CHE222

FLUID MECHANICS
(2020-2021 Spring Semester)
4-5th Weeks
• Fluid flow
• Transfer in molecular level
• Velocity gradient
• Viscosity
• Types of fluids
• Boundary layer
• Boundary layer separation
• Equivalent diameter
Fluid flow

• The behavior of a flowing fluid depends strongly on whether or not the

fluid is under the influence of solid boundaries.

• In the region where the influence of the wall is small, the shear stress
may be negligible and the fluid behavior may approach that of an ideal
fluid, one that is incompressible and has zero viscosity.

• The flow of such an ideal fluid is called potential flow and is completely
described by the principles of newtonian mechanics and conservation of
mass.
• Within the current of an incompressible fluid under the influence of
solid boundaries, four important effects appear:
(1) the coupling of velocity-gradient and shear-stress fields,
(2) the onset of turbulence,
(3) the formation and growth of boundary layers,
(4) the separation of boundary layers from contact with the solid
boundary.
The Velocity Field
• When a stream of fluid is flowing in bulk past a solid wall, the fluid adheres to
the solid at the actual interface between solid and fluid.
• If, therefore, the wall is at rest in the reference frame chosen for the solid-fluid
system, the velocity of the fluid at the interface is zero.
• Since at distances away from the solid the velocity is finite, there must be
variations in velocity from point to point in the flowing stream. Therefore, the
velocity at any point is a function of the space coordinates of that point, and a
velocity field exists in the space occupied by the fluid. The velocity at a given
location may also vary with time.
• When the velocity at each location is constant, the field is invariant with time
and the flow is said to be steady.
One-dimensional flow
• Velocity is a vector, and in general, the velocity at a point has three
components, one for each space coordinate.
• In many simple situations all velocity vectors in the field are parallel or
practically so, and only one velocity component, which may be taken as
a scalar, is required. This situation, which obviously is much simpler than
the general vector field, is called one-dimensional flow; an example is
steady flow through straight pipe.
Laminar Flow
• At low velocities fluids tend to flow without lateral mixing, and
adjacent layers slide past one another like playing cards.
• There are neither cross-currents nor eddies.
• This regime is called laminar flow.
• At higher velocities turbulence appears and eddies form, which, lead
to lateral mixing.
Velocity Gradient and Rate of Shear

• Consider the steady one-dimensional laminar flow of an incompressible fluid along a solid plane surface(Figure
3.1).
• The abscissa u is the velocity, and the ordinate y is the distance measured perpendicular from the wall and
therefore at right angles to the direction of the velocity.
• At y=0, u = 0, and u increases with distance from the wall but at a decreasing rate.
• Focus attention on the velocities on two nearby planes, plane A and plane B, a distance Δy apart.
• Let the velocities along the planes be uA and uB, respectively, and assume that
uA>uB. Call Δu= uA-uB. Define the velocity gradient at yA, du/dy, by

• The velocity gradient is clearly the reciprocal of the slope of the velocity profile
of Fig. 3.1a.
• The local velocity gradient is also called the shear rate, or time rate of shear.
• The velocity gradient is usually a function of position in the stream and
therefore defines a field, as illustrated in Fig. 3.1b.
The Shear-stress Field
• For example, at plane C at distance yC from the wall, the shear force FS,
shown in Fig. 3.1a, acts in the direction shown in the figure. This force
is exerted by the fluid outside of plane C on the fluid between plane C
and the wall.
• By Newton's third law, an equal and opposite force, -FS, acts on the
fluid outside of plane C from the fluid inside plane C. It is convenient
to use, not total force FS, but the force per unit area of the shearing
plane, called the shear stress and denoted by τ, or
• where AS is the area of the plane.
• Since τ varies with y, the shear stress also constitutes a field.
• Shear forces are generated in both laminar and turbulent flow.
• The shear stress arising from viscous or laminar flow is denoted by τv
Newtonian And Non-Newtonian Fluids

• The relationships between the

shear stress and shear rate in a
real fluid are part of the science
of rheology.
• Figure 3.2 shows several
examples of the rheological
behavior of fluids.
Viscosity of Fluids

