20ME205T – Fluid Mechanics

Properties of Fluid
Dr. Rajesh Patel
Mechanical Engineering Department
School of Technology
Pandit Deendayal Energy University
 Properties of Fluid
Density: The density of a substance is that quantity of matter
contained in unit volume of the substance.
Mass Density(): It is defined as the mass of the substance per
unit volume.
M

V

The density of water at 4ºC is

1000 kg/m3 [1 kg/l] [1 g/cm3]

The density of air at 0ºC and 1 atm

of pressure is 1.293 kg/m3
 Properties of Fluid
Specific Weight (Weight Density) – (w): It is defined as the weight of
the substance per unit volume.
w  g
The specific weight will vary from point to point, according to the local
value of gravitational acceleration g

Specific Gravity (Relative Density) – (s): It is defined is defined as the

ratio of the mass density of a substance to mass density of some
standard fluid at STP.
 fluid
s
 s tan dard _ Fluid
For gases, the standard density may be that of air or of hydrogen at
standard temperature and pressure, while for liquid, density of water at
atmospheric pressure and 4 C
 Properties of Fluid
Variation in Density:
 The volume of the liquid varies very slightly with due to change in temperature
and pressure, all practical purpose it can be neglected, hence liquid can be
considered as incompressible fluid.
 But, a gas undergoes considerable change in volume due to change in
temperature and pressure, hence, gas is a compressible fluid.

NOTE: Incompressibility does not mean constant density. i.e. A mixture of

salt in water changes the density of water without change in its
volume.
 Properties of Fluid
Viscosity(µ): It is a quantitative measure of fluid’s resistance to flow.

The viscosity is a measure of “Fluidity” of fluid. A fluid can not resist a

shear and under shear begins to flow.
 Properties of Fluid

A fluid can not resist a shear and under

shear begins to flow. The shearing stress
and shearing strain can be related with

du
 
dy
No Slip
Known as Newton’s Law of
Condition
Viscosity

 is the absolute viscosity or dynamics viscosity of the fluid, u is the velocity of the fluid
and y is the vertical coordinate as shown in the schematic
 Temperature effect of Fluid Viscosity
 Both molecular interchange and cohesion contribute to
Viscosity of Liquid:
viscous shear stress in liquids.
 The effect of increasing the temperature of a fluid is to
reduce the cohesive forces while simultaneously
increasing the rate of molecular interchange.

 The reduction in cohesive force tends to cause a decrease of shear stress, while
the interchange of molecules causes it to increase. The net result is that liquids
show a reduction in viscosity with increasing temperature which is of the forms;

where μT is the viscosity at T °C, μ0 is the viscosity at 0 °C and A1 and B1

are constants depending upon the liquid. For water, μ0 = 0.0179 P, A1 =
0.033 68 and B1 = 0.000 22
 Temperature effect of Fluid
Viscosity
Viscosity of Gases:  If the temperature of a gas increases, increases the
random molecular motion in all directions and the
molecular interchange will increase. The viscosity of a
gas will, therefore, increase as the temperature
increases.

n
 T 
 
0  T0 

Where µ0 is the viscosity at T0 and “n” is constant of gas (0.7 for air)
 Classification of Fluids
If the shear stress of a fluid is directly proportional to
Newtonian Fluid:
the velocity gradient, the fluid is said to be a Newtonian
fluid. E.g. air, water, and oil,

Non-Newtonian Fluid: Non-Newtonian fluids, with shear stress versus strain

rate relationships is not linear

Dilatant: Substances, in which dynamic

viscosity increases as the rate of shear
increases i.e. become more resistant to
motion as the strain rate increases (e.g.
quicksand, slurries).

Pseudo-plastic: Substances, in which

dynamic viscosity decreases as the rate of
shear increases. i.e. It become less resistant
to motion with increased strain rate (e.g.
colloidal solutions, clay, milk, cement).
 Classification of Fluids
Plastic: Substance, for which the shear stress must reach a certain minimum value
before flow commences. Thereafter, shear stress increases with the rate of shear
according to the relationship
n Where A, B and n are constants. If n=1, fluid
 du 
  A B  is known as Ideal plastic or Bingham Fluid.
e.g. Clay suspensions, sewage sludge and
 dy 
toothpaste

Ideal Fluid: In analyzing some of the

problems arising in fluid mechanics we shall
have cause to consider the behavior of fluid,
which is assumed to have no viscosoty.
 Compressibility
Compressibility: Compressibility of any substance is the measure of its
change in volume under the action of external forces.

All fluids compress if the pressure increases, resulting in a decrease in volume or

an increase in density. A common way to describe the compressibility of a fluid is by
the following definition of the bulk modulus of elasticity (K)

Bulk Modulus of Elasticity (K): The ratio of change in pressure to relative

change in volume.

dp dp
K  
dV / V d  / 
 Compressibility of Fluid
Coefficient of compressibility: It is defined as relative change in volume
per unit pressure while temperature remains constant

1 dV 1
C   
V dP K

 To cause a 1% change in the density of water a pressure of 21 Mpa (210 atm) is

required. This is an extremely large pressure needed to cause such a small
change; thus liquids are often assumed to be incompressible.

 For gases, if significant changes in density occur, say 4%, they should be
considered as compressible; for small density changes under 3% they may also
be treated as incompressible.
 For atmospheric airspeeds under about 100 m/s (220 mph) is a example of
compressible fluid flow, which includes many airflows of engineering interest:
air flow around automobiles, landing and take-off of aircraft, and air flow in and
around buildings.
 Surface Tension
Cohesion is the property of the fluid by virtue of which fluid molecules
are connected with each other so as to form a continuous mass.
Adhesion is the property of the fluid by virtue of which fluid adheres
another body that comes in its contact.
 Surface Tension
Surface tension is a property that results from the attractive forces between molecules.
Although all molecules are in constant motion, a
molecule within the body of the liquid is attracted equally
in all directions by the other molecules surrounding it,
but, at the surface between liquid and air, or the interface
between one substance and another, the upward and
downward attractions are unbalanced, the surface
molecules being pulled inward towards the bulk of the
liquid.
This effect causes the liquid surface to behave as if it
were an elastic membrane under tension.

A quantum of energy/work is expended to bring the molecules to free surface. The energy
expended per unit area of the surface is called Surface Tension.
 Surface Tension
 The effect of surface tension is to reduce the surface of a free body of liquid
to a minimum, since to expand the surface area molecules have to be
brought to the surface from the bulk of the liquid against the unbalanced
attraction pulling the surface molecules inwards.

 For this reason, drops of liquid tend to take a spherical shape in order to
minimize surface area. Surface tension is also responsible for the creation of
the drops and bubbles. It also responsible for the breakage of a liquid jet into
other medium/phase to many drops (atomization).
Surface Tension