Fluid Mechanics
A fluid is defined by what it cannot do: resist shear without moving. Everything after that — pressure distributions, Bernoulli, boundary layers, losses — follows from that one inability, and these topics trace the consequence.
Start from the beginning →1 topic you can watch now, 25 still to come.
Fluid properties
What makes a fluid a fluid, and the properties that follow.
- Density, specific weight and specific gravity
- Viscosity and Newton's law of viscosity
- Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids
- Surface tension, capillarity and vapour pressure
- Compressibility and bulk modulus
Fluid statics
A fluid that is not moving still pushes, and it pushes everywhere.
- Pressure at a point and Pascal's law
- Manometry
- Hydrostatic force on plane and curved surfaces
- Buoyancy and Archimedes' principle
- Stability of floating bodies and metacentre
Fluid kinematics
Describing the motion before asking what caused it.
- Lagrangian and Eulerian descriptions
- Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines
- Continuity equation
- Stream function and velocity potential
- Rotational and irrotational flow
Fluid dynamics
Energy along a streamline, and what it is worth.
- Euler's equation and Bernoulli's equation
- Venturimeter, orifice meter and pitot tube
- Momentum equation and force on a bend
- Navier-Stokes overview
Flow through pipes and boundary layers
Where the idealisation stops and the losses start.
- Laminar and turbulent flow, Reynolds number
- Darcy-Weisbach and major losses
- Minor losses and pipes in series and parallel
- Boundary layer growth and separation
- Drag and lift
- Dimensional analysis and model similitude