1. Newton’s Law of Viscosity

• When a fluid is flowing through a closed channel such as a pipe or between two
flat plates, one of two main types of fluid flow behavior will usually occur.
• The type of fluid-flow behavior is dependent on the fluid’s properties and the
channel itself, but quite commonly the fluid velocity will be a deciding factor for
the type of flow.
• At low velocities, the fluid tends to flow without lateral mixing, and adjacent
layers slide past one another like playing cards. There are no cross-currents
perpendicular to the direction of flow nor are there eddies, which are swirling
packets of fluid. This flow regime or type of flow behavior is called laminar flow.
• At higher velocities, eddies form, which leads to lateral mixing. This is called
turbulent flow.
• Viscosity is that property of a fluid that gives rise to forces that resist the relative movement of adjacent layers in the fluid. Sometimes, the
property of viscosity is conceptualized as the fluid’s “resistance” to flow, or deformation. These viscous forces arise from forces existing
between the molecules in the fluid and are similar in character to the shear forces in solids.
• The concepts above can be clarified by a more quantitative discussion of viscosity. In Fig. 3.1-1, a fluid is contained between two infinite (very
long and very wide) parallel plates.
• Suppose that the bottom plate is moving parallel to the top plate and at a constant velocity Δvz m/s faster relative to the top plate because of a
steady force F (newtons) being applied. This force is called the viscous drag force and it arises from the viscous forces in the fluid.
• The plates are Δy m apart. Each layer of liquid moves in the z direction.
• The layer immediately adjacent to the bottom plate is carried along at the velocity of this plate. The layer just above is at a slightly slower
velocity and each layer moves at a slower velocity as we progress up in the y direction. This velocity profile is linear in the y direction, as shown
in Fig. 3.1-1. An analogy to a fluid is a deck of playing cards where, if the bottom card is moved, all the other cards above it will slide to some
extent.
• It has been found experimentally that for many fluids the force F, in
newtons, N, is directly proportional to the velocity Δvz in m/s and to
the area A in m2 of the plate used, and is inversely proportional to the
distance Δy in m.
• When the flow is laminar, the force can be calculated using Newton’s
law of viscosity:
• where μ is a proportionality constant called the viscosity (or dynamic
viscosity) of the fluid, in Pa.s or kg/m.s.
• If we let Δy approach zero, then, using the definition of the derivative,
• where τyz = F/A and is the shear stress or force per unit area exerted
in the y-direction by fluid flowing in the z-direction in Newtons/m2
(N/m2). In the cgs system, F is in dynes, μ is in g/cm.s, vz in cm/s, and
y is in cm.
• We can also write Eq. (3.1-2) as

where ᵀyz is in units of lbf/ft2.

