Fluid Mechanics

Differential Relations of Fluid Flow

Dr. Ajoy D
Fellow, Institution of Engineers
 Fluid Kinematics
Lagrangian & Eulerian Descriptions of Fluid Flow.
The subject called kinematics concerns the study of
motion. In fluid dynamics, fluid kinematics is the study of
how fluids flows and how to describe fluid motion.
There are two distinct ways to describe fluid motion
 Lagrangian description
 Eulerian description (Preferred method in Fluid
Mechanics)
 Control Volume
A finite volume is defined, in a flow domain is defined as control
volume.
Define field variables, as functions of space and time, within the
control volume.
Field variables:-
 Pressure field:
 Velocity field:
 Acceleration field:
Collectively, these (and other) field variables define the flow field.
The velocity field can be expanded in Cartesian coordinates (x,
y, z) and unit vectors as,
 Unit Vector Fundamentals
Unit vector notation
 Partial & Total Derivative Operator

Acceleration of a fluid particle:

The dependent variable is a function of four independent

variables

Lagrangian
form

Here ∂ is the partial derivative operator and d is the total

derivative operator
 Velocity & Acceleration Vector
Newton’s second law applied to a fluid particle

Eulerian form
 Expression as a Field Variable

In Cartesian coordinates then, the components of the acceleration

vector are,
Difference between Lagrangian & Eulerian Approach

The difference between these two descriptions is made

clearer by imagining a person standing beside a river,
measuring its properties.
In the Lagrangian approach, he throws in a probe that
moves downstream with the water.
In the Eulerian approach, he anchors the probe at a fixed
location in the water.
Furthermore, experimental measurements are generally
more suited to the Eulerian description. In a wind tunnel, for
example, velocity or pressure probes are usually placed at
a fixed location in the flow, measuring V(x, y, z, t) or P(x,
y, z, t).
 The Acceleration Field of a Fluid
(From Frank & White)

The cartesian vector form of a velocity field that varies in

space and time:

To calculate the acceleration vector field a of the flow, we

compute the total time derivative of the velocity vector.

Since each scalar component (u, v, w) is a function of the

four variables (x, y, z, t), we use the chain rule to obtain
each scalar time derivative.
By definition, dx/dt is the local velocity component u, and
dy/dt = v, and dz/dt = w. Thus acceleration vectors

Summing these into a vector, we obtain the total

acceleration
 Conservation of Mass Principle
The conservation of mass principle for a control
volume can be expressed as: The net mass
transfer to or from a control volume during a
time interval ∆t is equal to the net change
(increase or decrease) in the total mass within Conservation
the control volume during ∆t. That is, of mass
principle
for an ordinary
bathtub.
Or,
Consider a control volume of arbitrary shape, as shown
below. The mass of a differential volume dV within the
control volume is dm = ρ dV. The total mass within the
control volume at any instant in time t is determined by
integration.
Total mass within the CV:

Rate of change of mass within the CV:

Derivation of Mass Flow Equation
Consider mass flow into or out of the control volume
through a differential area dA on the control surface of
a fixed control volume. In general, the velocity may
cross dA at an angle θ off the normal of dA, and the
mass flow rate is proportional to the normal component
of velocity,

Flow will be maximum when θ = 00 and will be zero

when θ = 900
 …continued….

The mass flow rate through dA is proportional to the

fluid density ρ, normal velocity Vn , and the flow area
dA, and can be expressed as;

The net flow rate into or out of the control volume

through the entire control surface is obtained by
integrating over the entire control surface,
 The Differential Equation of Mass
Conservation
Conservation of mass, often called the continuity relation,
states that the fluid mass cannot change.
All the basic differential equations can be derived by
considering an elemental control volume. We take an
infinitesimal fixed control volume, and use our basic control
volume relation.
 Elemental Volume
We choose an infinitesimal fixed control volume (dx, dy,
dz). The flow through each side of the element is
approximately one-dimensional, and so the appropriate
mass conservation relation to use here is
The flow through each side of the element is approximately
one-dimensional, and so the appropriate mass
conservation relation to use here is

We can list all these six flows as follows:

Substituting these terms into previous equation, we have

The element volume cancels out of all terms, leaving a

partial differential equation involving the derivatives of
density and velocity.

This is the desired result: conservation of mass for an

infinitesimal control volume. It is often called the equation
of continuity.
Using the vector gradient operator,

Enables us to rewrite the equation of continuity in a

compact form.

The compact form of the continuity relation is

 Steady Compressible Flow
If the flow is steady, ∂/∂t = 0 and all properties are functions
of position only. The equilibrium equation reduces to;

Since density and velocity are both variables, these are still
nonlinear and rather formidable, but a number of special
case solutions have been found.
 Incompressible Flow
When the density changes are negligible. Then ∂ρ/∂t ≈ 0
regardless of whether the flow is steady or unsteady, and
the density can be slipped out of the divergence and
divided out. The result is;

is valid for steady or unsteady incompressible flow. The

final equation is;
Practice Problem-1
A steady, incompressible, two-dimensional velocity
field is given by

where the x- and y-coordinates are in meters and

the magnitude of velocity is in m/s. A stagnation
point is defined as a point in the flow field where
the velocity is identically zero. (a) Determine if
there are any stagnation points in this flow field
and, if so, where?
Practice Problem-2
Under what conditions does the velocity field

where a1, b1, etc. = constant, represent an incompressible

flow that conserves mass?
Practice Problem-3
A centrifugal impeller of 40-cm diameter is used to
pump hydrogen at 150C and 1-atm pressure.
Estimate the maximum allowable impeller
rotational speed to avoid compressibility effects at
the blade tips.
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