L x is the total increase in area (at
both surfaces).
W
16. Thus, we can write
...(11.34) i.e. it is equal to the work done per unit
A
increase in surface area.
17. Hence, can be specified in Nm-1 or Jm-2, which is the same thing.
18. If the object is spherical in shape, the surface tension acts at all points around a
horizontal circle of approximately radius (Figure 10).
19. Only the vertical component, cos , acts to balance w.
20. We set the length L equal to the circumference of the circle,
L 2 r
so the net upward force due to surface tension is
F cos L 2 r cos ...(11.35)
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(b)

Fig. 9.42, p. 284

Slide 50

Figure 10

Figure 11

Capillarity
1. Surface tension plays a role in another interesting phenomenon, capillarity. It is
a common observation that water in a glass container rises up slightly where it
touches the glass. The water is said to "wet" the glass.
2. Mercury, on the other hand, is depressed when it touches the glass, the mercury
does not wet the glass.
3. Whether or not a liquid wets a solid surface is determined by the relative
strength of the cohesive forces between the molecules of the liquid compared to
the adhesive forces between the molecules of the liquid and those of the
container. (Cohesion refers to the force between molecules of the same type and
adhesion to the force between molecules of different types).
4. Water wets glass because the water molecules are more strongly attracted to the
glass molecules than they are to other water molecules. The opposite is true for
mercury: the cohesive forces are stronger than the adhesive forces.
5. In tubes having very small diameters, liquids are observed to rise or fall relative
to the level of the surrounding liquid. This phenomenon is called capillarity,
and such thin *tubes are called capillaries.
6. Whether the liquid rises or falls depends on the relative strengths of the
adhesive and cohesive forces. Thus water rises in a glass tube whereas mercury
falls. The actual amount of rise (or fall) depends on the surface tension-which
is what keeps the liquid surface from breaking apart.
7. For a liquid in the capillary tube to be in equilibrium, the upward force must be
equal to the weight of the cylinder of water of height h inside the capillary tube
(Figure 11) given by from (11.35)
F cos L 2 r cos
= w Mg g V g r 2 h ...(11.36)
8. To find the height to which water is drawn into the tube is
2
h
cos ...(11.37)
gr
Here is the angle between the solid surface and a line drawn tangent to the
liquid at the surface which is called the angle of contact.
*Note: Capillary tubes are often used to draw small samples of blood from a needle prick in the skin.

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Real Fluids
A. Viscosity
1. In real fluids, two important aspects of fluid flow are viscosity and turbulence which
are not present in the idealized models that we have been using up to now.
2. Viscosity exists in both liquids and gases and is essentially a frictional force between
adjacent layers of fluid as the layers move past one another.
3. In liquids, viscosity is mainly due to the cohesive forces between the molecules. In
gases, it arises from the collisions between the molecules.
4. Liquids in general are much more viscous than gases. The viscosity of different
fluids can be expressed quantitatively by a coefficient of viscosity, (the Greek
lowercase letter eta), which is defined in the following way.
5. A thin layer of fluid is placed between two flat plates. One plate is stationary and
the other is made to move at constant speed, see Figure 12.

Figure 12
6. The fluid directly in contact with each plate is held to the surface by the adhesive
force between the molecules of the liquid and those of the plate. Thus the upper
surface of the fluid moves with the same speed v as the upper plate, whereas the
fluid in contact with the stationary plate remains stationary.
7. The stationary layer of fluid retards the flow of the layer just above it, which in
turn retards the flow of the next layer, and so on. Thus the velocity varies
continuously from 0 to v, as shown.
8. The change in velocity divided by the distance over which this change is made

equal to
is called the velocity gradient.
l
9. To move the upper plate requires a force. For a given fluid, it is found that the
force required, F, is proportional to the area of fluid in contact with each plate, A,
and to the speed, v, and is inversely proportional to the separation, l, of the plates:
A
F
l
10. For different fluids, the more viscous the fluid, the greater is the required force.
Hence the proportionality constant for this equation is defined as the coefficient
of viscosity,

F A ...(11.38)
l
11. Solving for , we find

Fl
...(11.39)
A

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12. The SI unit for is Ns/ m2 = Pa.s (pascal-second). In the cgs system, the unit
is dyne.s/cm2 and this unit is called a poise (P). Viscosities are often stated in
centipoise (cP) which is one-hundredth of poise. The unit of viscosity is also
called the poiseuille (Pl) which is given by,
1 Pl 1 Pa.s ...(11.40)

13. Table 9.5 lists the coefficient of viscosity for various fluids. The temperature is
also specified, since it has a strong effect; the viscosity of liquids such as motor
oil, for example, decreases rapidly as the temperature increases.

