UNIT-I

Properties of Fluids
 Outline
 Different branches of Fluid Mechanics
 What is a Fluid?
 Property and types
 Concept of Continuum
 Density
 Specific gravity/Relative density
 Specific weight
 Syllabus Contents

Definition of fluid, concept of continuum, density, specific weight,

specific gravity, viscosity, viscosity laws, types of fluid and
rheology, measurement of viscosity, application based numerical
on viscosity-flow through pipe, lubrication, bearing, brake fluids,
parallel plates, rotating shafts etc. vapor pressure, surface
tension, capillarity, compressibility
Fluid Mechanics • The science that deals with the behavior of fluids at rest or in motion

Fluid Statics • Deals with the fluids at rest

Fluid Dynamics • Deals with the fluids in motion

• The study of the motion of fluids that are practically incompressible

Hydrodynamics (such as liquids, especially water, and gases at low speeds)

• Deals with the flow of fluids that undergo significant density changes,
Gas Dynamics such as the flow of gases through nozzles at high speeds

• Deals with the flow of gases (especially air) over bodies such as aircraft,
Aerodynamics rockets, and automobiles at high or low speeds

Meteorology
Oceanography • Specialized categories dealing with naturally occurring flows
Hydrology
 What is a Fluid?

(a) molecules are at (b) groups of (c) molecules move

relatively fixed molecules move about at random in
positions in a solid about each other in the gas phase
the liquid phase
 What is a Fluid?

 A solid can resist an applied shear stress by deforming a fluid

cannot
 Definition: A fluid is a substance that deforms continuously
under the influence of shear stress, no matter how small it is
 A substance in the liquid or gas phase is referred to as a fluid
 In solids stress is proportional to strain, but in fluids stress is
proportional to strain rate
 What is a Fluid?

• Relatively close- • Widely spaced

packed molecules molecules with
with strong negligible
cohesive forces cohesive force
• Tends to retain its • Free to
volume expand until it
• Will form a free encounters
surface in a confining walls
gravitational field • No definite
if unconfined from volume
above
 Property
• Property: Any characteristic of a system.
• Some familiar properties are pressure P, temperature T,
volume V, and mass m.
• Properties are considered to be either intensive or
extensive.
• Intensive properties: Those that are independent of the
mass of a system, such as temperature, pressure, and
density.
• Extensive properties: Those whose values depend on
the size—or extent—of the system (Total mass, total
volume etc.)
• Specific properties: Extensive properties per unit
mass (e.g. specific volume) Criterion to differentiate
intensive and extensive
properties.
 Continuum
 Matter is made up of atoms that are widely spaced in the gas
phase

 Yet it is very convenient to disregard the atomic nature of a

substance and view it as a continuous, homogeneous matter
with no holes, That is, a continuum.

 The continuum idealization allows us to treat properties as

point functions and to assume that the properties vary
continually in space with no jump discontinuities.
Despite the large gaps
 This idealization is valid as long as the size of the system we between molecules, a
deal with is large relative to the space between the molecules substance can be treated as
a continuum because of the
very large number of
 This is the case in practically all problems, except some molecules even in an
specialized ones extremely small volume
 Density (ρ)

 Defined as mass per unit volume

 ρ = m/Ʋ
 Unit is kg/m3
 The reciprocal of density is the specific volume ʋ, which is
defined as volume per unit mass
 ʋ = 1/ρ
 Density (ρ)
 The density of a substance, in general, depends on temperature and pressure
 The density of most gases is proportional to pressure and inversely proportional to
temperature
 Liquids and solids are essentially incompressible substances, and the variation of their
density with pressure is usually negligible
 For example, at 20°C, the density of water changes from 998 kg/m3 at 1 atm to 1003
kg/m3 at 100 atm, a change of just 0.5 percent
 The density of liquids and solids depends more strongly on temperature than it does on
pressure
 At 1 atm, for example, the density of water changes from 998 kg/m3 at 20°C to 975 kg/m3
at 75°C, a change of 2.3 percent, which can still be neglected in many engineering
analyses
 Specific gravity or Relative density (SG or S)
 Defined as the ratio of density of a fluid to
the density of some standard fluid
 For liquids, the standard fluid is water
(ρ=1000 kg/m3)
 SGliquids = ρliquid / ρwater
 For gases, the standard fluid is air
(ρ=1.205 kg/m3)
 SGgas = ρgas / ρair

 Dimensionless quantity
 Specific weight (γ)

 Defined as the weight of a unit volume of a

substance
 γ = Weight / Volume
 Unit is N/m3
 Expressed as
 γ=ρg