4.II.18B

Fluid Dynamics | Part IB, 2008

(i) Starting from Euler's equation for an incompressible fluid show that for potential flow with u=ϕ\mathbf{u}=\nabla \phi,

ϕt+12u2+χ=f(t)\frac{\partial \phi}{\partial t}+\frac{1}{2} u^{2}+\chi=f(t)

where u=u,χ=p/ρ+Vu=|\mathbf{u}|, \chi=p / \rho+V, the body force per unit mass is V-\nabla V and f(t)f(t) is an arbitrary function of time.

(ii) Hence show that, for the steady flow of a liquid of density ρ\rho through a pipe of varying cross-section that is subject to a pressure difference Δp=p1p2\Delta p=p_{1}-p_{2} between its two ends, the mass flow through the pipe per unit time is given by

mdMdt=S1S22ρΔpS12S22m \equiv \frac{d M}{d t}=S_{1} S_{2} \sqrt{\frac{2 \rho \Delta p}{S_{1}^{2}-S_{2}^{2}}}

where S1S_{1} and S2S_{2} are the cross-sectional areas of the two ends.

Typos? Please submit corrections to this page on GitHub.