Having looked at various University modules for Chemical Engineering, fluid
mechanics seems to be common first year module… So I thought I would give it a
go and try to understand as much of basics of it as I could.
Firstly, fluid mechanics is the study of statics and dynamics of fluids and how forces act on them. Static fluid is fluid at rest and dynamic fluid is obviously fluid that is in motion. Fluid mechanics also assumes that every fluid complies with conservation of mass, energy and momentum. We must now define what a fluid actually is. Out of the 3 states of matter, solid, liquid and gas, a fluid fits the description of a liquid and a gas. Originally I found it odd to find out that a gas was considered a fluid, since I’ve always thought of fluid as a liquid only, yet actually gases also make sense… Well its scientifically proven! The way we know to consider both liquid and gas a fluid is through their response to a shear force, which from my understanding is a pair of forces that push something in opposite directions. A solid resists a shear force, whereas liquids and gases do not as they can flow and therefore continuously deform as a result. The different variables needed to define a fluid and its environment are, pressure, velocity, density, viscosity, body force, time and temperature. Fluid mechanics can be solved using computers since it involves complex mathematics, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics, which uses numerical analysis and algorithms to analyse problems of fluid flow. Particle image velocimetry on the other hand, is an experimental method to analyse fluid flow and its problems. Fluid mechanics also links to continuum mechanics, which studies the physics of continuous materials e.g., fluid. Continuum mechanics is based on some approximation and so therefore its solutions are also approximate so there is minor inaccuracy.
Fluid mechanics is of importance to chemical engineers, well all engineers and physicist for that matter, as it can help them solve many problems such as water supply systems, determining flow of petroleum through pipelines and even making devices to mix industrial chemicals… as well as many, many more things!
Firstly, fluid mechanics is the study of statics and dynamics of fluids and how forces act on them. Static fluid is fluid at rest and dynamic fluid is obviously fluid that is in motion. Fluid mechanics also assumes that every fluid complies with conservation of mass, energy and momentum. We must now define what a fluid actually is. Out of the 3 states of matter, solid, liquid and gas, a fluid fits the description of a liquid and a gas. Originally I found it odd to find out that a gas was considered a fluid, since I’ve always thought of fluid as a liquid only, yet actually gases also make sense… Well its scientifically proven! The way we know to consider both liquid and gas a fluid is through their response to a shear force, which from my understanding is a pair of forces that push something in opposite directions. A solid resists a shear force, whereas liquids and gases do not as they can flow and therefore continuously deform as a result. The different variables needed to define a fluid and its environment are, pressure, velocity, density, viscosity, body force, time and temperature. Fluid mechanics can be solved using computers since it involves complex mathematics, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics, which uses numerical analysis and algorithms to analyse problems of fluid flow. Particle image velocimetry on the other hand, is an experimental method to analyse fluid flow and its problems. Fluid mechanics also links to continuum mechanics, which studies the physics of continuous materials e.g., fluid. Continuum mechanics is based on some approximation and so therefore its solutions are also approximate so there is minor inaccuracy.
Fluid mechanics is of importance to chemical engineers, well all engineers and physicist for that matter, as it can help them solve many problems such as water supply systems, determining flow of petroleum through pipelines and even making devices to mix industrial chemicals… as well as many, many more things!
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