MODULE in FLUID MECHANICS and

HYDRAULICS

Celeste Acedera De Asis

Master in Civil Engineering
(Water Resources Management
Module 1 Introduction and Basic Concepts

Overview
This module presents the basic concepts commonly used in fluid
mechanics and hydraulics and its significance and areas of applications and the
brief history of the same.
This module will define what fluid mechanic and hydraulics is as a branch
of science. The application of the concepts will be illustrated in relation with in our
daily lives. Furthermore, pioneers are also mentioned with their significant
contribution in this field of science.

Learning Objectives
Students are should be able to understand what a fluid mechanics and
hydraulics is and to appreciate its significance and the corresponding areas of
application in our daily lives. The students by looking back the history of fluid
mechanics (or hydraulics) are expected that they will give respect and honor to
the pioneers.

Topics
This module presents the following topics:
• Definition of Fluid Mechanics
• Significance and Application Areas of Fluid Mechanics
• Historical Perspective

Introduction
In our daily lives unconsciously we are applying the fluid mechanicsor hydraulics
. From the time we woke up until we sleep. Our human body system is a fluid
mechanic machine. The air we breathe, the circulation of our blood and the
digestion of our food in stomach applies the concept. However, in this module we
will be discussing only the applications relevant to engineering in general.
Fluid mechanics is that discipline within the broad field of applied
mechanics that is concerned with the behavior of liquids and gases at rest or in
motion. It covers a vast array of phenomena that occur in nature (with or without
human intervention), in biology, and in numerous engineered, invented, or
manufactured situations. There are few aspects of our lives that do not involve
fluids, either directly or indirectly.
Discussion
Lesson 1. Definition
Mechanics is the oldest physical science that deals with both stationary
and moving bodies under the influence of forces. The branch of mechanics that
deals with bodies at rest is called statics, while the branch that deals with bodies
in motion is called dynamics.
The subcategory FLUID MECHANICS is defined as the science that deals
with the behavior of fluids at rest (fluid statics) or in motion (fluid dynamics), and
the interaction of fluids with solids or other fluids at the boundaries. HYDRAULICS
on the other hand, deals with the application of fluid mechanics to engineering
devices involving liquids, usually water or oil. Hydraulics deals with such problems
as the flow of fluids through pipes or in open channels, the design of storage,
dams, pumps, and water turbines, and with other devices for the control or use of
liquids, such as nozzles valves, jets and flowmeters.
Authors defined fluid mechanics in different ways:
(1) Fluid mechanics is a study of properties of liquids and fluids; fluid statics
and kinematics; forces and energy momentum in fluids flows; fluid flows in weirs
and flow in pipe (King et al. 1980).
(2) Fluid mechanics is a branch of engineering science that studies the
aspects of fluid behaviors of interest to civil engineers, particularly the hydraulics,
which concentrates on the study of water and other liquid (Adrein 2004).
(3) Fluid mechanics is a discipline within the broad field of applied mechanics
that is concerned with the behavior of liquids and gases at rest and in motion. It
covers a vast array of phenomena that occur in nature (with or without human
intervention), in biology and in numerous engineered, invented, manufactured
situations (Munson 2010).
(4) Fluid mechanics is a physical science dealing with the action of fluids at
rest or in motion, and with applications and devices in engineering using fluids
(Gillesania 2018).
 Fluid mechanics is also referred to as fluid dynamics by considering fluids
at rest as a special case of motion with zero velocity. Fluid mechanics itself is
also divided into several categories.

Categories of Fluid Mechanics

1. Hydrodynamics. The study of the motion of fluids that are practically
incompressible (such as liquids, especially water, and gases at low speeds

Subcategory of hydrodynamics
1. Hydraulics, which deals with liquid flows in pipes and open
channels.

2. Gas dynamics deals with the flow of fluids that undergo

significant density changes, such as the flow of gases through
nozzles at high speeds.

2. Aerodynamics deals with the flow of gases (especially air) over bodies
such as aircraft, rockets, and automobiles at high or low speeds.

Some other specialized categories such as meteorology, oceanography, and

hydrology deal with naturally occurring flows.

