Computational Fluid Dynamics for Incompressible Flows

Professor Amaresh Dalal

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati
Module 1: Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics
Lecture 2: Basic equations of fluid dynamics and heat transfer

Hello everyone, in today’s class we will discuss about the basic equations of fluid mechanics
and heat transfer; in basic fluid mechanics course and basic heat transfer course you might
have derived these equations, so we will not derive in this class these equations and only
write down the governing equations of fluid flow and heat transfer. First of all we will write
down the fluid flow equations for incompressible and Newtonian fluid flow.

(Refer Slide Time: 1:02)

So, if we consider a Cartesian coordinate, let us say x,y,z and we define velocities as u,v,w in
x,y,z directions respectively then we can write velocity vector as :
⃗ = 𝑢𝑖̂ + 𝑣𝑗̂ + 𝑤𝑘̂
𝑈

So we will have some assumptions to write the governing equations, so one assumption is
that the flow is incompressible which means density is constant or you can say that Mach
number is less than 0.3. We will also consider Newtonian fluid flow with constant properties.
So in fluid flow equations, we first write the continuity equation which you can derive from
the conservation of mass. So, we can write this continuity equation for incompressible flow in
vector form as,

∇. 𝑢
⃗ =0

Continuity equation in Cartesian co-ordinates in 3D can be written as,

𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑤
+ + =0
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧

So, if you write this equation in 2D then it will be just

𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑣
+ =0
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦

Now, we will write the momentum equations which is based on conservation of momentum
and popularly known as Navier-Stokes equations,

𝜕𝜌𝑢⃗
+ ∇. (𝜌𝑢
⃗𝑢 ⃗ ) + 𝜌𝑏⃗
⃗ ) = −∇𝑝 + ∇. (𝜇∇𝑢
𝜕𝑡

Where, ρ is density of the fluid, μ is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid; p is pressure and 𝑏⃗ is
the body force. So you can have gravity as body force or if you have multi-physics problem,
then you can have electromagnetic force or magnetic force as source term or body force term.

For constant properties and negligible body forces the equation becomes,

𝜕𝑢
⃗ ∇𝑝
+ ∇. (𝑢
⃗𝑢⃗)=− + ν∇2 𝑢
⃗
𝜕𝑡 𝜌

For 2D situation you can write x momentum equation as,

𝜕𝑢 𝜕(𝑢𝑢) 𝜕(𝑢𝑣) 1 ∂𝑝 ∂2 𝑢 ∂2 𝑢
+ + =− + ν ( 2 + 2)
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜌 𝜕𝑥 ∂x ∂y

Similarly, y momentum equation can be written as

𝜕𝑣 𝜕(𝑣𝑢) 𝜕(𝑣𝑣) 1 ∂𝑝 ∂2 v ∂2 v
+ + =− + ν ( 2 + 2)
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜌 𝜕𝑦 ∂x ∂y

These forms are known as conservative form of the governing equations.

Now let us write these equations for steady 2 dimensional incompressible flows in non-
conservative form.

(Refer Slide Time: 9:52)

Continuity Equation:
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑣
+ =0
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦

X-momentum Equation:

𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢 1 ∂𝑝 ∂2 𝑢 ∂2 𝑢
𝑢 +𝑣 =− + ν ( 2 + 2)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜌 𝜕𝑥 ∂x ∂y

Y-momentum Equation:
𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑣 1 ∂𝑝 ∂2 𝑣 ∂2 𝑣
𝑢 +𝑣 =− + ν ( 2 + 2)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜌 𝜕𝑦 ∂x ∂y

Now let us write 1D Navier-Stokes equation without pressure term as this is a very simple
equation and we consider it as model equation in our CFD course and we can discretize this
equation using different schemes.

