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Sahithyan's S1 -- Fluid Mechanics

Properties of Fluids

Mass Density

At a point:

For liquids

Varies very slightly with temperature (negligible in calculations).

Example: Water

  • - at
  • - at

For gases

Highly dependent on pressure & temperature.

Specific Weight / Unit Weight

Relative Density / Specific Density

For solids and liquids, water is the standard substance.

Pressure

A force is exerted on all surfaces in contact with a fluid. A scalar.

Vapour Pressure

Vaporisation is when evaporation happens at the free surface of a liquid.

Vapour Pressure is the pressure due to liquid vapour just above the free surface of the liquid. Increases with temperature.

A liquid boils when:

Bulk Modulus

In terms of the density:

High bulk modulus means hard to compress.

Surface Tension

Negligible in many applications. Considered in small-scale applications. Causes capillary effect.

Viscosity

The force resisting the flow of a liquid.

In liquids, viscosity is mainly caused by inter-molecular attraction. Decreases slightly with temperature.

In gases, mainly due to momentum exchange between molecules. Increases with temperature.

Newton’s law of viscosity

In straight & parallel flow, the shear stress (as in ) between adjacent layers is proportional to the velocity gradient perpendicular to the layers.

As ,

Coefficient of dynamic viscosity

Above, is coefficient of dynamic viscosity or coefficient of absolute viscosity or coefficient of viscosity.

Fluids can be divided into 2 types:

  • is a constant: Newtonian fluid
  • is not a constant: Non-newtonian fluid (not focused on for s1)

Coefficient of kinematic viscosity