Lesson 2. Application Areas of Fluid Mechanics

An ordinary house is, in some respects, an exhibition hall filled with
applications of fluid mechanics.
(1) piping systems for cold water, natural gas, and sewage for an individual
house and the entire city are designed primarily on the basis of fluid
mechanics.
(2) piping and ducting network of heating and air-conditioning systems.
(3) refrigerator involves tubes through which the refrigerant flows, a
compressor that pressurizes the refrigerant, and two heat exchangers
where the refrigerant absorbs and rejects heat.
(4) operation of ordinary faucets
Applications of fluid mechanics in an automobile.
(1) all components associated with the transportation of the fuel from the
fuel tank to the cylinders—the fuel line, fuel pump, fuel injectors, or
carburetors—as well as the mixing of the fuel and the air in the cylinders
and the purging of combustion gases in exhaust pipes are analyzed
using fluid mechanics.
(2) design of the heating and air-conditioning system, the hydraulic brakes,
the power steering, automatic transmission, and lubrication systems,
the cooling system of the engine block including the radiator and the
water pump, and even the tires.
(3) The sleek streamlined shape of recent model cars is the result of efforts
to minimize drag by using extensive analysis of flow over surfaces.
On a broader scale, fluid mechanics plays a major part in the
(1) design and analysis of aircraft, boats, submarines, rockets, jet engines,
wind turbines, biomedical devices, the cooling of electronic
components, and the transportation of water, crude oil, and natural gas.
(2) design of buildings, bridges, and even billboards to make sure that the
structures can withstand wind loading.
(3) natural phenomena such as the rain cycle, weather patterns, the rise of
ground water to the top of trees, winds, ocean waves, and currents in
large water bodies are also governed by the principles of fluid
mechanics
 Fig 1.1 Some application areas of fluid mechanics
(Source: Cengel, Yunus A. and John M. Cimbala. 2006. Fluid mechanics: fundamentals and
applications. New York. McGraw-Hill)

My dear students, now that you already know what a fluid mechanics is
and its significance and area of its application, let me ask you if you have any
idea on how, when and where fluid mechanics begins.

Lesson 3. Historical Perspective

The science of fluid mechanics is neither new nor biblical; however, most
of the progress in this field was made in the 20th century. As far as we can
document history, fluid dynamics and related engineering were always integral
parts of human evolution. Ancient civilizations built ships, sails, irrigation systems,
and floodmanagement structures, all requiring some basic understanding of fluid
flow. Perhaps the best known early scientist in this field is Archimedes of
Syracuse (287– 212 B.C.), founder of the field now we call “fluid statics,” whose
laws on buoyancy and flotation are used to this day. A major leap in understanding
fluid mechanics began with the European Renaissance of the 14th–17th
centuries. The famous Italian painter–sculptor, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519),
was one of the first to document basic laws such as the conservation of mass. He
sketched complex flow fields, suggested feasible configurations for airplanes,
parachutes, and even helicopters, and introduced the principle of streamlining to
reduce drag. During the next couple of hundred years, the sciences were
gradually developed and then suddenly accelerated by the rational mathematical
approach of an Englishman, Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), to physics. Apart
from the basic laws of mechanics, and particularly the second law connecting
acceleration with force, the concepts for drag and shear in a moving fluid were
developed by Newton, and his principles are widely used today. The foundations
of fluid mechanics really crystallized in the 18th century. One of the more famous
scientists, Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782, Dutch-Swiss), pointed out the relation
between velocity and pressure in a moving fluid, an equation that bears his name
appears in every textbook. However, his friend Leonhard Euler (1707–1783,
Swiss born), a real giant in this field, is the one who actually formulated the
Bernoulli equations in the form known today. In addition, Euler, using Newton’s
principles, developed the continuity and momentum equations for fluid flow.
These differential equations, the Euler equations, are the basis for modern fluid
dynamics and perhaps the most significant contribution to the process of
understanding fluid flows. Although Euler derived the mathematical formulation,
he did not provide solutions to his equations. (Note that Euler is pronounced
“oiler,” not “yuler”; hence we have “an Euler equation.”) Science and
experimentation in the field increased, but it was only in the 19th century that the
governing equations were finalized in the form known today. A Frenchman,
Claude-Louis-Marie-Henri Navier (1785–1836), understood that friction in a
flowing fluid must be added to the force balance. He incorporated these terms into
the Euler equations and published the first version of the complete set of
equations in 1822. These equations are known today as the Navier–Stokes
equations. Communications and information transfers were not well developed in
those days. For example, Sir George Gabriel Stokes (1819–1903) lived on the
English side of the English Channel but did not communicate directly with Navier.
Independently, he also added the viscosity term to the Euler equations. Hence
the glory is shared by both scientists for these equations. Euler can be also
considered the first to solve the equations for the motion of a sphere in a viscous
flow, which is now called “Stokes flow.” Although the theoretical basis for the
governing equation had been laid down by now, it was clear that the solution was
far out of reach. Therefore scientists focused on “approximate models,” using only
portions of the equation that could be solved. Experimental fluid mechanics also
gained momentum, with important discoveries by Englishman Osborne
Reynolds (1842–1912) about turbulence and transition from laminar to turbulent
flow. This brings us to the 20th century, when science and technology grew at an
explosive rate, particularly after the first powered flight of the Wright brothers in
the United States (December 1903). Fluid mechanics attracted not only the
greatest talent but also investments from governments as the potential of flying
machines was recognized. If only one name is mentioned per century, then
Ludwig Prandtl (1874– 1953) of Gottingen, Germany, deserves the glory ¨ for
the 20th century. He made tremendous progress in developing simple models for
problems such as the flow in boundary layers and over airplane wings. This trend
of solving models and not the complex Navier–Stokes equations continued well
into the mid1990s, until the tremendous growth in computer power finally allowed
numerical solutions of these equations. Physical modeling is still required, but the
numerical approach allows the solutions of nonlinear partial differential equations,
an impossible task from the pure analytical point of view. Nowadays, the flow over
complex shapes and the resulting forces can be computed by commercial
computer codes, but without being exposed to simple models, our ability to
analyze the results would be incomplete.

