This is an undergraduate honours degree module in fluid mechanics. The structure of the module follows a widely accepted structure in fluid mechanics appropriate to this level, and enables the completion of a significant quantity of the recommended class texts. The module is designed to develop and enhance the learners’ knowledge and understanding of relevant fluid mechanics theory and practice, and to develop their ability to confidently solve complex engineering problems involving fluid-flow systems.
Viscous Flow in Ducts
Average velocity, laminar and turbulent flow, the entrance region, Darcy-Weisbach equation, laminar flow (in a pipe), turbulent flow (in a pipe), types of duct-flow problem, minor losses and non-circular-duct flows.
Flow Over Immersed Bodies
Boundary layer, the flat-plate boundary layer, Prandtl’s boundary layer equations, laminar flow over a flat plate, transition to turbulence, turbulent flat-plate boundary layer, effect of surface roughness, effect of freestream pressure gradient, experimental external flows.
Turbomachinery
Introduction, pumps (basic theory, pump performance curves, system characteristics and pump selection, cavitation and net positive suction head (NPSH), positive displacement pumps), centrifugal pumps, dimensional analysis and the pump similarity laws, the Pelton wheel.
Compressible Flows
Introduction, the Mach number, the first law of thermodynamics, entropy and the second law of thermodynamics, perfect gas, isentropic process, adiabatic and isentropic steady flow, isentropic flow with area changes, the normal shock wave, operation of converging and diverging nozzles.
