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Roll No:
(To be filled in by the candidate)
PSG COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY, COIMBATORE - 641 004
SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS, MAY - 2016
BE / BE(SW) - PRODUCTION ENGINEERING Semester: 3/4
12P305 FLUID MECHANICS AND MACHINERY
Time: 3 Hours Maximum Marks: 100
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Answer ALL questions from GROUP – I.
2. Answer any 4 questions from GROUP – II.
3. Answer any ONE question from GROUP – III.
4. Ignore the box titled as “Answers for Group III” in the Main Answer Book.
5. Moody’s Chart, Fluid properties and Minor loss coefficient tables are permitted. .
6. Graph Sheet is to be provided.
7. State the assumptions wherever necessary while answering Group II and III.
8. Vector quantities are represented as bold letters throughout the question paper.
GROUP - I Marks : 10 x 3 = 30

1. The information on a can of a certain drink indicates that the can contains 355 mL. The
mass of a full can with the drink is 0.369 kg while an empty can weighs 0.153 N.
Determine the specific weight, density, and specific gravity of the drink.
2. A velocity field is given by u = cx2 and v = cy2, where c is a constant. Determine the x
and y components of acceleration. At what point(s) in the flow field is the acceleration
zero?
3. List the differences in the boundary layers between internal flows and external flows.
4. A smooth, flat plate of length 6 m and width 4 m is placed in water with an upstream
velocity of 0.5 m/s. Determine the boundary layer thickness and the wall shear stress at
the center and the trailing edge of the plate. Assume a laminar boundary layer.
5. At what minimum speed would an automobile have to travel for compressibility effects to
be important? Assume the local air temperature is 15° C.
6. List three possible ways to delay the boundary layer separation.
7. Derive the discharge equation of a venturimeter and state the significance of coefficient
of discharge
8. The velocity field in the region shown in figure 1 is given by V = az j + b k, where a = 10
s-1 and b = 5 m/s. For the 1 m X 1 m triangular control volume (depth w = 1 m), an
element of area 1 may be represented by w(-dz j + dy k) and an element of area 2 by
wdz j. Determine the mass flow rate through the element of area 1 if the density of the
fluid is ρ.

Figure 1

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9. “At very large Reynolds numbers, the friction factor is independent of the Reynolds
number”. Is the above statement True or False? Justify your answer. (Note: answer
without reasons will not be entertained).
10. Prove that for a given jet speed, volume flow rate, turning angle and wheel radius, the
maximum shaft power produced by a Pelton wheel occurs when the turbine bucket
moves at half the jet speed.
[

GROUP - II Marks : 4 x 12.5 = 50

11. As a valve is opened, water flows through the diffuser shown in figure 2 at an increasing
flow rate so that the velocity along the centerline is given by 𝑽 = 𝑢𝒊 = 𝑉0 1 −
𝑒−𝑐𝑡 1−𝑥/𝑙𝒊, where V0, c and l are constants. Determine the acceleration as a function
of x and t. If V0 = 3 m/s and l = 1.5 m, what value of c (other than c = 0) is needed to
make the acceleration zero for any x at t = 1 s? Explain how acceleration can be zero if
the flow rate is increasing with time.

Figure 2

12. A flow is described by a velocity field V = ax i - ay j, where a = 0.3 s-1.

i) Obtain an equation for the streamlines in the x-y plane
ii) Plot the streamline passing through the point (x0, y0) = (2, 8).
iii) Determine the velocity of the particle at the same point.
iv) If the particle passing through the point (x0, y0) is marked at time t = 0, determine the
location of the particle at time t = 6s.
v) Determine the velocity of the particle at t = 6s.
vi) Show that the equations for the path line and the streamlines are the same.
13. During mountain climbing, there is always a possibility of falling into a crevasse in some
glacier as shown in figure 3. If that
happened today, and the mountaineer
was trapped in a slowly moving glacier,
you are curious to know whether the
mountaineer would reappear at the
downstream drop-off of the glacier.
Assuming ice is a Newtonian fluid with the
density of glycerin at 10oC but 106 times
as viscous, you decide to build a glycerin
model and use dimensional analysis and
similarity to estimate when the
mountaineer would reappear. Assume the
real glacier is 15 m deep and is on a slope
that falls 1.5 m in a horizontal distance of Figure 3

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1850 m. Develop the

dimensionless parameters and
conditions expected to govern
dynamic similarity in the
problem. If the model
mountaineer reappears in the
laboratory after 9.6 hours, when should you return to the end of the glacier to provide
help?
14. The head available at the inlet of a single jet Pelton wheel is 300 m. The penstock is 700
mm in diameter and 5.6 km long. The friction factor is taken as 0.0075 for the penstock.
The jet has a diameter of 100 mm. The coefficient of velocity for the nozzle is 0.97. The
velocity of the buckets is 0.47 times of the jet speed. The outlet vane angle of the
buckets is 15°. The relative velocity of water is reduced by 15% in passing over the
buckets. If the mechanical efficiency is 88%, determine i) runner power, ii) shaft power,
iii) hydraulic efficiency, iv) overall efficiency.
15. Heavy crude oil (S = 0.925) is pumped through a pipeline on flat ground. The line is
made from steel pipe with 600 mm diameter and has a wall thickness t = 12 mm. the
allowable tensile stress (σmax) in the pipe wall is limited to 275 MPa. The maximum
allowable pressure in the pipe is determined as (2σmaxt)/D. The minimum recommended
pressure in the pipe is 500 KPa. The pipeline carries a flow of 636 x 105 liters per day.
Determine the maximum spacing between the pumping stations. Compute the power
added to the oil at each pumping stations. Take viscosity of oil as 10-4 m2/s and 0.0277
as the friction factor for the pipeline.
[

GROUP - III Marks : 1 x 20 = 20

16. A concentric cylinder viscometer is driven by a falling mass M connected by a cord and
pulley to the inner cylinder as shown in figure 4. The liquid to be tested fills the annular
gap of width a and height H.

i) Develop a differential equation for the angular

velocity ω of the inner cylinder with respect to
time.
ii) Evaluate the viscosity of the fluid using the data
given below:
Figure 4
M = 0.10 kg r = 25 mm
R = 50 mm a = 0.20 mm
H = 80 mm Constant velocity Vm = 30 mm/s

iii) The viscometer was used to verify the viscosity of a particular fluid is 0.1 Ns/m 2.
Unfortunately the cord failed during the experiment. How long will it take the cylinder
to lose 99% of its speed? The moment of inertia of the cylinder - pulley system is
0.0273 kg.m2.
17. Figures 5a, 5b, 5c are the results of experiments conducted on various objects to
determine their drag characteristics.
i) Bring out the physics behind these experimental results
ii) Identify a real time example for each of these experiments and explain the
techniques adopted to reduce drag in each case.

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Figure 5a. Drag coefficient for an ellipse with the characteristic area either the frontal
area or the planform area

Figure 5b. Drag coefficient as a function of Reynolds number for a smooth circular cylinder
and a smooth sphere

/END/
Figure 5c. The effect of surface roughness on the drag coefficient of a sphere
/END/
FD/RL

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