Mass flow rate

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Mass flow rate is the mass of substance which passes through a given surface per unit time. Its unit is mass divided by time, so kilogram per second in SI units, and slug per second or pound per second in US customary units. It is usually represented by the symbol \dot m.

Mass flow rate can be calculated from the density of the substance, the cross sectional area through which the substance is flowing, and its velocity relative to the area of interest.

\dot m = \rho \, v \, A

where:

{\dot m} is the mass flow rate
ρ is the density
v is the velocity
A is the flow area


This is equivalent to multiplying the volume flow rate by the density.

{\dot m} = {\rho \cdot Q}

where:

ρ is the density
Q is the volume flow rate

The symbol for mass flow rate is Newton's notation for a derivative:

\dot m = \frac{dm}{dt}


[edit] See also

 This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_flow_rate"
Personal tools