Chronological Listing of Some Contributors to the Science of Fluid Mechanics

(1) ARCHIMEDES (287–212 B.C.) - Established elementary principles of
buoyancy and flotation.
(2) SEXTUS JULIUS FRONTINUS (A.D. 40–103) - Wrote treatise on Roman
methods of water distribution.
(3) LEONARDO da VINCI (1452–1519) - Expressed elementary principle of
continuity; observed and sketched many basic flow phenomena;
suggested designs for hydraulic machinery.
(4) GALILEO GALILEI (1564–1642) - Indirectly stimulated experimental
hydraulics; revised Aristotelian concept of vacuum.
(5) EVANGELISTA TORRICELLI (1608–1647) - Related barometric height
to weight of atmosphere, and form of liquid jet to trajectory of free fall.
(6) BLAISE PASCAL (1623–1662) - Finally clarified principles of barometer,
hydraulic press, and pressure transmissibility.
(7) ISAAC NEWTON (1642–1727) - Explored various aspects of fluid
resistance— inertial, viscous, and wave; discovered jet contraction.
(8) HENRI de PITOT (1695–1771) - Constructed double-tube device to
indicate water velocity through differential head.
(9) DANIEL BERNOULLI (1700–1782) - Experimented and wrote on many
phases of fluid motion, coining name “hydrodynamics”; devised
manometry technique and adapted primitive energy principle to explain
velocity-head indication; proposed jet propulsion.
(10) LEONHARD EULER (1707–1783) - First explained role of pressure in fluid
flow; formulated basic equations of motion and so-called Bernoulli
theorem; introduced concept of cavitation and principle of centrifugal
machinery.
(11) JEAN le ROND d’ALEMBERT (1717–1783) - Originated notion of velocity
and acceleration components, differential expression of continuity, and
paradox of zero resistance to steady nonuniform motion.
(12) ANTOINE CHEZY (1718–1798) - Formulated similarity parameter for
predicting flow characteristics of one channel from measurements on
another.
(13) GIOVANNI BATTISTA VENTURI (1746–1822) - Performed tests on
various forms of mouthpieces— in particular, conical contractions and
expansions.
(14) LOUIS MARIE HENRI NAVIER (1785–1836) Extended equations of
motion to include “molecular” forces.
(15) AUGUSTIN LOUIS de CAUCHY (1789–1857) - Contributed to the general
field of theoretical hydrodynamics and to the study of wave motion.
(16) GOTTHILF HEINRICH LUDWIG HAGEN (1797–1884) - Conducted
original studies of resistance in and transition between laminar and
turbulent flow.
(17) JEAN LOUIS POISEUILLE (1799–1869) - Performed meticulous tests on
resistance of flow through capillary tubes.
(18) HENRI PHILIBERT GASPARD DARCY (1803–1858) - Performed
extensive tests on filtration and pipe resistance; initiated open-channel
studies carried out by Bazin.
(19) JULIUS WEISBACH (1806–1871) - Incorporated hydraulics in treatise on
engineering mechanics, based on original experiments; noteworthy for
flow patterns, nondimensional coefficients, weir, and resistance
equations.
(20) WILLIAM FROUDE (1810–1879) - Developed many towing-tank
techniques, in particular the conversion of wave and boundary layer
resistance from model to prototype scale.
(21) ROBERT MANNING (1816–1897) - Proposed several formulas for
openchannel resistance.
(22) GEORGE GABRIEL STOKES (1819–1903) - Derived analytically various
flow relationships ranging from wave mechanics to viscous resistance—
particularly that for the settling of spheres.
(23) ERNST MACH (1838–1916) - One of the pioneers in the field of
supersonic aerodynamics.
(24) OSBORNE REYNOLDS (1842–19120 - Described original experiments in
many fields— cavitation, river model similarity, pipe resistance— and
devised two parameters for viscous flow; adapted equations of motion of
a viscous fluid to mean conditions of turbulent flow.
(25) JOHN WILLIAM STRUTT, LORD RAYLEIGH (1842–1919) - Investigated
hydrodynamics of bubble collapse, wave motion, jet instability, laminar
flow analogies, and dynamic similarity.
(26) VINCENZ STROUHAL (1850–1922) - Investigated the phenomenon of
“singing wires.”
 (27) EDGAR BUCKINGHAM (1867–1940) - Stimulated interest in the United
States in the use of dimensional analysis.
(28) MORITZ WEBER (1871–1951) - Emphasized the use of the principles of
similitude in fluid flow studies and formulated a capillarity similarity
parameter.
(29) LUDWIG PRANDTL (1875–1953) - Introduced concept of the boundary
layer and is generally considered to be the father of present-day fluid
mechanics.

