1. Mathematical Modelling of Fluids Flashcards
continuum hypothesis, velocity field, time derivatives, conservation of mass, incompressibility, viscosity, cartesian tensors, strain rate and vorticity tensors, polar tensors
Fluids
Definition
-substances tending to flow or conform to the outline of their container
Mechanics
Definition
-science studying the behaviour of physical objects subject to forces and displacement
Statics, Kinematics and Dynamics
Definitions
- mechanics can be split into three fields:
i) statics is the study of forces and torques when there is no motion
ii) kinematics is the study of motion regardless of causes (i.e. forces)
iii) dynamics is the study of forces and torques where there is motion (i.e the combination of statics and kinematics)
Fluid Dynamics
Definition
-the study of forces and torques on a moving fluid
Why is the continuum hypothesis necessary?
- we can not attempt to calculate the motion of individual molecules as there are far too many of them
- and their individual motion is dominated by high frequency fluctuations caused by collisions with neighbouring molecules
- instead we average the motion of a fluid ‘blob’
Fluid Particle
Definition
-instead of attempting to calculate the motion of individual particles, we represent the average motion of a ‘blob’ of fluid, a fluid particle of length d and volume 𝛿V
Continuum Hypothesis
Description
- we represent the average motion of a fluid particle of length d and volume 𝛿V
- we choose d so that:
i) d<
Continuum Hypothesis
Definition
-molecular details can be smoothed out by assigning to the velocity at a point P the average velocity in a fluid element 𝛿V centred on P
Fluid Molecule Size
-of order of magnitude ~10^-10
How many water molecules in a cubic centimeter?
10^23 molecules
What does a graph of average velocity u_ against fluid particle diameter d look like?
- lm at the small end of the x axis, a at the large end
- large fluctuations close to lm, graph appears as a zig-zag
- this smooths out as d->a
Velocity Field
Definition
- we define the velocity field u(x,t) as a smooth function of time and position, i.e. u is differentiable and integrable
- note that shock waves break this assumption
Local Density of Mass
-similar to the velocity field, local density of mass is defined:
ρ(x,t) = mass in 𝛿V / 𝛿V
Velocity Field
Shear Flow
u_ = (Uy/d, 0, 0)
Velocity Field
Stagnation Point Flow
u_ = (Ex, -Ey, 0)
Particle Paths
-a way to analyse the flow by injecting ‘tracers’ (i.e. passive particles that don’t alter/effect the flow in anyway) that follow the flow
-tracer particles follow the equation:
dx_/dy = u_(x_,t)
-with initial condition x_=xo_ = (xo,yo,zo) at t=to
Streamlines
-lines that are everywhere tangent to the velocity vector
-parameterise streamlines by a distance s:
dx_/ds = u_(x_(s), t)
-so:
dx/ds = u, dy/ds=v, dz/ds=w
=> dx/u = dy/v = dz/w
Particle Paths, Streamlines and Steady Flow
-in the context of a steady flow (∂u_/∂t=0), the particle paths and streamlines coincide
Partial/Eulerian Derivative
-rate of change of velocity at a fixed position in space, x_
∂u_/∂t
Material/Total/Lagrangian Derivative
-rate of change of velocity of a particle passing through _x
Df/Dt = ∂f/∂t + (u_ . ∇)f