• The unit of viscosity in the cgs system is g/cm .s, which is also called
poise. More commonly, the unit centipoise is used for viscosity in the
cgs system. In the SI system, viscosity is given in Pa .s (N.s/m2 or kg/m
.s):
Kinematic viscosity
• The ratio of the absolute/dynamic viscosity to the density of a fluid,
µ/ρ, is often useful. This property is called the kinematic viscosity and
designated by ѵ. In the SI system, the unit for ѵ is square meters per
second. In the cgs system, the kinematic viscosity is called the stoke(St),
defined as 1 cm2/s, The fps unit is square feet per second. Conversion
factors are
1 m2/s = 104 St = 10.7639 ft2/s
2. Momentum Transfer in a Fluid
• The shear stress τyz in Eqs. (3.1-1)–(3.1-3) can also be interpreted as a
flux of z-directed momentum in the y direction, which is the rate of
momentum per unit area. The units of momentum are mass times
velocity in kg.m/s.
• Thus, the shear stress can also be written as
3. Viscosities of Newtonian Fluids
• Fluids that follow Newton’s law of viscosity, which is represented by Eqs.
(3.1-1)–(3.1-3), are called Newtonian fluids. For a Newtonian fluid, there is
a linear relationship between the shear stress τyz and the velocity gradient
dvz/dy (rate of shear). This means that the viscosity μ is a constant and is
independent of the rate of shear.
• Fluids that don’t observe this behavior are known as non-Newtonian
fluids. For non-Newtonian fluids, the relation between τyz and dvz/dy is not
linear. In this case, the viscosity μ does not remain constant, but is often a
function of the shear rate.
Table 3.1-1. Viscosities of Some Gases and Liquids at 101.32 kPa Pressure
• The viscosity of gases, which are Newtonian fluids, increases with increasing temperature
and is approximately independent of pressure up to a pressure of about 1000 kPa. At higher
pressures, the viscosity of gases increases with increase in pressure. For example, the
viscosity of N2 gas at 298 K approximately doubles when going from 100 kPa to about 5 × 104
kPa (R1). For liquids, the viscosity decreases with increasing temperature.
• Since liquids are essentially incompressible, their viscosities are usually not affected by
pressure. In Table 3.1-1, some experimental viscosity data are given for a few typical pure
fluids at 101.32 kPa.
• The viscosities for gases are the lowest and do not differ markedly from gas to gas (about
one order of magnitude), being about 5 × 10–6 to 3 × 10–5 Pa · s.
• The viscosities for liquids are much greater. The value for water at 293 K is about 1 × 10–3 Pa ·
s and for glycerol 1.069 Pa · s. At room temperature, the viscosity of water is approximately 1
cP. Hence, there are great differences between the viscosities of liquids at the same
temperature.
• More complete tables of viscosities are given for water in Appendix A.2, for inorganic and
organic liquids and gases in Appendix A.3, and for biological and food liquids in Appendix A.4.
Types of Fluid Flow and Reynolds Number
1. Introduction and Types of Fluid Flow
• These overall or macroscopic balances will be applied to a control volume that is
fixed in space.
• We use the term “overall” because we wish to apply these balances from
outside the control volume. The changes inside the control volumes are
determined in terms of the properties of the streams entering and leaving as
well as the exchanges of energy between the control volumes and their
surroundings. When making overall balances on mass, energy, and momentum,
we are often not interested in the details of what occurs inside the enclosure.
For example, in an overall balance, average inlet and outlet velocities are
considered.
• However, in a differential balance, the velocity distribution inside an enclosure
can be obtained by the use of Newton’s law of viscosity.
2. Laminar and Turbulent Flow
• The type of flow occurring in a fluid moving in a channel is important for many
fluid dynamics problems. When fluids flow through a closed channel of any
cross section (e.g., circular or rectangular), either of two distinct types of flow
can be observed, according to the conditions present.These two types of flow
can commonly be seen in a flowing open stream or river.
• When the velocity of the fluid is relatively slow, the flow patterns are smooth.
• However, when the velocity is quite high, an unstable pattern is observed. In
this case, eddies, or small packets of fluid particles, are present, moving in all
directions and at all angles to the normal direction of flow.
In his experiments, water was allowed to flow at a
constant flowrate through a transparent pipe. A thin,
steady stream of dyed water was introduced from a fine
jet, as shown, and its flow pattern observed. At low rates
of water flow, the dye pattern was regular and formed a
single line or stream similar to a thread, as shown in Fig.
3.2-1a. This type of flow is called laminar or viscous flow.
As the velocity was increased, it was found that at a
definite velocity the thread of dye became dispersed
and the pattern was very erratic, as shown in Fig. 3.2-1b.
This type of flow is known as turbulent flow. The velocity
at which the flow changes from laminar flow to
turbulent flow is known as the critical velocity.
3. Reynolds Number
• Studies have shown that the transition from laminar to turbulent flow in tubes is
not only a function of velocity but also of the density and viscosity of the fluid,
and the size of the tube’s diameter. These variables can be combined into a
dimensionless number known as the Reynolds number:

• where NRe is the Reynolds number, D is the diameter in m, ρ is the fluid density in
kg/m3, μ is the fluid viscosity in Pa.s, and v is the average velocity of the fluid in
m/s (where average velocity is defined as the volumetric rate of flow divided by
the cross-sectional area of the pipe).
• Units in the cgs system are D in cm, ρ in g/cm3, μ in g/cm.s, and v in cm/s. In the
English system D is in ft, ρ is in lbm/ft3, μ is in lbm/ft · s, and v is in ft/s.
• For a straight circular pipe, when the value of the Reynolds number is
less than 2100, the flow is always laminar. When the value is over
4000, the flow will be turbulent, except in very special cases. In
between—called the transition region—the flow can be viscous or
turbulent, depending upon the apparatus details, which cannot be
predicted.
Example(McCabe, 3.1)

