REPORT TITLE: Bernoulli equation

2019-2020

Department: ‫الموارد المائية‬

Student Name: ‫علي تحسين محمود‬
Stage: ‫المرحلة الثانية‬
Study: ‫الصباحي‬
College of Engineering
Class: B
Mustansiriyah University
Course Name: ‫الثاني‬
Email: aly867430@gmail.com
 ‫قسم الهندسة الموارد المائية‬ ‫كلية الهندسة – الجامعة المستنرصية‬

B : ‫ الشعبة‬/ ‫الثانية‬ : ‫الرمحلة‬ ‫علي تحسني محمود‬ ‫االسم‬

A detailed introduction to the Bernoulli equation

In fluid dynamics, Bernoulli's principle states that an increase in the speed of a
fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in static pressure or a decrease in
the fluid's potential energy.
The principle is named after Daniel Bernoulli who published it in his
book Hydrodynamica in 1738. Although Bernoulli deduced that pressure decreases
when the flow speed increases, it was Leonhard Euler who derived Bernoulli's
equation in its usual form in 1752. The principle is only applicable for isentropic
flows: when the effects of irreversible processes (like turbulence) and non-adiabatic
processes (e.g. heat radiation) are small and can be neglected.

Bernoulli's principle can be applied to various types of fluid flow, resulting in various
forms of Bernoulli's equation; there are different forms of Bernoulli's equation for
different types of flow. The simple form of Bernoulli's equation is valid
for incompressible flows (e.g. most liquid flows and gases moving at low Mach
number). More advanced forms may be applied to compressible flows at
higher Mach numbers (see the derivations of the Bernoulli equation).
Bernoulli's principle can be derived from the principle of conservation of energy.
This states that, in a steady flow, the sum of all forms of energy in a fluid along
a streamline is the same at all points on that streamline. This requires that the sum
of kinetic energy, potential energy and internal energy remains constant. Thus an
increase in the speed of the fluid – implying an increase in its kinetic energy
(dynamic pressure) – occurs with a simultaneous decrease in (the sum of) its
potential energy (including the static pressure) and internal energy. If the fluid is
flowing out of a reservoir, the sum of all forms of energy is the same on all
streamlines because in a reservoir the energy per unit volume (the sum of pressure
and gravitational potential ρ g h) is the same everywhere.

Bernoulli's principle can also be derived directly from Isaac Newton's Second Law of
Motion. If a small volume of fluid is flowing horizontally from a region of high
pressure to a region of low pressure, then there is more pressure behind than in front.
This gives a net force on the volume, accelerating it along the streamline.

Page 2 of 10
 ‫قسم الهندسة الموارد المائية‬ ‫كلية الهندسة – الجامعة المستنرصية‬

B : ‫ الشعبة‬/ ‫الثانية‬ : ‫الرمحلة‬ ‫علي تحسني محمود‬ ‫االسم‬

Moving fluids
Fluids can flow steadily, or be turbulent. In steady flow, the fluid passing a given
point maintains a steady velocity. For turbulent flow, the speed and or the direction
of the flow varies. In steady flow, the motion can be represented with streamlines
showing the direction the water flows in different areas. The density of the
streamlines increases as the velocity increases.

Fluids can be compressible or incompressible. This is the big difference between

liquids and gases, because liquids are generally incompressible, meaning that they
don't change volume much in response to a pressure change; gases are compressible,
and will change volume in response to a change in pressure.

Fluid can be viscous (pours slowly) or non-viscous (pours easily).

Fluid flow can be rotational or irrational. Irrigational means it travels in straight

lines; rotational means it swirls.

Making fluids flow

There are basically two ways to make fluid flow through a pipe. One way is to tilt
the pipe so the flow is downhill, in which case gravitational kinetic energy is
transformed to kinetic energy. The second way is to make the pressure at one end of
the pipe larger than the pressure at the other end. A pressure difference is like a net
force, producing acceleration of the fluid.