:
Table 9.5

14. Because of viscosity, a pressure difference between the ends of a tube is necessary for
the steady flow of any real fluid, be it water or oil in a pipe or blood in the circulatory
system of a human, even when the tube is level.
15 From the information in Eq. (11.38), one can use the calculus to deduce some
interesting results for a viscous fluid in steady flow through a pipe.
16. In a pipe, thin concentric cylindrical shells of liquid flow at the same speed. The
maximum speed vm of the fluid is attained at the central axis of the pipe. For a pipe of
radius R, the rate of volume flow through the pipe can be shown to be
V m
R 2 ...(11.41)
t
2
where vm/2 is the average velocity of the liquid in the pipe.
17. It can also be shown that the net viscous force acting on a fluid in steady flow, due to
the walls of a length L of pipe, is given by
F 4 L m ...(11.42)
where the force F is in the direction opposite to the flow.
18. Since the flow through the pipe is steady, the net force on the length L of fluid must
be zero. Assuming a horizontal pipe, the only other forces are due to the pressure on
each end of the length L of fluid, and the difference in these pressures must give rise
to a net force that balances the viscous force of Eq. (11. 42).
19. This implies that when a viscous fluid is in steady flow through a horizontal pipe
of uniform cross section, there is a pressure difference at different points along
the pipe. This is quite different than the result from Bernoulli's equation, where
the pressure difference would be zero.
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20. The situation is shown in Figure 13. We consider our system to be the fluid in a
length L of our pipe of radius R. Since the fluid is not accelerating, the net
horizontal force must be zero. The only horizontal forces on our system are due
to the pressure from the liquid to the left of the system P1, the pressure due to the
liquid to the right of the system P2, and the viscous force due to the pipe.
21. The force due to Pl is F1 P1 R 2 acting to the right. The force due to P2 is
F2 P2 R 2 acting on the left. The viscous force is given by Eq. (11.42):
F 4 L m acting to the left. For equilibrium,

P1 R 2 P2 R 2 4 L vm 0 ...(11.43)
or

P1 P2

4 L m
...(11.44)
R2

2
vm
R
L

Figure 13
22. By combining Eq. (11.44) with Eq. (11.41) we can get a relationship between the
volume flow (V/t) and the pressure difference across a length L of pipe. From Eq.
(11.44) we get
P P R 2
m 1 2
...(11.45)
4 L
Substituting into Eq. (11.41) yields Poiseuille's law

V R 4 P1 P2

..(11.46)
t
8 L
Note that the volume flow rate depends on the fourth power of the radius R of the
pipe, as well as on (P1 P2)/L, the change in pressure per unit length along the pipe.

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B. Stokes' Law (Motion in a Viscous Medium)

1.

When an object moves through a viscous fluid in such a way that the fluid is in
steady flow past it, the viscous forces on the object are, to a good approximation,
proportional to the relative velocity and the coefficient of viscosity.

2. As with all frictional forces, viscous forces oppose the direction of motion. The
expression for the force will vary with the shape of the object, and, in general, is
difficult to determine. However, for the case of a sphere of radius r moving relative to
the fluid with velocity v, we have Stokes' law, the simple expression

Fr 6 r ...(11.47)
3. As a sphere falls through a viscous medium, three forces act on it (Figure 14). Fr is the
force of frictional resistance, B is the buoyant force of the fluid and w is the force of
gravity acting on the sphere where
4

w g V g r 3 ...(11.48)
3

where is the density of the sphere and r 3 is its volume.

3

Figure 14
4. According to Archimedes principle, the magnitude of the buoyant force is equal to
the weight of the fluid displaced by the sphere:
4

B f g V f g r 3 ...(11.49)
3

where f is the density of the fluid.

5. At the instant the sphere begins to fall, the force of frictional resistance is zero because
the speed of the sphere is zero. As the sphere accelerates, its speed increases and so
does Fr.

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6. Finally, at a speed called the terminal speed vt, the net force goes to zero. This occurs
when the net upward force balances the downward force of gravity.
7. Hence the sphere reaches terminal speed when
Fr B w ...(11.50)
or
4

...(11.51)
6 r t + f g r 3 = g r 3
3

8. When this is solved for t , we get the expression as below;

2r2 g
f ...(11.52)
9

9. Notice that if we ignore buoyancy, the only upward force is that due to the viscous
drag and is given by Stokes law. Hence (11.50) becomes
Fr w
or
6 r vt m g
so that its terminal velocity is reached when the sphere falls at constant speed
mg
...(11.53).
t
6 r
Example 11.9
Suppose that a raindrop has a radius r = 2.0 mm and falls from rest from a cloud.
Assuming steady flow, use Stokes' law to find the terminal velocity if given the viscosity
of air is 1.8 10-5 Pl.
Solution
We ignore the buoyancy of air and use (11.53) and the value of viscosity of air stated as
above. The mass of the drop is

3
m
4 3
3 4 (3.14) 2.0 10
m w V w r 1000 kg m
3.35 10 5 kg
3
3

Then

3.3510 kg 9.81m s 484.4 m s

6 3.14 1.8 10 Pl2.0 10 m
5

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