Fluids can flow steadily, or be turbulent. In steady flow, the fluid passing a given point maintains a steady velocity. For turbulent flow, the speed and or the direction of the flow varies. In steady flow, the motion can be represented with streamlines showing the direction the water flows in different areas. The density of the streamlines increases as the velocity increases.
Fluids can be compressible or incompressible.
Fluid flow can be rotational or irrotational. For most of the rest of the chapter, we'll focus on irrotational, incompressible, steady streamline non-viscous flow. The equation of continuity states that for an incompressible fluid flowing in a tube of varying cross-section, the mass flow rate is the same everywhere in the tube. The mass flow rate is simply the rate at which mass flows past a given point, so it's the total mass flowing past divided by the time interval. There are basically two ways to make fluid flow through a pipe.