As long as the fluid flow is steady, and the fluid is non-viscous and incompressible,
the flow can be looked at from an energy perspective. This is what Bernoulli's
equation does, relating the pressure, velocity, and height of a fluid at one point to the
same parameters at a second point. The equation is very useful, and can be used to
explain such things as how airplanes fly, and how baseballs curve.

Pressure vs. speed

Bernoulli's equation has some surprising implications. For our first look at the
equation, consider a fluid flowing through a horizontal pipe. The pipe is narrower at
one spot than along the rest of the pipe. By applying the continuity equation, the
velocity of the fluid is greater in the narrow section. Is the pressure higher or lower in
the narrow section, where the velocity increases?

Your first inclination might be to say that where the velocity is greatest, the pressure
is greatest, because if you stuck your hand in the flow where it's going fastest you'd
Page 3 of 10
 ‫قسم الهندسة الموارد المائية‬ ‫كلية الهندسة – الجامعة المستنرصية‬

B : ‫ الشعبة‬/ ‫الثانية‬ : ‫الرمحلة‬ ‫علي تحسني محمود‬ ‫االسم‬

feel a big force. The force does not come from the pressure there, however; it comes
from your hand taking momentum away from the fluid.

The pipe is horizontal, so both points are at the same height. Bernoulli's equation can
be simplified in this case to:

The kinetic energy term on the right is larger than the kinetic energy term on the left,
so for the equation to balance the pressure on the right must be smaller than the
pressure on the left. It is this pressure difference, in fact, that causes the fluid to flow
faster at the place where the pipe narrows.

Bernoulli's principle
Bernoulli's principle is a seemingly counterintuitive statement about how the
speed of a fluid relates to the pressure of the fluid. Many people feel like Bernoulli's
principle shouldn't be correct, but this might be due to a misunderstanding about
what Bernoulli's principle actually says. Bernoulli's principle states the following,

Bernoulli's principle: Within a horizontal flow of fluid, points of higher fluid

speed will have less pressure than points of slower fluid speed.

So within a horizontal water pipe that changes diameter, regions where the
water is moving fast will be under less pressure than regions where the water is
moving slow. This sounds counterintuitive to many people since people associate
high speeds with high pressures. But, we'll show in the next section that this is
really just another way of saying that water will speed up if there's more
pressure behind it than in front of it. In the section below we'll derive
Bernoulli's principle, show more precisely what it says, and hopefully make it
seem a little less mysterious.

Page 4 of 10
 ‫قسم الهندسة الموارد المائية‬ ‫كلية الهندسة – الجامعة المستنرصية‬

B : ‫ الشعبة‬/ ‫الثانية‬ : ‫الرمحلة‬ ‫علي تحسني محمود‬ ‫االسم‬

Bernoulli's equation

Bernoulli's equation is essentially a more general and mathematical form of

Bernoulli's principle that also takes into account changes in gravitational
potential energy. We'll derive this equation in the next section, but before we do,
let's take a look at Bernoulli's equation and get a feel for what it says and how
one would go about using it.
Bernoulli's equation relates the pressure, speed, and height of any two points (1
and 2) in a steady streamline flowing fluid of density \rhoρrho. Bernoulli's
equation is usually written as follows,

The variables P_1P1P, start subscript, 1, end subscript, v_1v1v, start subscript, 1, end
subscript, h_1h1h, start subscript, 1, end subscript refer to the pressure, speed, and
height of the fluid at point 1, whereas the variables P_2P2P, start subscript, 2, end
subscript, v_2v2v, start subscript, 2, end subscript, and h_2h2h, start subscript, 2, end
subscript refer to the pressure, speed, and height of the fluid at point 2 as seen in the
diagram below. The diagram below shows one particular choice of two points (1 and
2) in the fluid, but Bernoulli's equation will hold for any two points in the fluid.

