Hydraulics

Article By:

Adams, Thomas M. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana.

Hagist, Warren M. Formerly, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island.

Last reviewed:April 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.327300

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• Hydraulics, published December 2019:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

An applied science and technology concerned with the mechanical properties and practical uses of liquids. The physical description of fluids in motion is based upon the conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy. The mathematical statement of these laws may be approached from a highly theoretical point of view involving advanced mathematics and the application of intricate numerical method techniques. Often the results obtained from such approaches are very complicated and not well suited for practical engineering work. Thus, these physical principles are usually supplemented with some degree of empiricism, the resulting semi-empirical approach generally referred to as hydraulics. See also: Conservation of energy; Conservation of mass; Conservation of momentum; Liquid

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