Streamline Flow

Have you ever seen a stream passing under the bridge? What do you
first observe when you see a streamline? The answer is the most
common characteristics of the stream such as speed, width, amount
of water flowing etc. One of the primary characteristics of any stream
is its flow. We refer to it as streamflow.

Streamflow is the characteristics that determine how the water of the

stream will move in a stream channel. Streamflow can either be
streamline/laminar flow or turbulent flow. In this topic, we will study
the concept of streamline flow.

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Introduction
You might have seen streams come in different size, shape, etc.
Moreover, they are also different from each other in speed and the
flow direction. This topic will help you to understand one of a
primary way of flow.

An important factor that influences the flow of water within streams

is the location or source of the stream. Different sources include
rainfall, the ground below the stream or even melting snow. The
source location of the stream has the potential to influence the speed
of the water as well as the manner of flow within the stream.

Another important factor influencing the flow within the stream is the
object that is physically present in the stream. The direction and
speed of the flowing water are dependent on the object found in the
stream. The major characteristic of the streamflow of a liquid is
velocity. Therefore, on the basis of the above characteristics water
can either be streamline/laminar flow or turbulent flow.

Browse more Topics Under Mechanical Properties Of Fluids

 Streamline Flow
 Surface Tension
 Viscosity
 Bernoulli’s Principle and Equation
 Pressure and Its Applications

Definition of Streamline Flow

Streamline flow in case of fluids is referred to as the type of flow
where the fluids flow in separate layers without mixing or disruption
occurring in between the layers at a particular point. The velocity of
each fluid particle flowing will remain constant with time in
streamline flow.

In case of low fluid velocities, the fluid will flow without any sort of
lateral mixing because of lack of turbulent velocity fluctuations. The
fluid particles tend to follow a particular order where the movement
or motion of fluid particles will be on the basis of particles flowing in
a straight line parallel to the pipe wall. The movement happens in a
way that the adjacent layers of the fluid will smoothly slide past each
other.