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Unit of study_

CIVL2611: Introductory Fluid Mechanics

2025 unit information

The objective of this unit of study is to develop an understanding of basic fluid concepts for inviscid and incompressible fluids. Topics to be covered will include: basic fluid properties, hydrostatics, buoyancy, stability, pressure distribution in a fluid with rigid body motion, fluid dynamics, conservation of mass and momentum, dimensional analysis, open channel flow, and pipe flow. This core unit of study together with CIVL3612 forms the basis for further studies in the applied areas of ocean, coastal and wind engineering and other elective fluid mechanics units which may be offered.

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Engineering

Study level Undergraduate
Academic unit Civil Engineering
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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None
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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None
Assumed knowledge:
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Equivalent to the content of CIVL1802, MATH1061, MATH1062, MATH2061, PHYS1001 and CIVL2201. This includes basic mechanics (statics and dynamics); calculus, including differentiation; integration (single and double integrations) and simple differential equations; vector calculus; and basic physics. Students without this background should see the unit of study coordinator for a discussion

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. Understand the fundamental properties of fluids and how they influence fluid motion
  • LO2. Be able to calculate pressure forces on submerged and floating bodies in both stationary fluids and fluids moving in rigid body motion
  • LO3. Understand the physical meaning and limitations of Bernoulli Theorem and be able to apply the theorem to a range of fluid flow problems.
  • LO4. Be able to apply dimensional analysis principle to simplify solutions of fluid mechanics problems and the design of experiments
  • LO5. Understand the principles of mass and momentum conservations in the context of fluid flows and be able to use these concepts for calculations.
  • LO6. Understand the fundamentals of open channel flow and pipe flow

Unit availability

This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.

The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.

Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 2 2024
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 2 2025
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Outline unavailable
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 2 2020
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 2 2021
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 2 2021
Normal day Remote
Semester 2 2022
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 2 2022
Normal day Remote
Semester 2 2023
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

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Modes of attendance (MoA)

This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.