1D unsteady Navier-Stokes equation without pressure term is actually known as Burgers

equation. So, for a given u which is function of one space coordinate x, time t and kinematic
viscosity nu you can write the equation,
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢 ∂2 𝑢
+𝑢 =ν 2
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 ∂x
We can also write inviscid Burgers equation dropping the diffusive term as,
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢
+𝑢 =0
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥

So, this is kind of 1D wave equation with a varying speed u. So, this u is actually wave speed
which is varying, so obviously this is known as nonlinear model equation.

(Refer Slide Time: 16:51)

Now, if you consider u as a constant speed, say c (wave speed) then the equation becomes
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢
+𝑐 =0
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥

This equation is known as first order wave equation and is linear because c is constant..

And now,
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢
= −𝑐
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥

Taking temporal derivative both sides and rearranging,

𝜕 𝜕𝑢 𝜕 𝜕𝑢
( ) = −𝑐 ( )
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑡

∂2 𝑢 2
∂2 𝑢
= 𝑐
∂t 2 ∂x 2

The above equation is known as second order wave equation.

Now consider the full Navier-Stokes equations and if it is very low Reynolds number flow,
then you can drop the convective term from the Navier-Stokes equation and flow is known as
Creeping flow. This equation is known as Stokes equation.

∇. 𝑢
⃗ =0

𝜕𝜌𝑢⃗
⃗ ) + 𝜌𝑏⃗
= −∇𝑝 + ∇. (𝜇∇𝑢
𝜕𝑡

Now, if you have a high Reynolds number flow then, inertia force will be dominating. So, in
that case you can drop the viscous term and that equation is known as Euler equation.

(Refer Slide Time: 21:06)

∇. 𝑢
⃗ =0

𝜕𝜌𝑢⃗
+ ∇. (𝜌𝑢
⃗𝑢⃗ ) = −∇𝑝 + 𝜌𝑏⃗
𝜕𝑡

Now, if you consider a fluid flow, over a flat plate then you can have the boundary layer
flow. Due to the no slip condition velocities of the fluid particles sitting on the solid wall will
be zero. So, from zero to the free stream velocity there will be velocity gradient and you can
distinct two different regions, one is viscous region where velocity variation will be there and
you can have the inviscid region outside this boundary layer, edge of the boundary layer that
is known as inviscid region.
So, with certain assumptions, you can write the Navier-Stokes equation dropping some terms.
The assumptions are that there is no flow separation and the boundary layer thickness is
much-much smaller than the characteristic length and high Re. Consider a flat plate of length
L, let δ be the boundary thickness at any location x on the plate with free stream velocity as
U∞. So, in inviscid region your velocity will be at free stream velocity and inside the viscous
region there will be change in the velocity from zero to free stream velocity.

The Navier-Stokes equation reduces to:

𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢 ∂2 𝑢
𝑢 +𝑣 =ν 2
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 ∂y

𝜕𝑝
=0
𝜕𝑦

Now let us derive another transport equation from the Navier-Stokes equation.

(Refer Slide Time: 27:12)

Vorticity is defined as:

𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑣
− =𝜔
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥

The x and y components of velocity can be written in terms of stream function Ψ as:

𝜕𝛹 𝜕𝛹
𝑢= ; 𝑣=−
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥
Thus vorticity can be written in terms of stream function as:

∂2 Ψ ∂2 Ψ
+ = −ω
∂x 2 ∂y 2

𝜕 𝜕
Performing the operation (𝑥 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛) − (𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛) and
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥

rearranging we get the Vorticity transport equation:

𝜕𝜔 𝜕𝜔 𝜕𝜔 ∂2 𝜔 ∂2 𝜔
+𝑢 +𝑣 = ν( 2 + 2)
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 ∂x ∂y

(Refer Slide Time 32:07)

Conservation of energy equation can be written as:

𝜕
⃗ 𝑇) = ∇. (𝑘∇𝑇) + 𝑞 ′′′ + 𝜇𝛷
(𝜌𝐶𝑃 𝑇) + ∇. (𝜌𝐶𝑃 𝑢
𝜕𝑡

So, here k is the thermal conductivity of the q′′′ is the heat generation per unit volume, μ is
the viscous dissipation term due to shear and there will be convection of mechanical energy
to intermolecular energy which in turn will raise the temperature and Φ is the viscous
dissipation function.
So, if you neglect the viscous dissipation term and write this equation for constant properties,
we get:

