Chapter 6

MOMENTUM ANALYSIS OF
FLOW SYSTEMS
Steady swimming of the jellyf ish Aurelia aurita. Fluorescent dye
placed directly upstream of the animal is drawn underneath the bell
as the body relaxes and forms vortex rings below the animal as the
body contracts and ejects f luid. The vortex rings simultaneously
induce f lows for both feeding and propulsion. 2
 Objectives
• Identify the various kinds of forces and
moments acting on a control volume
• Use control volume analysis to determine the
forces associated with f luid flow
• Use control volume analysis to determine the
moments caused by f lu id f lo w and the
torque transmitted

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6–1 ■ NEWTON’S LAWS
Newton’s laws: Relations between motions of bodies and the forces
acting on them.
Newton’s f irst law: A body at rest remains at rest, and a body in
motion remains in motion at the same velocity in a straight path
when the net force acting on it is zero.
Therefore, a body tends to preserve its state of inertia.
Newton’s second law: The acceleration of a body is proportional to
the net force acting on it and is inversely proportional to its mass.
Newton’s third law: When a body exerts a force on a second body, the
second body exerts an equal and opposite force on the f irst.
Therefore, the direction of an exposed reaction force depends on the
body taken as the system.

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 Linear momentum or just the momentum of the
body: The product of the mass and the velocity of a
body.
Newton’s second law is usually referred to as
linear
the momentum
equation . Conservation of momentum principle: The
momentum of a system remains constant
only when the net force acting on it is zero.

Linear momentum is the Newton’s second law is also

product of mass and velocity, expressed asthe rate of change
and its direction is the of the momentum of a body is
equal to the net force acting on it . 5
direction of velocity.
The conservation of angular momentum
Principle: The total angular momentum of
a rotating body remains constant when
the net torque acting on it is zero, and
thus the angular momentum of such
systems is conserved.

The rate of change of the angular

momentum of a body is equal
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to the net torque acting on it.
6–2 ■ CHOOSING A CONTROL VOLUME
A control volume can be selected as any arbitrary
region in space through which f luid f lows, and its
bounding control surface can be f ixed, moving, and
even deforming during f low.
Many f low systems involve stationary hardware f irmly
f ixed to a stationary surface, and such systems are
best analyzed usingf ixed control volumes.
When analyzing f low systems that are moving or
deforming, it is usually more convenient to allow the
control volume to move ordeform .
In deforming control volume, part of the control
surface moves relative to other parts.

Examples of
(a) f ixed,
(b)moving, and
(c)deforming
control volumes.

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6–3 ■ FORCES ACTING ON A CONTROL VOLUME
The forces acting on a control volume consist of
Body forces that act throughout the entire body of the control
volume (such as gravity, electric, and magnetic forces) and
Surface forces that act on the control surface (such as pressure
and viscous forces and reaction forces at points of contact).
Only external forces are considered in the analysis.

Total force acting on control volume :

The total force acting on a

control volume is composed of
body forces and surface forces;
body force is shown on a
dif ferential volume element, and
surface force is shown on a
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dif ferential surface element.
The most common body force is that of gravity, which exerts a downward force
on every dif ferential element of the control volume.

Surface forces are not as simple to

analyze since they consist of bothnormal
andtangential components.
Normal stresses are composed of
pressure (which always acts inwardly
normal) and viscous stresses.
Shear stresses are composed entirely of
viscous stresses.
The gravitational force acting on a dif ferential
volume element of f luid is equal to its weight; the
axes have been rotated so that the gravity vector 9
downward in the negative
acts z -direction.
 Surface force acting on a
dif ferential surface element :

Total surface force acting

on control surface :

Total force :

When coordinate axes are rotated

(a ) to (b ), the components of the
surface force change, even
though the force itself remains the
same; only two dimensions are
shown here. 10
 A common simplif ication in the application of Newton’s laws of motion is
to subtract theatmospheric pressure and work with gage pressures.
This is because atmospheric pressure acts in all directions, and its ef fect cancels
out in every direction.
This means we can also ignore the pressure forces at outlet sections where the
f luid is discharged to the atmosphere since the discharge pressure in such cases is
very near atmospheric pressure at subsonic velocities.

Atmospheric pressure acts in all

directions, and thus it can be ignored
when performing force balances since Cross section through a faucet
its ef fect cancels out in every direction. assembly, illustrating the importance of
choosing a control volume wisely; CV B
is much easier to work with than CV A.
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6–4 ■ THE LINEAR MOMENTUM EQUATION

Newton’s second law can be stated as

The sum of all external forces acting on a system is equal to the time rate of
change of linear momentum of the system .
This statement is valid for a coordinate system that is at rest or moves with a
constant velocity, called aninertial coordinate system orinertial reference frame . 1
2
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The momentum equation is
commonly used to calculate the
forces (usually on support systems
or connectors) induced by the f low.

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Steady Special Cases
f low

Mass f low rate across an inlet or

outlet

Momentum f low rate across

a uniform inlet or outlet:

In a typical engineering
problem, the control volume
may contain many inlets and
outlets; at each inlet or
outlet we def ine the mass
f low rate and the average 15
velocity.
Examples of inlets or outlets in which the uniform
f low approximation is reasonable:
(a) the well-rounded entrance to a pipe,
(b) the entrance to a wind tunnel test section, and
(c) a slice through a free water jet in air.

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 Momentum-Flux Correction Factor,
The velocity across most inlets and outlets is not uniform.
The control surface integral of Eq. 6–17 may be converted into algebraic form using
a dimensionless correction factor , called the momentum-f lux correction factor.

(6-17)

 is always greater than or equal to 1.

 is close to 1 for turbulent f low and
not very close to 1 for fully developed
laminar f low.

