ME 563 - Intermediate Fluid Dynamics - Su

Lecture 3 - Basic concepts of ideal fluids / Euler’s equations

Reading: Acheson, chapter 1.

In describing fluid flow it is common to speak of the velocity field, u = u(x, t), which gives
the value of the velocity vector, u, at all points x and times t. (In Cartesian coordinates, u =
u êx + v êy + w êz = (u, v, w) and x = x êx + y êy + z êz = (x, y, z).) The following basic notions will
be used extensively.

• A steady flow is one where the velocity is a function of spatial position only, i.e. u = u(x),
and ∂u/∂t = 0.

• A two-dimensional flow is one in which the velocity is independent of one spatial direction, and
there is no velocity component in that direction. In Cartesian coordinates, u = u(x, y, t) êx +
v(x, y, t) êy is an example of a two-dimensional flow.

• A streamline is a curve that is parallel to the local velocity vector at all points. Suppose s
is a variable that measures the distance traveled along a particular streamline. In Cartesian
coordinates, a streamline would be expressed x = x(s), y = y(s), z = z(s). At any point on
the streamline, dx/dy = u/v, dy/dz = v/w, and dx/dz = u/w (compare Eq. 1.5 in the book).

• The material derivative Df /Dt describes the rate of change of a quantity f in a reference
frame following the fluid. It is defined
Df ∂f ∂f ∂f ∂f
= +u +v +w
Dt ∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z
∂f ∂f
= + (u · ∇)f = + u · (∇f ). (1)
∂t ∂t
The velocity components u, v and w appear courtesy of the chain rule. This Df /Dt is also
known as the substantial derivative or particle derivative. The process described by Df /Dt
is known as advection, and involves the change in f due only to the motion of the fluid. Other
factors can affect f and must be dealt with separately (examples to follow).

1 Ideal fluids
An ideal fluid is one for which the following conditions hold –

1. It is incompressible. In practice, this generally means that the density, ρ, is a constant

throughout the fluid.

2. It is inviscid. Thus, the only force acting across any surface element dS in the fluid is the
pressure.

Strictly speaking, the property of incompressibility is better ascribed to the flow than the fluid.
For example, gases are obviously compressible, but under certain conditions (specifically, low Mach
number) their flows can be treated as incompressible.

1
 Figure 1: An infinitesimal cubic volume V .

1.1 Equations of motion for an ideal fluid

To get the equations of motion for an ideal fluid, we might reasonably expect to use the familiar
conservation properties from physics: conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. Sure enough,
the first equation of motion describes the conservation of mass. Let V be an arbitrary volume in
the fluid, enclosed by the surface S. Because the density of the fluid is constant, the net volume
flux across the surface S has to be zero. By the divergence theorem, this means –
Z
∇ · u dV = 0 for any arbitrary volume V . (2)
V

We can make this statement stronger. Suppose that ∇ · u is positive (or negative) at some point
x0 . Assuming that the ∇ · u is continuous, then we can define a volume V around x0 such that
∇ · u is positive (or negative) at all points in V . But then this violates (2). Thus, the conservation
of mass leads to the first equation of motion for an ideal fluid, namely

∇ · u = 0 everywhere in an ideal fluid. (3)

Now for the conservation of momentum. Again, we let V be some arbitrary volume enclosed by
S. By the second property of ideal fluids listed above, the only forces acting across S are pressure
forces. We are interested in the forces acting on the fluid in V ; we are not interested here in
the forces applied by the fluid contained in V . The net force exerted on the fluid in V by the
surrounding fluid is
Z
− pn dS (4)
S

where the minus sign indicates that the force vector points into V in the direction of the normal
vector to S. To cast this in a more convenient form, we’ll again do an analysis similar to what we
did to illustrate the divergence in Lecture 1. Figure 1 is the same infinitesimal cubic volume V ,
with volume dV = dx dy dz, that we used before. The pressure force applied by the surrounding
fluid on face 1 is −p(x = dx) dy dz êx , and on face 4 is p(x = 0) dy dz êx . (As before, we have
assumed that p is constant on each face.) The other faces can be treated analogously. We get

Pressure force on faces 1 and 4 = −[p(x = dx) − p(x = 0)] dy dz êx

Pressure force on faces 2 and 5 = −[p(y = dy) − p(y = 0)] dx dz êy
Pressure force on faces 3 and 6 = −[p(z = dz) − p(z = 0)] dx dy êz . (5)

2
Look at the force on faces 1 and 4. We can rewrite that component as

p(x = dx) − p(x = 0)

−[p(x = dx) − p(x = 0)] dy dz êx = − dV êx
dx
∂p
≈ − dV êx . (6)
∂x
Compiling the x-, y- and z-components, and recalling the definition of the gradient, we get –
∂p ∂p ∂p
Net pressure force on V = − dV êx − dV êy − dV êz = (−∇p) dV, (7)
∂x ∂y ∂z

which tells us the net pressure force on the infinitesimal volume element. (Notational point: the
text calls the volume δV .)
Besides the pressure force, we will also allow for gravitational forces on our volume element –

Gravitational force on V = mV g = ρ g dV (8)

where mV = ρ dV is the mass of fluid contained in V . Adding (8) to (7), we get

Total force on V = (−∇p + ρ g) dV (9)

This applied force has to be equal to the rate of change of the linear momentum of the fluid in V
(the product of its mass and acceleration), that is,

Du
Mass × acceleration of the fluid in V = ρ dV (10)
Dt
where we have used the material derivative to express the acceleration of the fluid. We do this
because the the forces described by (9) act on the fluid contained in V at a particular instant in
time. Any changes in momentum effected by those forces are manifested in that parcel of fluid
(what the book calls a ‘blob’) as it moves. The material derivative is thus relevant because it is
the derivative that follows the fluid.
Equating (10) and (9), we get the remaining equations of motion for an ideal fluid,

Du 1
= − ∇p + g. (11)
Dt ρ

In general, (11) represents three equations, one for each dimension. They are nonlinear partial
differential equations. Together, (3) and (11) are called Euler’s equations of motion for an ideal
fluid.
(We didn’t use the conservation of energy in deriving Euler’s equations. Energy will become
interesting when we talk about viscous fluids.)