For the following situations of steady flow, determine whether flow is

laminar or turbulent:
(a) water at l0 °C flowing at an average velocity of 2 m/s in a 100-mm pipe;
(b) air at 2 atın pressure and lSO'F flowing at 50 ft/s in a 12-in. duct;
(c) oil with a specific gravity of 0.78 and a viscosity of 20 cP flowing at 5 ft/s
in a 2-in. pipe;
(d) polymer melt with a density of 900 kg/m' and a viscosity of 1 Pa-s flowing
at 0.2 m/s in a 15-mm tube.
Flow In Boundary Layers
• A boundary layer is defined as that part of a moving fluid in which the fluid motion is
influenced by the presence of a solid boundary. As a specific example of boundary-layer
formation, consider the flow of fluid parallel with a thin plate, as shown in Fig. 3.6.
 steady two-dimensional laminar flow past a flat plate

the velocity profiles have similar shapes, but are “stretched”

more in the y direction the further the distance from the leading edge
• The velocity of the fluid upstream from the leading edge of the plate is
uniform across the entire fluid stream.
• The velocity of the fluid at the interface between the solid and fluid is zero.
• The velocity increases with distance from the plate, as shown in Fig. 3.6.
• Each of these curves corresponds to a definite value of x, the distance from
the leading edge of the plate.
• The curves change slope rapidly near the plate; they also show that the
local velocity approaches asymptotically the velocity of the bulk of the fluid
stream.
• In Fig. 3.6 the dashed line OL is so drawn that the velocity changes are
confined between this line and the trace of the wall. Because the velocity
lines are asymptotic with respect to distance from the plate, it is assumed,
in order to locate the dashed line definitely, that the line passes through all
points where the velocity is 99 percent of the bulk fluid velocity .
• Line OL represents an imaginary surface that separates the fluid stream
into two parts: one in which the fluid velocity is constant and the other in
which the velocity varies from zero at the wall to a velocity substantially
equal to that of the undisturbed fluid.
• This imaginary surface separates the fluid that is directly affected by the
plate from that in which the local velocity is constant and equal to the
initial velocity of the approach fluid. The zone, or layer, between the
dashed line and the plate constitutes the boundary layer.
Laminar And Turbulent Flow In Boundary Layers
• The fluid velocity at the solid-fluid interface is zero, and the velocities
close to the solid surface are, of necessity, small.
• Flow in this part of the boundary layer very near the surface therefore is
essentially laminar. Actually it is laminar most of the time, but
occasionally eddies from the main portion of the flow or the outer region
of the boundary layer move very close to the wall, temporarily disrupting
the velocity profile. These eddies may have little effect on the average
velocity profile near the wall, but they can have a large effect on the
profiles of temperature or concentration when heat or mass is being
transferred to or from the wall. This effect is most pronounced for mass
transfer in liquids.
• Farther away from the surface the fluid velocities, though less than the
velocity of the undisturbed fluid, may be fairly large, and flow in this part of
the boundary layer may become turbulent.
• Between the zone of fully developed turbulence and the region of laminar
flow is a transition, or buffer, layer of intermediate character.
• Thus a turbulent boundary layer is considered to consist of three zones:
○ the viscous sublayer,
○ the buffer layer,
○ the turbulent zone.
• The existence of a completely viscous sublayer is questioned by some,
since mass transfer studies suggest that some eddies penetrate all the way
through the boundary layer and reach the wall.
• Near the leading edge of a flat plate immersed in a fluid of uniform velocity, the boundary layer is
thin, and the flow in the boundary Iayer is entirely laminar. As the layer thickens, however, at
distances farther from the leading edge, a point is reached where turbulence appears. The onset of
turbulence is characterized by a sudden rapid increase in the thickness of the boundary layer, as
shown in Fig. 3.7.
Transition from laminar to turbulent flow, Reynolds number
• The factors that determine the point at which turbulence appears in a
laminar boundary layer are coordinated by the dimensionless
Reynolds number defined by the equation
• With parallel flow along a plate, turbulent flow first appears at a
critical Reynolds number between about 105 and 3 x 106.
• The transition occurs at the lower Reynolds numbers when the plate
is rough and the intensity of turbulence in the approaching stream is
high and at the higher values when the plate is smooth and the
intensity of turbulence in the approaching stream is low.
Boundary-layer Formation In Straight Tubes