Page 5 of 10
 ‫قسم الهندسة الموارد المائية‬ ‫كلية الهندسة – الجامعة المستنرصية‬

B : ‫ الشعبة‬/ ‫الثانية‬ : ‫الرمحلة‬ ‫علي تحسني محمود‬ ‫االسم‬

When using Bernoulli's equation, how do you know where to choose your points.
Choosing one of the points at the location where you want to find an unknown
variable is a must. Otherwise how will you ever solve for that variable? You will
typically choose the second point at a location where you have been given some
information, or where the fluid is open to the atmosphere, since the absolute pressure
there is known to be atmospheric pressure P_{atm}=1.01\times 10^5PaPatm
=1.01×105PaP, start subscript, a, t, m, end subscript, equals, 1, point, 01, times, 10,
start superscript, 5, end superscript, P, a.

Derive Bernoulli's equation

Consider the following diagram where water flows from left to right in a pipe
that changes both area and height. As before, water will speed up and gain kinetic
energy KKK at constrictions in the pipe, since the volume flow rate must be
maintained for an incompressible fluid even if those constricted sections move
upward. But now since the constriction also causes the fluid to move upward, the
water will be gaining gravitational potential energy U_gUgU, start subscript, g, end
subscript as well as kinetic energy KKK. We will derive Bernoulli's equation by
setting the energy gained by the fluid equal to the external work done on the fluid.

Let's assume the energy system we're considering is composed of the volumes of
water 1 and 2 as well as all the fluid in between those volumes. If we assume the
fluid flow is streamline, non-viscous, and there are no dissipative forces affecting the
flow of the fluid, then any extra energy \Delta ({K+U})_{system}Δ(K+U)system
delta, left parenthesis, K, plus, U, right parenthesis, start subscript, s, y, s, t, e, m, end

Page 6 of 10
 ‫قسم الهندسة الموارد المائية‬ ‫كلية الهندسة – الجامعة المستنرصية‬

B : ‫ الشعبة‬/ ‫الثانية‬ : ‫الرمحلة‬ ‫علي تحسني محمود‬ ‫االسم‬

subscript added to the system will be caused by the external

work (W_{external})(Wexternal)left parenthesis, W, start subscript, e, x, t, e, r, n, a,
l, end subscript, right parenthesis done on the fluid from pressure forces surrounding
it.

We can express this mathematically as,

W_{external} = \Delta ({K+U})_{system}Wexternal=Δ(K+U)system

First we'll try to find the external work done W_{external}WexternalW, start
subscript, e, x, t, e, r, n, a, l, end subscript on the water. None of the water between
points 1 and 2 can do external work since that water is all part of our energy system.
The only pressures that can directly do external work on our system are P_1P1P,
start subscript, 1, end subscript and P_2P2P, start subscript, 2, end subscript as
shown in the diagram. The water at P_1P1P, start subscript, 1, end subscript to the
left of volume 1 will do positive work since the force points in the same direction as
the motion of the fluid. The water at P_2P2P, start subscript, 2, end subscript to the
right of volume 2 will do negative work on our system since it pushes in the opposite
direction as the motion of the fluid.

Applications of Bernoulli's Equation

The fluids problem shown on this slide is low speed flow through a tube
with changing cross-sectional area. For a streamline along the center of the
tube, the velocity decreases from station one to two. Bernoulli's equation
describes the relation between velocity, density, and pressure for this flow
problem. Since density is a constant for a low speed problem, the equation at
the bottom of the slide relates the pressure and velocity at station two to the
conditions at station one.

Along a low speed airfoil, the flow is incompressible and the density remains
a constant. Bernoulli's equation then reduces to a simple relation between
velocity and static pressure. The surface of the airfoil is a streamline. Since
the velocity varies along the streamline, Bernoulli's equation can be used to
compute the change in pressure. The static pressure integrated along the
entire surface of the airfoil gives the total aerodynamic force on the foil. This
force can be broken down into the lift and drag of the airfoil.

Bernoulli's equation is also used on aircraft to provide a speedometer called

a pitot-static tube. A pressure is quite easy to measure with a mechanical
device. In a pitot-static tube, we measure the static and total pressure and
can then use Bernoulli's equation to compute the velocity.
Page 7 of 10
 ‫قسم الهندسة الموارد المائية‬ ‫كلية الهندسة – الجامعة المستنرصية‬

B : ‫ الشعبة‬/ ‫الثانية‬ : ‫الرمحلة‬ ‫علي تحسني محمود‬ ‫االسم‬

How can you derive Bernoulli's principle?

