Fluid Mechanics

Although reactions and separations are crucial in chemical engineering, they are both underpined by fluid mechanics. Without knowledge of this area full design of reactors or separators would not be possible, let alone the pipes to get material to the equipment.

This page provides some interactive tools focused on fluid mechanics to help understand the basis of these systems. It should not be taken as a complete resource as it will not go into full details for each area, but you should be able to gain that information from the courses you are taking.

Have a look at the interactive graphs below:

Archimedes Rule on a Cube

Examine Archimedes rule on a cube of different densities.

Bernoulli's Equation

Examine how the heads in the ideal Bernoulli's equation sum to the total head.

Open Channel Flow

Examine how the height of water changes in an open channel with channel properties.

Flow through a parallel manifold

Examine how the flow splits through a parallel manifold.

Moody Friction Chart

Examine how the Reynolds number and roughness effect the friction factor.

Pipe Laminar Velocity Profile

Examine the velocity profile in a pipe for the laminar flow regime of power law fluids.

Hydrostatic Pressure

Examine how the density and height of fluids contribute to hydrostatic pressure.

Pump Curves

Examine how the parameters effect the power and head of a centrifugal pump.

Emptying a Vessel

Examine how the parameters effect the time take to empty fluid from a vessel.

Simple Viscosity Models

Examine how the parameters in simple viscosity models effect the shear stress and the viscosity.

Visco-Elastic Models

Examine how the parameters in a number of visco-elastic models predict the moduluses and the viscosity.