Conservation of Energy (Bernoulli Balance)

Abstract

In the absence of other, non-mechanical forms of energy transferred from/to the fluid system, conservation of mechanical energy is a direct consequence of conservation of momentum and does describe a separate physical principle. Nevertheless, the law of conservation of mechanical energy provides a different perspective on the phenomena occurring during fluid motion. Under some specific conditions and absence of energy dissipation, conservation of energy can be stated in a particularly simple form, known as the Bernoulli balance, which ensures an immediate physical interpretation. A few basic applications are then presented based on this formulation. Local phenomena of energy dissipation are then analyzed with a mean to include them as an extension of the Bernoulli balance.