Fluid Mechanics, SG2214, HT2013

September 6, 2013

Exercise 2: Euler/Lagrange Coordinates and Relative Motion

Streamline (Eulers representation)
Instantaneously (i.e. at fixed time t), a fluid particles displacement d
x is tangential to its velocity u
:
u

d
x
=
.
|d
x|
|
u|
If we put ds = |d
x|/|
u| with s being the parameter of the streamline
d
x
=u
.
ds

Particle path (Lagranges representation)

Following a fluid particle (i.e. fixed initial position x
0 ) as time t proceeds the path is described by
r
=u
,
t

r(t = 0) = x
0 .

Example 1
Show that the streamlines for the unsteady flow
u = u0 ,

v = kt,

w = 0,

u0 , k > 0

are straight lines, while any fluid particle follows a parabolic path as time proceeds.
Streamline (fix t):
dx
= u = u0 x = u0 s + a
ds
dy
= v = kt y = kts + b
ds
To eliminate the parameter s, we see that y(x) is a linear function,
y=
Particle path (fix x
0 ):

x
= u = u0
t
y
= v = k t
t

kt
x + d(t)
u0

x = u0 t + x0
y=

1 2
k t + y0
2

Eliminating t, we see that y(x) is a parabola,

y=

1 k 2
(x 2x0 x + x20 ) + y0 .
2 u20

Example 2
a) Separate the shear flow u
= (y, 0, 0) into its (i) local translation, (ii) rotation and (iii) pure straining
parts.
In tensor notation it can be written as
P

ui 2 = ui 1 + dui = ui 1 +

ui
P
dxj = ui 1 + ij dxj + eij dxj
xj

(i) Translation is simply u

T = {ui 1 } = (y, 0, 0)
(ii) Rotation

0
ui
= 0
xj
0



0
uj
1
1 ui

=
ij =
2 xj
xi
2
0

0
0
0

0
0

u
R = d
x=

0
0

0
0
0

1
(dy, dx, 0)
2

(iii) Deformation


eij =

1 ui
uj
+
2 xj
xi
u
D = ed
x=

0
1
=
2
0

0
0

0
0
0

1
(dy, dx, 0)
2

b) Find the principal axes of the rate of strain tensor eij and make a schematic sketch of the decomposition
of the flow.



0 0
uj
ui
1 ui
1
0 0 symmetric part of
+
.
eij =
=
2 xj
xi
2
xj
0 0 0
Eigenvalues:



det(eij ij ) = /2
 0

/2


0 
0  = 3 + 2 /4 = (/2)(+/2) = 0 1 = /2, 2 = /2, 3 = 0.


We get the eigenvectors from eij kj = ki :

1
k1 = (1, 1, 0),
2

1
k2 = (1, 1, 0),
2

k3 = (0, 0, 1)

Now sketch the decomposition of the flow

(dy, 0, 0) =

1
1
(dy, dx, 0) + (dy, dx, 0)
2
2

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.5
1
1

0.5

0
0.5

1
1

1
1

Example 3
a) Sketch the streamlines for the flow [u, v, w] = [x, y, 0], where > 0.
Streamlines in parametric form (x(s), y(s), z(s)). We have a 2D flow since w = 0.
dx
= x,
ds

dy
= y .
ds

Integrate w.r.t. to s,
y(s) = b es .

x(s) = a es ,
To eliminate s, we see that,

x(s) y(s) = ab = c ( constant ) .

We have,
x(s) =

c
,
y(s)

y(s) =

c
x(s)

In the different quadrants we get the streamlines:

Remember that

x > 0, y > 0

x < 0, y > 0

x < 0, y < 0

x > 0, y < 0

dx
ds
dx
ds
dx
ds
dx
ds

dy
ds
dy
< 0,
ds
dy
< 0,
ds
dy
> 0,
ds
> 0,

<0
<0
>0
>0

dy(s)
dx(s)
= x and
= y. This gives the direction of the flow:
ds
ds
1

0.5

0.5

1
1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

b) The concentration of a scalar is c(x, y, t) = x2 yet . Does this concentration change for a particular
fluid particle in time?
Use the material time-derivative
c
c
c
Dc
=
+u
+v
= x2 yet + x2xyet yx2 et = (1 + 2 1)x2 yet = 0.
Dt
t
x
y
Thus the concentration c(x, y, t) is constant for a fixed fluid particle.

c) Using the alternative (Lagrangian) description of the flow, show that

D
u
u

=
,

Dt
t
and write the concentration as c = c(x0 , y0 , t).
Particle path (for steady flows coinciding with stream lines):

Particle acceleration:

Material derivative:

x
= u = x
t

x = x0 et

y
= v = y
t

y = y0 et

u
x

=
= 2 x0 e t = 2 x

t
t t
v
y

=
= 2 y0 et = 2 y
t
t t
Du
u
u
u
=
+u
+v
= 2 x
Dt
t
x
y
v
v
v
Dv
=
+u
+v
= 2 y
Dt
t
x
y

So we have

D
u
u

Dt
t
Both terms describe the acceleration of a fluid particle.
Now rewrite the concentration

c(x0 , y0 , t) = x2 yet = x20 e2t y0 et et = x20 y0 = c(

x0 )
| {z } | {z }
x2

independent of t!

The concentration does not change as we follow a fluid particle, i.e. Dc/Dt = 0 (see b)). However,
c(x, y, t) = x2 yet is dependent on x, y and t.