FLUID MECHANICS

CHAPTER 1:
FLUID PROPERTIES
Department of Hydraulics and Hydrology
Faculty of Civil Engineering
UTM Skudai
Johor Darul Takzim

Lecturer: Dr. Nor Eliza Alias

Room: M50-2-35
Email: noreliza@utm.my
1.1 Introduction to Fluid Mechanics
Fluid Mechanics

Hydrodynamics Gas Dynamics Aerodynamics

Deals with flow of Deals with flow of

Study of motion of
fluids that undergo gases (air) over
fluids that are
significant density bodies
practically
changes
incompressible.
(e.g. Flow of gases over
(e.g. Flow of gases trough aircraft, rockets and
(e.g. Hydraulics in pipes and nozzles at high speed) automobiles)
open channel)
1.2 Definition of fluids
• Nature of Fluids
• Behavior of fluids – rest (static) or in motion (dynamics)
• Due to changes of : pressure, friction, flow type, orifice, impact of
jet, etc.
• Classes of Fluids
• Liquids – tend to flow freely and take the shape of their container
(e.g.: water, oil, gasoline ..)
• Gasses - tend to expand to completely fill their container (e.g.: air,
water vapor, oxygen ..)
• The difference between liquids and gasses?
 Liquids: Close packed, strong cohesive forces, retains volumes, has
free surface
 Gasses: Widely spaced, weak cohesive forces, free to expand
1.2 Types of fluids
• Ideal Fluids
• Real Fluids

• Ideal Fluids – have no viscosity

• No internal friction or loss of mechanical energy
• Dos not exist but many flows can be approximated as ideal if viscous
forces are small and do not cause major flow phenomena such
boundary layer separation

• Real Fluids – have non-zero viscosity

• 2 Conditions:
1. No-slip condition at solid boundaries (e.g. the relative velocity at the
boundary is zero.
2. There are frictional forces between adjacent layers of fluid moving at
different speeds and between the fluid and boundary
1.2 Fluid properties
1. Pressure
2. Density
3. Specific weight
4. Specific density
5. Compressibility
6. Surface tension
7. Viscosity – Dynamic, kinematic
1.2 Fluid properties
1. Pressure

• Defines as the amount of force (F) exerted on a unit area (A) of a

substance
𝐹𝐹 𝑁𝑁
or Pascal (Pa) or kPa
𝑃𝑃 = 𝑚𝑚2
𝐴𝐴
• Acts uniformly in all directions on a small volume of fluid
• Acts perpendicular to the boundary in a fluid confined by solid
boundaries
1.2 Fluid properties
2. Density

 Defines as the amount of mass (m) per unit volume (v) of a

substance
𝑚𝑚 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾
𝜌𝜌 =
𝑉𝑉 𝑚𝑚3
 Mass per unit volume
 Water ρwater = 1000 kg/m3
 Mercury ρHg = 13 500 kg/m3
 Air ρair = 1.205 kg/m3

 Densities of gasses increase with pressure

 Densities of liquids are nearly constant (incompressible) for a
constant temperature
1.2 Fluid properties
3. Specific Weight

 Defines as the amount of weight (w) per unit volume (v) of a

substance
𝑤𝑤 𝑁𝑁
𝛾𝛾 = = ρg
𝑉𝑉
𝑚𝑚3
 Weight per unit volume
 Water γwater = 1000 kg/m3 x 9.807 m2/s = 9807 N/m3
 Air γ air = 1.205 kg/m3 x 9.807 m2/s = 11.8 N/m3
1.2 Fluid properties
4. Specific Gravity, sg

 If the reference fluid is a pure water at 40C (the water has its
greatest density)
 Thus, sg can be defined as
1) The ratio of the specific weight of a substance to the specific
weight of water
γ
𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 = γ 𝑠𝑠 where γ𝑤𝑤 = 9.81 kN/m3
𝑤𝑤

2) The ratio of the density of a substance to the density of water

𝜌𝜌
𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 = 𝜌𝜌 𝑠𝑠 where 𝜌𝜌𝑤𝑤 = 1000 kg/m3
𝑤𝑤

e.g.: sgwater=1, sgmercury = 13.6

1.2 Fluid properties
5. Compressibility

 Change in volume (V) of a substance that is subjected to change in

pressure (P) on it.
 Bulk Modulus or elasticity, E is used to measure the phenomenon

−∆𝑃𝑃 𝑁𝑁
𝐸𝐸 =
 Elasticity, E ∆𝑉𝑉/𝑉𝑉 𝑚𝑚2
 Deformation per unit of pressure change
−𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 −𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝐸𝐸𝑣𝑣 = =
𝑑𝑑𝑉𝑉/𝑉𝑉 𝑑𝑑𝜌𝜌/𝜌𝜌

 For water 𝐸𝐸𝑣𝑣 = 2.2 GPa (1Mpa pressure change = 0.05% volume
changes)
 Water is relatively incompressible
1.2 Fluid properties
6. Surface Tension

 Below surface, forces act equally in all directions

 At surface, some forces are missing – pulls molecules down and
together, like a membrane exerting tension on the surface
 Pressure increase is balanced by surface tension, σ
 σ = 0.073 N/m
1.2 Fluid properties
7. Viscosity

 Measure of a ‘resistance to deformation’

 Due to the internal friction force that develops between difference
layers of fluids as they are forced to move relative to each other.
 2 types:
1) Dynamic viscosity, µ (miu)
2) Kinematic viscosity,ν (niu)
1.2 Fluid properties
7. Viscosity

 Dynamic viscosity – The shear force per unit area (or shear stress)
required to drag one layer of fluid with unit velocity past another layer
unit distance away from it in the fluid

𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹/𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴
𝜇𝜇 = (kg/ms)
𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉/𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷

 Kinematic viscosity – Ratio of dynamic viscosity to mass density

ν =µ/ρ (m2/s)

Example: νwater = 1.14 x 10-6 m2/s, νair = 1.46 x 10-5 m2/s

• The volume of fluid in a container is 12.5 liter. The mass
of the container is 0.4kg while the mass of the container
plus the fluid is 11.35kg. Calculate the fluid density and
the specific volume.
• A fluid has dynamic viscosity 1.3x10-3 Pa.s and specific
volume 1.32x10-3m3/kg. Calculate the fluid specific weight
and the kinematics viscosity.
• A fluid has a dynamic and kinematics viscosity of 0.98 x
10-3Pa.s and 6.16x10-7m2/s respectively. Calculate the
fluid specific gravity and the specific weight.