Fluid Mechanics (ENGR30002)

AIMS

This subject covers topics required to understand systems involving fluids, both in motion and at rest, and their application in engineered systems. These include dams, pipes, open channels, pumps and both liquid and gaseous flow, with relevance to civil, mechanical, infrastructure and environmental engineering contexts. Students will gain an understanding of the fundamentals of how fluids behave and how this can be applied to solve engineering challenges. Topics covered include - Fluid statics, manometry, derivation of the continuity equation, mechanical energy balance, friction losses in a straight pipe, Newton’s law of viscosity, treatment of pipe roughness, valves and fittings; simple pipe network problems; principles of open channel flow; compressible flow, propagation of pressure wave, isothermal and adiabatic flow equations in a pipe, choked flow. Pumps – pump characteristics, centrifugal pumps, derivation of theoretical head, head losses leading to the actual pump head curve, calculating system head, determining the operating point of a pumping system, throttling for flow control, cavitation and NPSH, affinity laws and pump scale-up, introduction to positive displacement pumps; Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, Multi-dimensional fluid flow-momentum flux, development of multi-dimensional equations of continuity and for momentum transfer, Navier-Stokes equations, application to tube flow, Couette flow, Stokes flow.

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