(30) LEWIS FERRY MOODY (1880–1953) - Provided many innovations in the

field of hydraulic machinery. Proposed a method of correlating pipe
resistance data which is widely used.
(31) THEODOR VON KÁRMÁN (1881–1963) - One of the recognized leaders
of twentieth century fluid mechanics. Provided major contributions to our
understanding of surface resistance, turbulence, and wake phenomena.
(32) PAUL RICHARD HEINRICH BLASIUS (1883–1970) - One of Prandtl’s
students who provided an analytical solution to the boundary layer equations.
Also, demonstrated that pipe resistance was related to the Reynolds
number.

The pioneers of fluid mechanics with their corresponding contributions makes

us now understand the reasons why a certain phenomenon happens like the
flow of water in the faucet or why a boat floats in waters.

Student Activity. Enumerate at least 5 application of fluid mechanics and discuss

briefly the concept and principles applied.
Submit your answers to our google classroom.

Feedback
The observations you made signify that you understand now the basic concept
and principles especially the applications of fluid mechanics in our daily lives. That
indicates further that you can application of fluid mechanics can be observed even
in ordinary daily routine.
Summary
In this module some the definition and basic concepts of fluid mechanics
are introduced and discussed. Fluid mechanics is the science that deals with the
behavior of fluids at rest or in motion and the interaction of fluids with solids or
other fluids at the boundaries. Also, the brief history has been presented
emphasizing the pioneers and their significant contributions.

References
(1) Adrien, Nicolas G. 2004. Computational hydraulics and hydrology: an
illustrated dictionary. Boca Raton, Florida. CRC Press LLC.
(2) Cengel, Yunus A. and John M. Cimbala. 2006. Fluid mechanics:
fundamentals and applications. New York. McGraw-Hill.
(3) Gillesania, D. I. T. 2015. Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics. Cebu City. Cebu
DG
Print, Inc.
(4) King, H. W., J.O. Wisler and J.G. Woodburn. 1980. Hydraulics. R. E.
Krieger Publishing Company.
(5) Munson, Bruce R., Young, Donald F., Okiishi, Theodore H., Huebsch,
Wade W. 2010. Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics. United States of
America. John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.