3. Fluid Static and Interfaces
Now we will look at how the four general conservation laws we developed
in previous chapters can be applied to a great many important engineering
problems when we constitute the system of equations. For many physical
flows in engineering problems, the assumptions of frictionless or inviscid
and incompressible flows allow us to create a reasonably accurate model
representing practical situations.
For the sake of aiding understanding of how to apply the laws we have
just developed in closed systems, we will begin to consider a number of
simpler but still very useful models demonstrated in practical cases.
Fluid static is the simplest case in fluid engineering where the fluid is
at the static state in equilibrium, where the concept of pressure is of par-
ticular importance.
When fluids considered as continuum medium do not involve relative
motion between any parts of the fluid, the state of fluid motion is in static
equilibrium. Without the presence of velocity gradients in static equilib-
rium, the only stress present is the hydrostatic stress, except for in very
specific cases involving non-Newtonian fluids or electromagnetic medium.
The isotropic pressure, which acts normal to the surface of any orientation
of a fluid particle in static equilibrium, is the hydrostatic pressure, which is
identical to the thermodynamic pressure, as verified in Section 2.5.
Fluid static or hydrostatics deals with the mechanics of fluid in static
equilibrium. Fluids in static equilibrium may have common boundaries,
where two single phases are in contact. The pressure discontinuity across
the interface occurs due to surface tension, having the curvature of the in-
terface. This chapter also deals with a basic interfacial phenomenon, which
is often encountered in engineering applications.
3.1 Fluid Static
Let us consider linear momentum conservation with a fluid particle rotat-
ing in an inertial reference frame. From Cauchy's equation of motion,
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