Bernoulli developed his principle from his observations on liquids, and his equation is applicable only to incompressible fluids, and compressible fluids up to approximately Mach number 0.3.[16] It is possible to use the fundamental principles of physics to develop similar equations applicable to compressible fluids. There are numerous equations, each tailored for a particular application, but all are analogous to Bernoulli's equation and all rely on nothing more than the fundamental principles of physics such as Newton's laws of motion or the first law of thermodynamics.
Compressible flow in fluid dynamics
For a compressible fluid, with a barotropic equation of state, and under the action of conservative forces,
frac {v^2}{2}+ int_{p_1}^p frac {d ilde{p}}{
ho( ilde{p})} + Psi = ext{constant}[17] (constant along a streamline)
where:
p is the pressure
ρ is the density
v is the flow speed
Ψ is the potential associated with the conservative force field, often the gravitational potential
In engineering situations, elevations are generally small compared to the size of the Earth, and the time scales of fluid flow are small enough to consider the equation of state as adiabatic. In this case, the above equation becomes
frac {v^2}{2}+ gz+left(frac {gamma}{gamma-1}
ight)frac {p}{
ho} = ext{constant}[18] (constant along a streamline)
where, in addition to the terms listed above:
γ is the ratio of the specific heats of the fluid
g is the acceleration due to gravity
z is the elevation of the point above a reference plane
In many applications of compressible flow, changes in elevation are negligible compared to the other terms, so the term gz can be omitted. A very useful form of the equation is then:
frac {v^2}{2}+left( frac {gamma}{gamma-1}
ight)frac {p}{
ho} = left(frac {gamma}{gamma-1}
ight)frac {p_0}{
ho_0}
where:
p0 is the total pressure
ρ0 is the total density