Governing equations

• The governing equations include the following conservation laws

of physics:
– Conservation of mass.
– Newton’s second law: the change of momentum equals the sum of
forces on a fluid particle.
– First law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy): rate of change
of energy equals the sum of rate of heat addition to and work done
on fluid particle.
• The fluid is treated as a continuum. For length scales of, say,
1µm and larger, the molecular structure and motions may be
ignored.

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Lagrangian vs. Eulerian description
A fluid flow field can be thought Another view of fluid motion is
of as being comprised of a large the Eulerian description. In the
number of finite sized fluid Eulerian description of fluid
particles which have mass, motion, we consider how flow
momentum, internal energy, and properties change at a fluid
other properties. Mathematical element that is fixed in space
laws can then be written for each and time (x,y,z,t), rather than
fluid particle. This is the following individual fluid
Lagrangian description of fluid particles.
motion.

Governing equations can be derived using each

method and converted to the other form. 3
Fluid element and properties Fluid element for
conservation laws
• The behavior of the fluid is described in
terms of macroscopic properties:
– Velocity u.
– Pressure p. (x,y,z) δz
– Density ρ.
– Temperature T. δy
– Energy E. δx
z
• Typically ignore (x,y,z,t) in the notation. y
x
• Properties are averages of a sufficiently
large number of molecules.
Faces are labeled
• A fluid element can be thought of as the North, East, West,
South, Top and Bottom
smallest volume for which the continuum
assumption is valid.
Properties at faces are expressed as first
two terms of a Taylor series expansion,
∂p 1 ∂p 1
e.g. for p : pW = p − δ x and pE = p + δx
∂x 2 ∂x 2 4
Mass balance
• Rate of increase of mass in fluid element equals the net rate of
flow of mass into element.
∂ρ δxδyδz
• Rate of increase is: ∂ ( ρδxδyδz ) =
∂t ∂t
• The inflows (positive) and outflows (negative) are shown here:

 ∂ ( ρ w) 1 
 ρw + . δ z  δ xδ y
 ∂ z 2 
 ∂ ( ρ v) 1 
 ρ v + . δ y  δ xδ z
 ∂y 2 

 ∂( ρu) 1 
 ∂ ( ρu ) 1   ρ u + . δ x  δ yδ z
 ρu − . δx  δyδz  ∂x 2 
 ∂x 2 

 ∂ ( ρv ) 1 
 ρv − . δy  δxδz
z  ∂ y 2 
y
x  ρw − ∂ ( ρw) . 1 δz  δxδy
 
 ∂z 2  5
Continuity equation
• Summing all terms in the previous slide and dividing by the
volume δxδyδz results in:

∂ρ + ∂( ρu) + ∂( ρv) + ∂( ρw) = 0

∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z

• In vector notation: ∂ρ + div ( ρ u) = 0

∂t
Net flow of mass across boundaries
Change in density
Convective term

• For incompressible fluids ∂ρ /∂ t = 0, and the equation becomes:

div u = 0.
∂u ∂ v ∂w ∂ui
• Alternative ways to write this: + + = 0 and =0
∂x ∂y ∂z ∂xi

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Different forms of the continuity equation

Finite control volume Finite control volume fixed

fixed in space mass moving with flow

∂ D
∫∫∫ ρ dV + ∫∫ ρ U ⋅ dS = 0 ∫∫∫ ρ dV = 0
∂t V S Dt V
Integral form Integral form
Conservation form Non − conservation form
U

Infinitesimally small Infinitesimally small fluid element of fixed

element fixed in space mass (“fluid particle”) moving with the flow

∂ρ Dρ
+ ∇ ⋅ ( ρU ) = 0 + ρ∇ ⋅ U = 0
∂t Dt
Differential form Differential form
Conservation form Non − conservation form 7
Rate of change for a fluid particle
• Terminology: fluid element is a volume stationary in space, and a
fluid particle is a volume of fluid moving with the flow.
• A moving fluid particle experiences two rates of changes:
– Change due to changes in the fluid as a function of time.
– Change due to the fact that it moves to a different location in the fluid
with different conditions.
• The sum of these two rates of changes for a property per unit
mass φ is called the total or substantive derivative Dφ /Dt:
Dφ ∂φ ∂φ dx ∂φ dy ∂φ dz
= + + +
Dt ∂t ∂x dt ∂y dt ∂z dt

• With dx/dt=u, dy/dt=v, dz/dt=w, this results in:

Dφ ∂φ
= + u.grad φ
Dt ∂t 8
Rate of change for a stationary fluid element
• In most cases we are interested in the changes of a flow property
for a fluid element, or fluid volume, that is stationary in space.
• However, some equations are easier derived for fluid particles.
For a moving fluid particle, the total derivative per unit volume of
this property φ is given by:
Dφ  ∂φ 
(for moving fluid particle) ρ =ρ + u.grad φ  (for given location in space)
Dt  ∂t 

• For a fluid element, for an arbitrary conserved property φ :

∂ρ + div ( ρ u) = 0 ∂ ( ρφ )
+ div ( ρφ u) = 0
∂t ∂t
Continuity equation Arbitrary property

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Fluid particle and fluid element
• We can derive the relationship between the equations for a fluid
particle (Lagrangian) and a fluid element (Eulerian) as follows:

∂ ( ρφ )  ∂φ   ∂ρ  Dφ
+ div ( ρφ u) = ρ  + u.gradφ  + φ  + div( ρu) = ρ
∂t  ∂t   ∂t  Dt

zero because of continuity

∂ ( ρφ ) Dφ
+ div ( ρφ u) = ρ
∂t Dt

Rate of increase of Net rate of flow of Rate of increase of

=
φ of fluid element φ out of fluid element φ for a fluid particle

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Relevant entries for Φ

x-momentum u Du ∂ ( ρu )
ρ + div( ρuu)
Dt ∂t

y-momentum v Dv ∂ ( ρv )
ρ + div( ρvu)
Dt ∂t

z-momentum w Dw ∂ ( ρw)
ρ + div( ρwu)
Dt ∂t

Energy E DE ∂ ( ρE )
ρ + div( ρEu)
Dt ∂t

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