Hydraulics applies the properties of liquids to engineering problems and systems. This lesson introduces the field, its relationship to fluid mechanics, and the difference between pressurized-liquid systems and free-surface flow.
Hydraulics is a technology and applied science concerned with the mechanical properties and uses of liquids. It draws on fluid mechanics, engineering, chemistry, and other sciences. Fluid mechanics provides much of the theoretical foundation; hydraulics focuses especially on applying fluid behavior to practical systems.
All flashcards
What is hydraulics?
Hydraulics is an applied science and technology that uses the mechanical properties and behavior of liquids, especially in engineering systems.
How are fluid mechanics and hydraulics related?
Fluid mechanics provides the theoretical foundation for understanding fluids. Hydraulics emphasizes applying fluid properties to engineering and practical systems.
What is fluid power?
Fluid power uses pressurized liquids to generate, control, and transmit power through a system.
What is free-surface flow?
It is liquid flow with an exposed boundary against the atmosphere or another gas, as in rivers, canals, lakes, estuaries, and seas.
How does hydraulics differ from pneumatics?
Hydraulics uses liquids to transmit and control energy; pneumatics uses gases.
Quiz questions
According to Pascal's principle, what happens when pressure changes in a confined fluid at rest?Answer: The pressure change is transmitted undiminished throughout the fluid.
In an ideal hydraulic press, why can the output piston exert more force than the input piston?Answer: The same pressure acts over a larger output-piston area.
How did the narrowing Piedras Bolas aqueduct at Palenque use water pressure?Answer: Its narrowing downstream section could send water upward without a mechanical pump.
What contribution is associated with Benedetto Castelli's 1619 book on running waters?Answer: It became one foundation of modern hydrodynamics.
What was the MONIAC computer designed to teach using water flowing through hydraulic components?Answer: Economics.
Based on the Wikipedia article Hydraulics, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.