Incompressible fluids have to speed up when they reach a narrow
constricted section in order to maintain a constant volume flow rate. This is why
a narrow nozzle on a hose causes water to speed up. But something might be
bothering you about this phenomenon. If the water is speeding up at a
constriction, it's also gaining kinetic energy. Where is this extra kinetic energy
coming from? The nozzle? The pipe?
The only way to give something kinetic energy is to do work on it. This is
expressed by the work energy principle.

So if a portion of fluid is speeding up, something external to that portion of fluid

must be doing work it. What force is causing work to be done on the fluid? Well,
in most real world systems there are lots of dissipative forces that could be doing
negative work, but we're going to assume for the sake of simplicity that these
viscous forces are negligible and we have a nice continuous and perfectly
laminar (streamline) flow. Laminar (streamline) flow means that the fluid flows
in parallel layers without crossing paths. In laminar streamline flow there is no
swirling or vortices in the fluid.

How is Bernoulli's principle a result of Bernoulli's equation?

We should note here that Bernoulli's principle is contained within Bernoulli's

equation. If we start with,

and assume that there is no change in the height of the fluid, the \rho ghρghrho, g,
h terms cancel if we subtract them from both sides.

Page 8 of 10
 ‫قسم الهندسة الموارد المائية‬ ‫كلية الهندسة – الجامعة المستنرصية‬

B : ‫ الشعبة‬/ ‫الثانية‬ : ‫الرمحلة‬ ‫علي تحسني محمود‬ ‫االسم‬

This formula highlights Bernoulli's principle since if the speed vvv of a fluid is larger
in a given region of streamline flow, the pressure PPP must be smaller in that region
(which is Bernoulli's principle). An increase in speed vvv must be accompanied by a
simultaneous decrease in the pressure PPP in order for the sum to always add up to
the same constant number.

Incompressible flow equation

In most flows of liquids, and of gases at low Mach number, the density of a
fluid parcel can be considered to be constant, regardless of pressure variations in the
flow. Therefore, the fluid can be considered to be incompressible and these flows are
called incompressible flows. Bernoulli performed his experiments on liquids, so his
equation in its original form is valid only for incompressible flow. A common form
of Bernoulli's equation, valid at any arbitrary point along a streamline, is:

where:
v is the fluid flow speed at a point on a streamline,
g is the acceleration due to gravity,
z is the elevation of the point above a reference plane, with the positive z-
direction pointing upward – so in the direction opposite to the
gravitational acceleration,
p is the pressure at the chosen point, and
ρ is the density of the fluid at all points in the fluid.

Page 9 of 10
 ‫قسم الهندسة الموارد المائية‬ ‫كلية الهندسة – الجامعة المستنرصية‬

B : ‫ الشعبة‬/ ‫الثانية‬ : ‫الرمحلة‬ ‫علي تحسني محمود‬ ‫االسم‬

The constant on the right-hand side of the equation depends

only on the streamline chosen, whereas v, z and p depend on the
particular point on that streamline.
The following assumptions must be met for this Bernoulli
equation to apply:

 the flow must be steady, i.e. the flow parameters (velocity,

density, etc...) at any point cannot change with time,
 the flow must be incompressible – even though pressure
varies, the density must remain constant along a streamline;
 friction by viscous forces must be negligible.
For conservative force fields (not limited to the gravitational
field), Bernoulli's equation can be generalized as:

where Ψ is the force potential at the point considered on the streamline. E.g. for the
Earth's gravity Ψ = gz.

Reference

 Clancy,L.J. (1975). Aerodynamics.Wiley. ISBN 978-0-470-15837-1.

 Resnick, R. and Halliday, D. (1960), section 18-4, Physics, John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.
 Fluid dynamics and Bernoulli's equation 11-10-99 Sections 10.7 - 10.9
 http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/py105/Bernoulli.html

Page 10 of 10