Fluid Dynamics
Fluid is any substance that can flow. It includes gases and liquids.
Density
It is an important property of materials. It is defined as the mass per unit volume (one
cubic metre). That is
mass m
density or U
volume V
The density of water is 1000 kgm-3. This means that 1m3 water has a mass of 1000 kg.
Forces in Fluids
Upthrust
When an object is submerged in a fluid, it feels an upward force that is called upthrust.
This is the force that keeps ships and boats floating.
Archimedes’ Principle
Greek scientist Archimedes found that the size of the upthrust force is equal to the weight of the fluid
that has been displaced by the object. This is called the Archimedes’ Principle .
It can be written in mathematical form as
F mdisplaced fluid g U f Vg
(In the above equation U f is the density of the fluid. Do not mistake it as the density of the object!)
. If the upthrust is smaller than its weight, then the object will sink.
. If the upthrust is just equal to its weight, then the object will be able to stay anywhere in the fluid
. If the upthrust is larger than the object’s weight, then the object will move upwards. When it gets to the
surface of the fluid, part of its body will get out of the fluid and thus reduce the volume submerged in the
fluid. So, the upthrust on the object will decrease to a value that is equal to the weight of the object.
This state is called floating.
Physics Dept. / C H S E Fluid Dynamics Page 1
Viscous drag
When an object is moving in a fluid, it will experience a drag force (resistance) that resists the motion of
the object. Drag force is caused by the viscosity of the fluid. .
Viscosity
Viscosity is an intrinsic property of fluid. The factor coefficient of viscosity K (or simply viscosity) describes
how large the viscosity of the fluid is.
The flow rate (volume of fluid passing through in unit time) of a fluid is inversely proportional to viscosity.
The viscous drag is larger while moving in a fluid with larger coefficient of viscosity.
A ball moving in honey will experience a much larger resistance than moving in water.
Viscosity and Temperature.
Viscosity, like density, is a property of material. Viscosity is dependent on temperature.
For liquid, viscosity decreases with temperature. for gases, viscosity increases with temperature.
Fluid Temperature/°C Viscosity/Pa s
Air 0 0.000017
20 0.000018
100 0.000022
Water 0 0.0018
20 0.0010
100 0.0003
Glycerine 20 1.5
30 0.63
Stokes’s law
The viscous drag for a small sphere moving at low speed in a fluid is given by
F 6SK rv
where K is the viscosity of the fluid(Pags),
r is the radius(m) of the sphere and
v is the speed(ms-1)
Note : Stokes’ law is only valid for small sphere moving at low speed.
In this case the fluid flow is laminar flow.
Physics Dept. / C H S E Fluid Dynamics Page 2
Terminal velocity
An object in a fluid moves under the influence of three forces, Weight, Upthrust and Viscous Drag.
The weight and upthrust are constant forces, but the viscous drag increases with the increase of speed.
At the moment the object is released, the speed is still zero; the viscous drag is also zero.
The object will accelerate due to the gravitational force and upthrust.
However, when the speed increases, the viscous drag increases accordingly, causing the net force to decrease.
Although the acceleration is decreasing, the speed is increasing because there is acceleration.
This process continues until when the speed reach a certain value so that the viscous drag is large enough to
balance the weight and upthrust.
Then the net force becomes zero and so do the acceleration. The speed will not change anymore.
This velocity is called the terminal velocity.
At terminal velocity,
weight upthrust viscous drag
For a small sphere, the above equation can be written as
ms g U f Vg 6SK rvterm
where ms , V , r and vterm are the mass, volume radius and terminal velocity of the sphere and
U f and K are the density and viscosity of the fluid respectively.
4 3 4
Substituting V S r and ms U sV U s S r 3 ( U s is the density of the sphere) into
3 3
the above equation gives
4 4
U s S r 3 g U f S r 3 g 6SK rvterm
3 3
Solving it for vterm gives
2r 2 g ( U s U f )
vterm
9K
We can see from the above expression that the terminal velocity is dependent on the radius of the
sphere, the density difference between the sphere and the fluid, as well as the viscosity of the fluid.
vterm is directly proportional to r2
Physics Dept. / C H S E Fluid Dynamics Page 3
Types of fluid flow
Laminar and turbulent flows
Laminar flow Turbulent flow
1. At any given point the velocity must be constant. Velocity at any given point changes with time.
2. No sudden change in velocity of flow There are sudden changes in velocity of flow
3. layers do not mix/cross OR layers are parallel Mixing/crossing of layers occurs. So eddies are
So no eddies are formed formed.
Example: slow water flow along a smooth pipe Example: air flow in a storm
Questions
1 (a) (i) A small solid particle is falling through water. Add labelled arrows to the
diagram below to show the forces acting on the particle.
(ii) Explain the condition for the particle to fall at its terminal velocity.
Physics Dept. / C H S E Fluid Dynamics Page 4
(b) Flowing water can be used to move solid particles from one place to another.
(i) The diagram below shows water moving horizontally with a laminar flow.