• Consider a straight thin-walled tube with fluid entering it at a uniform velocity. As

shown in Fig. 3.8, a boundary layer begins to form at the entrance to the tube, and as
the fluid moves through the first part of the channel, the layer thickens. During this
stage the boundary layer occupies only part of the cross section of the tube, and the
total stream consists of a core of fluid flowing in rodlike manner at constant velocity and
an annular boundary layer between the wall and the core.
• In the boundary layer the velocity increases from zero at the wall to
the constant velocity existing in the core. As the stream moves farther
down the tube, the boundary layer occupies an increasing portion of
the cross section.
• Finally, at a point well downstream from the entrance, the boundary
layer reaches the center of the tube, the rodlike core disappears, and
the boundary layer occupies the entire cross section of the stream. At
this point the velocity distribution in the tube reaches its final form,
as shown by the last curve at the right of Fig. 3.8, and remains
unchanged during the remaining length of the tube. Such flow with
an unchanging velocity distribution is called fully developed flow.
Transition length for laminar and turbulent flow
• The length of the entrance region of the tube necessary for the
boundary layer to reach the center of the tube and for fully developed
flow to be established is called the transition length. Since the velocity
varies not only with length of tube but with radial distance from the
center of the tube, flow in the entrance region is two dimensional.
• The approximate length of straight pipe necessary for completion of the
final velocity distribution is, for laminar flow.
• Thus for a 50mm(2in.) ID pipe and a Reynolds number of 1500 the
transition length is 3.75m(12.3ft).
• If the fluid entering the pipe is turbulent and the velocity in the tube is
above the critical, the transition length is nearly independent of the
Reynolds number and is about 40 to 50 pipe diameters, with little
difference between the distribution at 25 diameters and that at greater
distances from the entrance.
• For a 50mm ID pipe, 2 to 3 m of straight pipe is sufficient when flow is all
turbulent. If the fluid entering the tube ıs ın laminar flow and becomes
turbulent on entering the tube, a longer transition length, as large as 100
pipe diameters, is needed.
Example(McCabe, 3.4.)

(a) Estimate the transition length at the entrance to a 15-mm tube

through which 100 percent glycerol at 60oC is flowing at a velocity
of 0.3 m/s. The density of glycerol is 1240 kg/m'.
(b) Repeat part (a) for 100 percent n-propyl alcohol entering a 3-in.
Pipe at 30oC and a velocity of 7 ft/s. The density of n-propyl alcohol
is 50 lb/ft3
Boundary-layer Separation And Wake
Formation
• Now consider what happens at the far
side of a submerged object, where
the fluid leaves the solid surface.
• At the trailing edge of a flat plate that
is parallel to the direction of flow, the
boundary layers on the two sides of
the plate have grown to a maximum
thickness. For a time after the fluid
leaves the plate, the layers and
velocity gradients persist. Soon,
however, the gradients fade out; the
boundary layers intermingle and
disappear, and the fluid once more
moves with a uniform velocity. This is
shown in Fig. 3.9a.
• Suppose, now, the plate is turned at right angles to the direction of
flow, as in Fig. 3.9b. A boundary layer forms as before in the fluid
flowing over the upstream face. When the fluid reaches the edge of
the plate, however, its momentum prevents it from making the sharp
turn around the edge and it separates from the plate and proceeds
outward into the bulk of the fluid. Behind the plate is a backwater
zone of strongly decelerated fluid, in which large eddies, called
vortices, are formed. This zone is known as the wake. The eddies in
the wake are kept in motion by the shear stresses between the wake
and the separated current. They consume considerable mechanical
energy and may lead to a large pressure loss in the fluid.
• Boundary-layer separation occurs whenever the change in velocity of the fluid, either
in magnitude or direction, is too large far the fluid to adhere to the solid surface.
• It is most frequently encountered when there is an abrupt change in the flow channel,
like a sudden expansion or contraction, a sharp bend, or an obstruction around which
the fluid must flow.
• Separation may also occur from velocity decrease in a smoothly diverging
channel.(Chap. 5, page 110)
• Because of the large energy losses resulting from the formation of a wake, it is often
desirable to minimize or prevent boundary-layer separation.
• In some cases this can be done by suction, i.e., by drawing part of the fluid into the
solid surface at the area of potential separation. Most often, however, separation is
minimized by avoiding sharp changes in the cross-sectional area of the flow channel
and by streamlining any objects over which the fluid must flow. For some purposes,
such as the promotion of heat transfer or mixing in a fluid, boundary-layer separation
may be desirable.