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Fluid Mechanics Foundations Tutorial

This tutorial covers the mathematical and physical foundations necessary for fluid mechanics, with a focus on problem-solving related to forces, differential equations, scalar potential functions, and stress tensors. It includes questions on tug forces, dimensional analysis of a partial differential equation, gradient evaluation, and characteristics of a bacterium swimming in water. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of dimensional homogeneity and the physical meanings of stress tensor components.

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4 views2 pages

Fluid Mechanics Foundations Tutorial

This tutorial covers the mathematical and physical foundations necessary for fluid mechanics, with a focus on problem-solving related to forces, differential equations, scalar potential functions, and stress tensors. It includes questions on tug forces, dimensional analysis of a partial differential equation, gradient evaluation, and characteristics of a bacterium swimming in water. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of dimensional homogeneity and the physical meanings of stress tensor components.

Uploaded by

tbhk07r
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Tutorial 1 (Week 1)

CLL231B
This tutorial focuses on mathematical and physical foundations required for fluid mechanics. Full
fluid-mechanics interpretations will be discussed progressively in lectures.

Question 1: The picture shows two tugs pulling a barge. If one pulls with 20000 Newtons of
force what force should the other tug pull with to keep the barge going straight to the right.

Question 2: Consider the following partial differential equation:


2
ρ ( ∂𝑢
∂𝑡
+𝑢
∂𝑢
∂𝑥
+𝑣
∂𝑢
∂𝑦 ) = −
∂𝑝
∂𝑥
+μ
∂𝑢
∂𝑦
2 + ρ 𝑔𝑥

Where u and v are velocity components, p is pressure, ρ is density, µ is dynamic viscosity and
𝑔𝑥 is gravitational acceleration.

(a)​Write down the fundamental dimensions of each physical quantity appearing in the
equation.
(b)​Show that every term in the equation has the same dimensions.
(c)​ State why dimensional homogeneity is a necessary requirement for any physically
meaningful equation.

Question 3: For the scalar potential function

2 2
​ ​ ​ Φ(𝑥, 𝑦) = 𝑥 +𝑦 ,
(a)​Evaluate the gradient ∇Φ at the point (2,1).
(b)​Sketch the curve defined by
​ ​ ​ Φ(𝑥, 𝑦) = Φ(2, 1)
(c)​Show that at the point (2,1), the vector ∇Φ is perpendicular to the curve.

Question 4: A bacterium swims in water with:


●​ Characteristics length: L ~ 1 μ𝑚
μ𝑚
●​ Speed: U ~ 10 𝑠
3 𝑘𝑔
●​ Density ρ~ 10 3
𝑚
−3
●​ Viscosity μ ~ 10 𝑃𝑎. 𝑠

ρ𝑈𝐿
Estimate the order of magnitude of µ

Based on this value, comment qualitatively on where inertia or viscosity dominates.


Question 5: The stress tensor at a point is given by:

(a) What is the physical meaning of the diagonal components?​


(b) What is the physical meaning of the off-diagonal components?​
(c) Which components correspond to shear stresses?

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