Lecture 3b

KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

CHE 255: FLUID TRANSPORT
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. (Mrs.) Mizpah A. D. Rockson
LECTURE 3b: THE OVERALL MASS BALANCE
Learning Objectives
At the end of the lecture the student is expected to understand and define the following:
 Flow rate – mass flow rate and volume flow rate

 Mean velocity
 Applications of continuity equation
Flow Rate
a. Mass Flow rate
If we want to measure the rate at which water is flowing along a pipe. A very simple way of doing this is
to catch all the water coming out of the pipe in a bucket over a fixed time period. Measuring the weight
of the water in the bucket and dividing this by the time taken to collect this water gives a rate of
accumulation of mass. This is known as the mass flow rate.
For example an empty bucket weighs 2.0 kg. After 7 seconds of collecting water the bucket weighs 8.0
kg, then:
̇
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡 8.0 − 2.0
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝑚 = = = 0.857 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑠
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 7
Performing a similar calculation, if we know the mass flow is 1.7 kg/s, how long will it take to fill a container
with 8 kg of fluid?
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 8
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 = = = 4.7𝑠
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 1.7
b. Volume Flow Rate – Discharge
More commonly we need to know the volume flow rate - this is more commonly known as discharge.
(It is also commonly simply called flow rate). The symbol normally used for discharge is Q. The
discharge is the volume of fluid flowing per unit time. Multiplying this by the density of the fluid gives
us the mass flow rate. Consequently, if the density of the fluid in the above example is 850 kg/m3 then:
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 0.857

𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒, 𝑄 = = = =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 × 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 850
= 0.001008 𝑚3 ⁄𝑠 = 1.008 × 10−3 𝑚3 ⁄𝑠
1
Discharge and Mean Velocity
If we know the size of a pipe, and we know the discharge, we can deduce the mean velocity
If the area of cross section of the pipe at point X is A, and the mean velocity here is um . During a time t, a
cylinder of fluid will pass point X with a volume A x um x t. The volume per unit time (the discharge) will thus
be
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝐴 × 𝑢𝑚 × 𝑡
𝑄= = = 𝐴𝑢𝑚
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡
So if the cross-section area, A, is 1.2 x 10-3m2 and the discharge, Q is 24 l / s , then the mean velocity, um , of the
fluid is
𝑄 2.4 × 10−3
𝑢𝑚 = = = 2.0 𝑚⁄𝑠
𝐴 1.2 × 10−3
Note how carefully we have called this the mean velocity. This is because the velocity in the pipe is not
constant across the cross section. Crossing the centre line of the pipe, the velocity is zero at the walls increasing
to a maximum at the centre then decreasing symmetrically to the other wall. This variation across the section is
known as the velocity profile or distribution. A typical one is shown in the figure below.
This idea, that mean velocity multiplied by the area gives the discharge, applies to all situations - not just pipe
flow.
2
Continuity
Matter cannot be created or destroyed - (it is simply changed in to a different form of matter). This principle is
known as the conservation of mass and we use it in the analysis of flowing fluids. The principle is applied to
fixed volumes, known as control volumes (or surfaces), like that in the figure below:
For any control volume the principle of conservation of mass says
This can be applied to a streamtube such as that shown below. No fluid flows across the boundary made by the
streamlines so mass only enters and leaves through the two ends of this streamtube section.
3
Some example applications
We can apply the principle of continuity to pipes with cross sections which change along their length. Consider
the diagram below of a pipe with a contraction:
4
A liquid is flowing from left to right and the pipe is narrowing in the same direction. By the continuity
principle, the mass flow rate must be the same at each section - the mass going into the pipe is equal to the mass
going out of the pipe. So we can write:
𝐴1 𝑢1 𝜌1 = 𝐴2 𝑢2 𝜌2
(with the sub-scripts 1 and 2 indicating the values at the two sections)
As we are considering a liquid, usually water, which is not very compressible, the density changes very little so
we can say r1 = r2 = r. This also says that the volume flow rate is constant or that
Discharge at section 1 = Discharge at section 2

Q1= Q2
A1 u1 =A2 u2
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KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

LECTURE 3b: THE OVERALL MASS BALANCE

 Flow rate – mass flow rate and volume flow rate

a. Mass Flow rate

b. Volume Flow Rate – Discharge

𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 0.857

For any control volume the principle of conservation of mass says

Discharge at section 1 = Discharge at section 2

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