Fluid Mechanics - Intro to Fluid Mechanics

Vocabulary flashcards for fluid mechanics course.

Fluid Mechanics

The study of fluids at rest or in motion.

Ideal Fluid

Assumed incompressible and has no internal resistance to flow.

Real Fluid

Is compressible and has internal resistance to flow.

Density (ρ)

A substance’s mass per unit volume (units are kg/m3)

Force

The product of mass & acceleration (units: N or Newtons)

Specific weight (γ)

The weight of a substance per unit volume (units are N/m3)

Specific Volume (v)

The ratio of a substance’s volume per unit mass (m3/kg)

Specific Gravity (s.g.)

(density of a fluid)/(density of pure water at 4oC) or (specific weight of a fluid)/(specific weight of pure H2O at 4oC)

Viscosity

Measurement of resistance to flow (technical definition is based on internal shear strength).

Dynamic Viscosity (μ)

Has units of (Pas) or (Ns/m2) or (kg/ms).

Kinematic Viscosity (ν)

Is sometimes used for the convenience of calculations. It has units of m2/s.

Pressure

Force per unit area (units are N/m2 or Pascals (Pa))

Absolute pressure (Pabs)

Measured relative to a pure vacuum

Atmospheric pressure (Patm)

Ambient atmospheric pressure

Gauge pressure (Pgauge)

Measured relative to atmospheric pressure