Fluid engineering involves designing systems that carry fluids or machinery that relies on fluid properties. It includes fluid dynamics, hydraulics, and pneumatics, and is used in projects such as pipelines, aircraft, and drilling for oil.
Fluid engineering is concerned with the design and implementation of systems that carry fluids or machinery whose function depends on the properties of the fluids. In this context, fluids are all materials that flow without a fixed shape, deform under pressure, and conform to the shape of their containers. Liquids, gases and plasmas are all fluids. Common projects in fluid engineering might involve building a pipeline or designing vehicles efficiently.
At the heart of fluid engineering is fluid dynamics, the science of moving fluids. The mechanical properties of liquids are dealt with in the applied science of hydraulics. Pneumatics studies the properties and applications of gases under pressure. While these are two distinct disciplines, the fluids involved usually share the same flow phenomena and are described by the same equations.
Hydraulics addresses practical engineering problems related to the storage, handling, and use of liquids. This is in contrast to hydrology, which studies the natural movement of water through the earth’s crust. The properties of a liquid at rest are the subject of hydrostatics. These come into play in the design of dams, hydraulic presses and submersible machinery.
Hydrodynamics deals with fluid engineering problems involving friction and turbulence. These are typically factors when liquids flowing through pipes or hydraulic pressure are used to drive mechanical devices. The efficient operation of pumps, turbomachinery and hydraulic motors all depend on effective control of these forces.
Pneumatics is primarily concerned with the use of pressurized gas to operate mechanical devices. Brake systems, power tools and sprayers are all often powered by compressed gas. Fluid Engineering manufactures a wide variety of industrial pneumatic devices that rely on compressed atmospheric air. Such a power source is readily available without the dangers of leakage associated with the use of other gases.
Movement through a fluid medium can involve projects as diverse as designing aircraft or manufacturing efficient ship propellers. Fluid engineering is applied to aeronautics using the Bernoulli equation, which describes the behavior of fluid flow along a surface. The same equations could also describe the properties effecting the movement of liquids through a confined area or the movement of a submarine across the ocean.
In drilling for oil or natural gas, the mud engineer uses fluid engineering principles when selecting the drilling mud, or fluid, that provides hydrostatic pressure in the borehole. Material is injected into the hole to exclude foreign fluids, cool and lubricate the drill bit, and help carry drill bits to the surface. Compressed air, plain water, and water- or oil-based clay mixtures can be used as a fluid.
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