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Bernoulli’s Principle
The topic I chose to discuss this week is Bernoulli’s Principle, which states:
For a fluid undergoing steady flow, the pressure is lower where the fluid is
flowing faster (Ostdiek & Bord, 2018). Although I felt I understood this
principle since high school physics class I had an “aha” moment when the
text compared this principle to the law of conservation of energy.
Understanding that the energy in a system is constant and comparing the
pressure of the fluid to potential energy (PE) and the velocity at which the
fluid is flowing to kinetic energy (KE) helped me better understand the
inverse relationship between flow velocity and fluid pressure in a system.
One application of this principle used in modern aircraft is in the
evacuation slides on passenger aircraft.
(EAM worldwide, 2021)
The evacuation slide inflation is initiated using a small bottle of
compressed air or nitrogen however the bottle does not contain a large
enough volume of air to fully inflate the slide. To achieve full inflation an
aspirator (image below) is used increase the volume of air flow into the
slide. The aspirator is a venturi device where the compressed air is
injected into the restricted area of the venturi through air nozzles
increasing flow which creates a suction in the larger air inlet allowing for
an increased volume airflow into the slide during inflation.
(Exair Blog, 2021)
References:
Ostdiek, V. J., & Bord, D. J. (2018).
Inquiry into Physics.
(8th ed.). Cengage
Learning.
