Question

Define Viscosity. What are the main differences between viscous and inviscid flows?

Answer 1

1. Define Viscosity

In physics, Viscosity refers to the level of resistance of a fluid to flow due to internal friction, in other words, viscosity is the result of the magnitude of internal friction in a fluid, as measured by the force per unit area resisting uniform flow. For example, the honey is a fluid with high viscosity while the water has low viscosity.

What are the main differences between viscous and inviscid flows?

Viscous flows are flows that has a thick, sticky consistency between solid and liquid, contain and conduct heat, does not have a rest frame mass density and whose motion at a fixed point always remains constant. Inviscid flows, on the other hand, are flows characterized for having zero viscosity (it does not have a thick, sticky consistency), for not containing or conducting heat, for the lack of steady flow and for having a rest frame mass density

Furthermore, viscous flows are much more common than inviscid flows, while this latter is often considered an idealized model since helium is the only fluid that can become inviscid.