THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
MIDTERM EXAMINATIONS
FLUID MECHANICS
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Instructor______________________________________ Section_______________
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING:
1. A 70 kg person stands on a scale in an elevator. What is the reading on the scale
(apparent weight) if the elevator is:
1. At rest
2. Accelerating upward at 2 m/s2
3. Accelerating downward at 2 m/s2
Given:
Mass, m=70 kg
Gravity, g=9.81 m/s2
2. A small mass of 0.5kg is placed on a rotating turntable at a radius of 0.4m. The
turntable rotates at 60 rpm. Find the fictitious centrifugal force acting on the mass
in the rotating frame.
3. A bullet is fired due north at v = 400 m/s from a location at 30° north latitude on
Earth. What is the Coriolis acceleration acting on the bullet? Use Earth's angular
velocity ω = 7.292 × 10⁻⁵ rad/s.
Solution:
Step 1: Use Coriolis acceleration formula
a_cor = 2ωv sin(φ)
Where:
ω = 7.292 × 10⁻⁵ rad/s
v = 400 m/s
φ = 30°
4. Differentiate steady and unsteady flow and uniform vs. non uniform flow.
5. Water flows steadily through a horizontal pipe with an inlet area of A₁ = 0.04 m²,
velocity v₁ = 3 m/s, and outlet area A₂ = 0.02 m². Use the Reynolds Transport
Theorem to find the outlet velocity v₂ assuming steady, incompressible flow and no
mass accumulation inside the control volume.
6. Air enters a duct at a rate of ṃ̇in = 2 kg/s through an inlet area of 0.1 m² and
exits through an outlet area of 0.05 m². The flow is steady and incompressible. Find
the exit velocity v_out if the inlet velocity is v_in = 10 m/s.
7. Water flows through a 90° horizontal pipe elbow at ṃ̇ = 10 kg/s.
Inlet: velocity v₁ = 5 m/s, diameter = 0.1 m
Outlet: same velocity v₂ = 5 m/s, but the flow turns 90° to the right.
Neglect gravity and pressure differences.
Find the force required to hold the elbow in place.
8. A lawn sprinkler has two arms, each 0.2 m long, and ejects water horizontally
from both nozzles. Water exits each nozzle at a velocity of v = 5 m/s relative to the
nozzle. The sprinkler rotates freely about its center. If the total flow rate is Q = 0.01
m³/s and the water density is ρ = 1000 kg/m³, what is the angular velocity ω of the
sprinkler in steady-state?
9. Water flows from a large open tank through a small nozzle located 5 m below the
surface. Assume the velocity at the water surface is negligible and neglect friction
losses. What is the velocity of the water jet exiting the nozzle?
10. Water flows through a 100 m long horizontal pipe with a diameter of 0.1 m at a
velocity of 2 m/s. If the Darcy friction factor f = 0.02, calculate the head loss due to
friction.
11. Water flows in a rectangular concrete channel (n = 0.015) that is 3 meters wide
and has a flow depth of 1.5 meters. The slope of the channel is 0.001. Calculate the
flow rate (Q) using Manning’s Equation.
12. Reservoir A has a water surface elevation of 100 m.
Reservoir B has a water surface elevation of 90 m.
The two reservoirs are connected by a 300 m long pipe.
Pipe diameter: 0.2 m
Darcy friction factor: f = 0.02
Assume no minor losses.
Water density: ρ = 1000 kg/m³, gravity g = 9.81 m/s²
Question: What is the flow rate (Q) from Reservoir A to B?