Fluid Preliminaries By definition, a fluid is a material continuum that is unable to withstand a static shear stress.

Unlike an elastic solid which responds to a shear stress with a recoverable deformation, a fluid responds with an irrecoverable flow. Variables needed to define a fluid and its environment are:

Examples of fluids include gases and liquids. Typically, liquids are considered to be incompressible, whereas gases are considered to be compressible. However, there are exceptions in everyday engineering applications. Types of Flow; Reynolds Number Fluid flow can be either laminar or turbulent. The factor that determines which type of flow is present is the ratio of inertia forces to viscous forces within the fluid, expressed by the nondimensional Reynolds Number,

where V and D are a fluid characteristic velocity and distance. For example, for fluid flowing in a pipe, V could be the average fluid velocity, and D would be the pipe diameter. Typically, viscous stresses within a fluid tend to stabilize and organize the flow, whereas excessive fluid inertia tends to disrupt organized flow leading to chaotic turbulent behavior. Fluid flows are laminar for Reynolds Numbers up to 2000. Beyond a Reynolds Number of 4000, the flow is completely turbulent. Between 2000 and 4000, the flow is in transition between laminar and turbulent, and it is possible to find subregions of both flow types within a given flow field. Governing Equations Lamina r fluid flow is described by the Navier-Stokes equations. For cases of inviscid flow, the Bernoulli equation can be used to describe the flow. When the flow is zero (i.e. statics), the fluid is governed by the laws of fluid statics. Navier-Stokes Equations The motion of a non-turbulent, Newtonian fluid is governed by the Navier-Stokes equation:

The above equation can also be used to model turbulent flow, where the fluid parameters are interpreted as time-averaged values. The time-derivative of the fluid velocity in the Navier-Stokes equation is the material derivative, defined as:

The material derivative is distinct from a normal derivative because it includes a convection term, a very important term in fluid mechanics. This unique derivative will be denoted by a "dot" placed above the variable it operates on. Navier-Stokes Background On the most basic level, laminar (or time-averaged turbulent) fluid behavior is described by a set of fundamental equations. These equations are:

The Navier-Stokes equation is obtained by combining the fluid kinematics and constitutive relation into the fluid equation of motion, and eliminating the parameters D and T. These terms are defined below: