INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SPACE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
B.Tech. Aerospace Engineering

AE213 FLUID MECHANICS

Submission deadline: 2 November 2024

1. An incompressible liquid with negligible viscosity flows steadily through a horizontal pipe. The
pipe diameter linearly varies from 10 cm to 2.5 cm over a length of 2 m. Develop an expression
for the acceleration of a fluid particle along the pipe centerline. Plot the centerline velocity and
acceleration versus position along the pipe, if the inlet centerline velocity is 1.2 m/s.

2. Glycerin at flows upward in a vertical 60-mm-diameter pipe with a centerline velocity of 1.2 m/s.
Determine the head loss and pressure drop in a 15-m length of the pipe.

3. Oil, with ρ = 850 kg/m3 and µ = 0.09 kg/(m s), is to be pumped through 1 km of straight
horizontal pipe with a power input of 1.0 kW. What is the maximum possible mass flow rate,
and corresponding pipe diameter, if laminar flow is to be maintained?

4. Oil flows in a pipe 100 mm bore diameter with a Reynolds number of 800. The density is
840 kg/m3 . Calculate the velocity at a radius of 40 mm. The viscosity µ = 0.08 Pa s.

5. Glycerin at 20o C is to be pumped through a horizontal smooth pipe at 3.2 m3 /s. It is desired
that (1) the flow be laminar and (2) the pressure drop be no more than 100 Pa/m. What is
the minimum pipe diameter allowable?

6. Water (µ = 3×10−4 Pa s) flows between two large parallel flat plates. The lower plate moves to
the left at a speed of 0.25 m/s. The plate spacing is 3 mm and the flow is laminar. Determine
the pressure gradient required to produce zero net flow at a cross-section.

7. A viscous oil flows steadily between stationary parallel plates. The flow is laminar and fully
developed. The total gap width between the plates is h = 6 mm. The oil viscosity is 0.8 Pa s
and the pressure gradient is 20000 Pa/m. Find the magnitude and direction of the shear stress
on the upper plate and the volume flow rate through the channel, per meter of width.

8. Consider steady, fully developed laminar flow of a viscous liquid down an inclined surface. The
liquid layer is of constant thickness, h. Use a suitably chosen differential control volume to
obtain the velocity profile. Develop an expression for the volume flow rate.

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 9. Two immiscible fluids of equal density are flowing down a surface inclined at a 60◦ angle. The
two fluid layers are of equal thickness h = 8 mm; the kinematic viscosity of the upper fluid is
1/4th that of the lower fluid, which is νlower = 0.01 m2 /s. Find the velocity at the interface
and the velocity at the free surface. Plot the velocity distribution.

10. A large artery in a person’s body can be approximated by a tube of diameter 7 mm and length
0.35 m. Also assume that blood has a viscosity of approximately 4 ×10−3 Pa s, a specific gravity
of 1.0, and that the pressure at the beginning of the artery is equivalent to 120 mm Hg. If the
flow were steady (it is not) with V = 0.25 m/s, determine the pressure at the end of the artery
if it is oriented (a) vertically up (flow up) or (b) horizontal.

11. A long vertical cylinder of radius b rotates with angular speed Ω concentrically outside a smaller
stationary cylinder of radius a. The annular space is filled with fluid of viscosity µ. Determine
the steady-state velocity profile V = (0, uθ , 0), and show that the work done by the external
agent in maintaining the flow equals the viscous dissipation rate of fluid kinetic energy in the
flow field.

12. Consider a steady, laminar, incompressible, axial flow in the annular space between two con-
centric cylinders of inner and outer radii a and b respectively. The flow is driven by a pressure
gradient in the axial direction. Obtain the velocity profile and thus find the volume flow rate
through the annular space.