Add to the diagram to show the path of the particle falling through this water
flow.
Surface
particle
(ii) Complete the diagram below to show water moving with turbulent flow.
(iii) Suggest why turbulent flow may be used to move small solid particles.
2. (a) State two differences between laminar flow and turbulent flow.
(b) Figure below shows an arrangement used to measure the coefficient of viscosity of glycerol.
mass of metal sphere = 1.38 × 10-5 kg
diameter of metal sphere = 1.54 × 10-3 m
measured time = 22.0 s
The terminal velocity of a metal sphere was determined by measuring the time taken for the
sphere to fall a distance of 0.125 m between two rubber bands.
(i) Assume that when the terminal velocity is reached the viscous drag force, given by
Stokes’ law, is equal to the weight of the metal sphere.
Calculate the coefficient of viscosity of glycerol.
Physics Dept. / C H S E Fluid Dynamics Page 5
(ii) The assumption in part (b)(i) was not correct because, as well as the viscous force,
there is an upward force ( upthrust) acting on the sphere
State and explain whether this means that the value for the coefficient of viscosity
calculated in part (b) (i) is higher or lower than the actual viscosity.
(iii) Give two reasons why the use of Stokes’ law cannot be applied to determine the
terminal ve
velocity of a skydiver even if the mass of the skydiver and the viscosity of air
are known.
3. (a) Calculate the speed of a raindrop after it has fallen freely from rest for 0.2 s.
(b) The raindrop falls for longer than 0.2 s. Explain why its acceleration does not remain uniform for the
whole of its fall.
(c) Show that the mass of a 0.5 mm diameter spherical raindrop is less than 1 × 10–7 kg.
1.0 m3 of water has a mass of 1.0 × 103 kg
(d) Calculate the raindrop’s terminal velocity. Assume that the upthrust from the air is negligible.
Viscosity of air = 1.8 × 10–5 kg m–1 s–1.
(e) Sketch a graph to show how the raindrop’s velocity increases with time from rest to terminal velocity.
Add a scale to the velocity axis.
(f) Explain how the terminal velocity would be different for a larger raindrop.
Physics Dept. / C H S E Fluid Dynamics Page 6
FLUID DYNAMICS - TUTORIAL
1. In the game of table tennis a ball is hit from one end of the table to the other over a small net.
(a) Making a table tennis ball spin when it is hit can affect its flight. The diagram shows the path of
air around a spinning ball. It contains regions of laminar flow and turbulent flow. The flow changes
from one to the other at points A and B.
Air flow
A
direction
of spin
B
Direction of
ball’s movement
(i) Explain what is meant by laminar flow and turbulent flow.
(ii) The ball is spinning in the direction shown in the diagram.
Suggest why there is a larger region of turbulent flow on the top of the ball than the bottom.
(b) The diagram shows that the air is deflected upwards after passing the ball.
Explain why this means there must be a downwards component of force on the ball in
addition to its weight.
(c) Spinning a table tennis ball allows it to be hit harder and still hit the table on the other side of
the net.
(i) A table tennis ball is hit, without any spin, from one end of a table so that it leaves
the bat horizontally with a speed of 31 m s–1. The length of the table is 2.7 m.
Show that the ball falls a vertical distance of about 4 cm as it travels the length of the table.
(ii) The net is 15 cm high. Explain how the spin helps the ball hit the table on the other side of
the net.
*2. A sign at a railway station advises passengers to keep back from the platform edge. This
is because passing trains may cause turbulence.
Explain what is meant by turbulent flow, and suggest why it is dangerous for passengers
to stand near the edge of the platform.
3. The process of turbulence was described in verse by the British meteorologist,
Lewis F.Richardson:
Big whorls have little whorls,
Which feed on their velocity,
And little whorls have lesser whorls,
And so on to viscosity.
(a) Suggest what the author means by the word whorl.
(b) Draw diagrams in the boxes below to show laminar and turbulent flow.
Describe these flow patterns.
(c) Turbulence can be used to reduce the rate of flow of a fluid.
Explain this statement in terms of energy transfers.
4. A student wants to find the density of a key by using a top pan balance to measure the upthrust
acting on the key when it is suspended in water.
(a) First, she finds the density of the water.
Using a top pan balance calibrated in newtons, she measures the weight of an empty
measuring cylinder as 2.2305 N. She puts 191 cm3 of water into the cylinder and
measures the new weight as 4.1408 N. The measuring cylinder is left on the balance.
(i) Use these measurements to calculate the weight of water in the cylinder.
(ii) Show that the density of the water is about 1000 kg m–3.
(b) When an object is submerged in a fluid it experiences an upthrust equal to the
weight of fluid displaced. In this experiment the balance reading will increase by the
amount of this upthrust.
(i) The student now suspends the key in the water and notes that the balance
reading increases to 4.1671 N. Calculate the upthrust.
(ii) Calculate the volume of the key.
(iii) She measures the mass of the key on its own as 9.38 g. Calculate the density of the key.
