The transport of fluids through valves, hydraulic machinery and

pipes is of general interest to the mechanical engineer, because, in

7 Flow of Fluids the process of the movement of liquids, pressures are developed.
This means that stresses are generated in the materials being used
and consequently design becomes the important aspect. Storage of
liquids is another engineering problem; this will not be the concern
in this section, but consideration of storage cannot, in general, be
ignored.
It is from storage tanks and so on that flow of fluids takes place,
either in process lines or to positions where the fluid is required.
For example, coolants in machine tools, lubrication systems, water
supplies, refineries, and so on. In any flow situation, the flow is
regulated by fluid machinery, valves and to some extent in pipe
work. Before being able to carry out design it is important to be
able to calculate the pressure required to produce a given flow.
All liquids, when in a state of steady or unsteady flow, are
influenced by external and internal forces which resist flow. In the
following analyses internal forces, that is, forces due to the viscosity
of the fluid, are considered to be small enough to have a negligible
effect on the flow and are ignored. For example, the viscosity of
water at 20°C is 10- 3 Pas; indeed· water will be the main fluid used
in this study and the following information refers to water at 20oc.

Density= 998 kgjm 3

Absolute viscosity= 10- 3 Pas or N/m 2
Bulk modulus = 2.05 GPa

The study will not, of course, exclude other liquids, but it is

imperative that they have properties similar to those of water. It
should be noted that the value of bulk modulus allows the
assumption of the fluid being incompressible to be made. Volume
changes of the fluid during the flow are thus small and can be
ignored.

7.1 MECHANICS OF STEADY FLOW

A detailed study of fluid flow is complex and inevitably leads to the

use of coefficients (generally experimentally determined) in fluid
P. R. Lancaster et al., Mechanical Science III
© P. R. Lancaster and D. Mitchell 1977
106 MECHANICAL SCIENCE III

calculations. Flow can be streamline, turbulent or somewhere
between the two in an unstable state. The problems to be dealt with
here do not require knowledge of the type of flow that is occurring,
and flow in a single direction only will be considered.
A fundamental equation of flow was developed by Bernoulli
(around 1738) which relates the datum from where flow is reckoned
with velocity and pressure. It is of such importance that the
development of the theory should be outlined for full understand-
ing of its implications; its development relies on Newton's second
law of motion.
some arbitrary line aa so that one end L of the element is known in
position relative to the end K.
The volume of the element is A Jx where A is the cross-sectional
area. Its mass is therefore
M = pA dx
and this acts as shown in figure 7.1.
At the end L of the element let the pressure be p and because
there is flow let the pressure at end K be increased top+ Jp. The
pressure drop (positive or negative) across the element is thus

dp

,.,,
b
{~ dx

since the fluid is incompressible and there are no viscosity effects.

Resolve forces in the instantaneous x-direction
--.---
X
(1) due to pressure
dz

pA-(p+dp)A = -A dp
pA d::r:
(2) due to mass
z
a
- pAg dx sin ()
datum
///////77///T/T/7/7///T/77/7/ Therefore total force accelerating element is

Figure 7.1 -A dp- p Ag dx sin () = mass x acceleration

now
7.2 BERNOULLI'S EQUATION FOR THE STEADY FLOW
OF AN INCOMPRESSIBLE FLUID d 2x
mass x acceleration= pA dx- 2
dt
Consider an element of fluid flowing in the direction denoted by x
in figure 7.1. The path of the element can be curved and the x-axis and hence
moved to be parallel to the curve at all points along it. The faces of
the element at K and L are normal to the curve a b. Let the length of d 2x
-Adp-pAgdxsin () = pAdx- 2
the element be Jx and let () be the inclination of the x-axis with dt