ABSTRACT
The study of fluid mechanics is important in numerous fields of engineering, including civil, environmental, agricultural, irrigation, mechanical, aerospace, nuclear, chemical, petroleum, biomedical, fire protection, and automotive engineering. The fundamental principles of fluid mechanics include three basic units of study: fluid statics, fluid kinematics, and fluid dynamics (Section 1.2). The physical properties/characteristics of a fluid system, along with the fluid kinematics and fluid dynamics, will determine the type of fluid flow (Section 1.3). The physical quantities of fluid flow (geometrics, kinematics, and dynamics) and the physical properties/characteristics of fluids (mass density, specific gravity, specific weight, viscosity, surface tension, vapor pressure, and bulk modulus) are expressed using four primary dimensions (force or mass, length, time, and temperature) and a specific system of units (metric or English) (Section 1.4). Most fluid properties vary with temperature and pressure, while the acceleration due to gravity varies with altitude and thus atmospheric pressure. As such, it is important to distinguish between two types of pressure scales (Section 1.5), define the conditions of standard atmosphere (Section 1.6), and define the standard reference for standard atmospheric pressure (Section 1.7). Furthermore, it is important to highlight Newton's second law of motion in the definition of the acceleration due to gravity (Section 1.8) and to note that the dynamic forces acting on a fluid element include those due to gravity, pressure, viscosity, elasticity, surface tension, and inertia (Section 1.9). And, finally, the physical properties of fluids are presented in Section 1.10.
