FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

EDP/EDI/EDU10702
Engineering Science
(2 Credit hours )

FLUID MECHANICS: FLUID PROPERTIES

TOPIC

1. Basic Concepts of Fluid Mechanics

2. Properties of Fluids

BASIC CONCEPTS OF FLUID MECHANICS

Mechanics

Branch of mechanics

Statics

Dynamics

- Bodies at rest

- Bodies in motion

FLUID MECHANICS
Fluid mechanics is defined as the science that
deals with the behavior of:
1. Fluids at rest (fluid statics)

2. Fluids in motion (fluid dynamics)

3. Interaction of fluids with solids or other
fluids at the boundaries

Fluid mechanics deals with liquids and gases in motion or at rest.

What is a Fluid?
A substance exists in three primary phases:

Fluid

Application Areas of Fluid Mechanics

The piping systems for water, natural gas, and sewage are designed primarily
on the basis of fluid mechanics.

Power plants

Wind turbines

Piping & plumbing

systems

Industrial
applications

PROPERTIES OF FLUIDS
Any characteristic of a system is called a property.

Property

Intensive properties
-

Independent of the mass of the system

Examples: Temperature, Pressure & Density

Extensive properties
-

Those values depend on the size of the system

Examples: Total mass, Total volume & total momentum

Density & Specific Gravity

Density is defined as mass per unit volume:

Specific gravity, or relative density 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 4C, for which H2O = 1000 kg/m3).

H2 O

Earth Hydrocarbons (Oil & Gas Industry)

Density of Ideal Gases

=

is the absolute pressure (kPa)

is the density (kg/m3)
is the universal gas constant (8.314 kJ/kmolK)

is the absolute temperature (K)

is the molecular weight (kg/kmol)

Pressure

abs = atm + gaug

Example 1: Density, Specific Gravity, and Mass of Air in a Room

Determine the density, specific gravity, and mass of the air in a room whose dimensions are
4 m X 5 m X 6 m at 100 kPa and 25C.
(Molecular weight of the air is 29 g/mol)
Answer:
Density of the air:

100 29
=
=
= 1.17 kg/m3
8.314 25 + 273.15

Specific gravity of the air:

Mass of the air:

H2O

1.17 kg/m3
=
= 0.00117
3
1000 kg/m

= = 1.17 4 5 6 = 140.4 kg

Saturation Temperature & Pressure

Temperature and pressure are dependent properties for pure substances during phasechange processes.
At a given pressure, the temperature at which a pure substance changes phase is called the
saturation temperature (sat ).
Water molecule vapor phase

Likewise, at a given temperature, the pressure at which a pure substance changes phase is
called the saturation pressure (sat ).

Vapor Pressure
The vapor pressure ( ) of a pure substance is defined as:
The pressure exerted by its vapor in phase equilibrium with its liquid at a given temperature.

is a property of the pure substance, and turns out to be identical to the saturation pressure
(sat ) of the liquid: = sat

Antoine Equation
The Antoine equation is a vapor pressure equation.
- Describes the relation between vapor pressure and temperature for pure components.

= exp

is the absolute temperature (K)

, , are constants (e.g., water: = 23.2, = 3816.4, = 46.1)

Example 2: Vapor Pressure of Water

Determine the vapor pressure of water at temperature of 57.9C by using Antoine equation.

Answer:
= 57.9 + 273.15 = 331.05

3816.4
= exp 23.2
= 18156 Pa = 18.2 kPa
331.05 46.1

Laminar Flow
At low velocities, fluids tend to flow without lateral mixing, and adjacent layers slide past one
another as playing cards do.
-

No cross-currents

No eddies

Rheological Properties of Fluids

Newtonian fluids:

- A straight line passing through the origin.

- Gases and most liquids are Newtonian.

Non Newtonian fluids:

- Bingham plastics: Sewage sludge
- Pseudoplastic fluid: Rubber latex
- Dilatant fluid: Quicksand, sand-filled emulsions

Viscosity
In a Newtonian fluid, the shear stress is proportional to the shear rate, and the
proportionality constant is called the viscosity:

Shear stress

Viscosity

Thank You

Tutorial 1
1. A 100-L container is filled with 1 kg of air at a temperature of 27C. What is the
pressure in the container?
2. The air in an automobile tire with a volume of 0.0740 m3 is at 30C and 140 kPa gauge.
Determine the amount of air that must be added to raise the pressure to the
recommended value of 210 kPa gauge. Assume the atmospheric pressure to be 100 kPa
and the volume to remain constant.
3. Determine the vapor pressure of water at temperature of 67C.