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 For turbulent f low β may have an
insignif icant ef fect at inlets and
outlets, but for laminar f low β
may be important and should not
be neglected. It is wise to include
β in all momentum control
volume problems.
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Steady Flow

The net force acting on the control volume during steady f low is equal to the
dif ference between the rates of outgoing and incoming momentum f lows.

The net force acting on the control

volume during steady f low is equal to
the dif ference between the outgoing
and the incoming momentum f luxes.

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Steady Flow with One Inlet and One Outlet
One inlet and
one outlet
Along x-
coordinate

The determination by vector

addition of the reaction force on
A control volume with only one the support caused by a change
inlet and one outlet. of direction of water.
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 Flow with No External Forces

In the absence of external forces, the rate of change of the

momentum of a control volume is equal to the dif ference between
the rates of incoming and outgoing momentum f low rates.

The thrust needed to lift the space

shuttle is generated by the rocket
engines as a result of momentum
change of the fuel as it is accelerated
from about zero to an exit speed of
about 2000 m/s after combustion. 21
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 6–5 ■ REVIEW OF ROTATIONAL MOTION
AND ANGULAR MOMENTUM
Rotational motion: A motion during
which all points in the body move in
circles about the axis of rotation.
Rotational motion is described with
angular quantities such as the angular
 , angular velocity , and
distance
angular acceleration .
Angular velocity: The angular distance
traveled per unit time.
Angular acceleration: The rate of
change of angular velocity.

The relations between angular

distance , angular velocity ,
V .
and linear velocity
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• Newton’s second law requires that there must be a force acting in the
tangential direction to cause angular acceleration.
• The strength of the rotating ef fect, called the moment or torque , is
proportional to the magnitude of the force and its distance from the axis of
rotation.
• The perpendicular distance from the axis of rotation to the line of action of the
force is called themoment arm , and the torqueM acting on a point massm
at a normal distancer from the axis of rotation is expressed as

Torque

I is the moment of inertia of the

body about the axis of rotation,
which is a measure of the inertia of
a body against rotation.
Unlike mass, the rotational inertia of
a body also depends on the
distribution of the mass of the body Analogy between corresponding
with respect to the axis of rotation. linear and angular quantities.
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 Angular
momentum

Angular momentum equation

Angular velocity
versus rpm

Angular momentum of point mass The relations between angular

m rotating at angular velocity at velocity, rpm, and the power
r from the axis of rotation.
distance transmitted through a shaft. 36
 Shaft power

Rotational kinetic energy

During rotational motion, the direction of velocity changes even when its
magnitude remains constant. Velocity is a vector quantity, and thus a change
in direction constitutes a change in velocity with time, and thus acceleration.
This is called centripetal acceleration.

Centripetal acceleration is directed toward the axis of rotation (opposite direction of

radial acceleration), and thus the radial acceleration is negative. Centripetal
acceleration is the result of a force acting on an element of the body toward the
axis of rotation, known as the centripetal force, whose magnitude Fisr = mV r2/ .
Tangential and radial accelerations are perpendicular to each other, and the total
linear acceleration is determined by their vector sum:

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6–6 ■ THE ANGULAR MOMENTUM EQUATION
Many engineering problems involve the moment of the linear momentum
of f low streams, and the rotational ef fects caused by them.
Such problems are best analyzed by the angular momentum equation , also
called themoment of momentum equation.
An important class of f luid devices, called turbomachines , which include
centrifugal pumps, turbines, and fans, is analyzed by the angular
momentum equation.
A force whose line of
action passes through
pointO produces zero
moment about point O .

The determination
of the direction of
the moment by
38
the right-hand rule.
 Moment of Moment of
momentu momentum
m (system )

Rate of change of
moment of
momentum
Angular momentum equation for
a system

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Special Cases
During steady f low , the amount of angular momentum within the
control volume remains constant, and thus the time rate of change of
angular momentum of the contents of the control volume is zero.

An approximate form of the angular momentum equation in terms

of average properties at inlets and outlets:

The net torque acting on the control volume during steady f low is equal to the
dif ference between the outgoing and incoming angular momentum f low rates.

scalar form of angular

momentum equation
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 Flow with No External Moments

In the absence of external moments, the rate of change of the angular

momentum of a control volume is equal to the dif ference between the
incoming and outgoing angular momentum f luxes.

When the moment of inertia I of the control volume remains constant,

the irst term on the right side of the above equation becomes simply
moment of inertia times angular acceleration. Therefore, the control
volume in this case can be treated as a solid body, with a net torque of

This approach can be used to determine the angular

acceleration of space vehicles and aircraft when a rocket is
f ired in a direction dif ferent than the direction of motion.

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Radial-Flow Devices
Radial-f low devices: Many rotary-f low devices such as centrifugal pumps and
fans involve f low in the radial direction normal to the axis of rotation.
Axial-f low devices are easily analyzed using the linear momentum equation.
Radial-f low devices involve large changes in angular momentum of the f luid
and are best analyzed with the help of the angular momentum equation.

Side and frontal views of a typical centrifugal pump.

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The conservation of mass equation for steady incompressible f low

angular momentum equation

Euler’s turbine
formula

When

An annular control
volume that encloses
the impeller section of
a centrifugal pump. 43
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The variation of power produced with angular
speed for the turbine of Example 6–9.

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 Summary
• Newton’s Laws
• Choosing a Control Volume
• Forces Acting on a Control Volume
• The Linear Momentum Equation
 Special Cases
 Momentum-Flux Correction Factor, 
 Steady Flow
 Flow with No External Forces
• Review of Rotational Motion and Angular
Momentum
• The Angular Momentum Equation
 Special Cases
 Flow with No External Moments
 Radial-Flow Devices
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