𝜕𝑇 q′′′
⃗ 𝑇) = 𝛼∇2 T +
+ ∇. (𝑢
𝜕𝑡 𝜌𝐶𝑃

k
Where α = 𝜌𝐶 is known as thermal diffusivity.
𝑃

Now in 2 dimensional situation you can write this equation

𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑇 ∂2 T ∂2 T q′′′
+𝑢 +𝑣 = α ( 2 + 2) +
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 ∂x ∂y 𝜌𝐶𝑃

(Refer Slide Time: 35:40)

So, now if you consider that velocity is zero, energy equation becomes heat conduction
equation in a solid

𝜕𝑇 ∂2 T ∂2 T q′′′
= α ( 2 + 2) +
𝜕𝑡 ∂x ∂y 𝜌𝐶𝑃

This equation is also known as Fourier-Biot equation.

Now neglecting heat generation term we get the Diffusion equation:

𝜕𝑇 ∂2 T ∂2 T
= α ( 2 + 2 ) = 𝛼∇2 T
𝜕𝑡 ∂x ∂y
Now if you consider steady heat conduction equation then you can drop the temporal term,
then you can write the equation steady as:

q′′′
𝛼∇2 T + =0
𝜌𝐶𝑃

This above equation is known as Poisson equation.

Now, if you have steady heat conduction with negligible heat generation we get Laplace
equation:

𝛼∇2 T = 0

(Refer Slide Time: 39:29)

Similarly, if you have species transport with the fluid flow then you can write the species
transport equation in terms of the mass fraction of the species from chemical kinetics as

𝜕
(𝜌𝑌𝑖 ) = ∇. (𝜌𝑢
⃗ 𝑌𝑖 ) = ∇. (𝜌𝐷𝑖𝑁 ∇𝑌𝑖 ) + 𝑊𝑖
𝜕𝑡

Where, Yi is the mass fraction, ρ is the density of the mixture, DiN is the diffusion coefficient
for species i to N and Wi is reaction rate or formation rate of species.
(Refer Slide Time: 41:39)

So, we can see that all these equations i.e. Navier-Stokes equations, the Energy equation, the
Vorticity transport equation and the Species transport equation can be written in a general
form namely Convective-diffusive equation

𝜕
(𝜌𝛷) + ∇. (𝜌𝑢
⃗ 𝛷) = ∇. (𝛤∇𝛷) + 𝑆𝛷
𝜕𝑡

The table below will give a better understanding about the General Transport Equation.

Φ Γ 𝐒𝚽 Equation

1 0 0 Continuity

u μ 𝜕𝑝 x-momentum
−
𝜕𝑥

v μ 𝜕𝑝 y-momentum
−
𝜕𝑦

w μ 𝜕𝑝 z-momentum
−
𝜕𝑧

ω μ 0 Vorticity transport
 T k q′′′ Energy equation
𝐶𝑃 𝐶𝑃

Yi 𝜌𝐷𝑖𝑁 𝑊𝑖 Species transport

So, when we discretize any of the above equations, first we will discretize the general
transport equation, so that you have a convective term, temporal term and the diffusion term
and if you can discretize this equation using some discretization method may be finite
difference method or finite volume method then you can discretize the other equations like
Navier-Stokes equations or the energy transport equation. Only thing is that separately you
have to discretize the pressure term.

So, for that reason we have written this equation and when we will use finite volume method
specifically that time will consider this general transport equation and will discretize. So, in
today’s class we started with writing the basic fluid flow equations, conserving the mass,
conserving the momentum, we have written the continuity equation and the Navier-Stokes
equations and from this general Navier-Stokes equation we have written the Burgers equation
which is your 1D Navier-Stokes equation without the pressure term and inviscid Burger
equation dropping the viscous term and from there we have written the first order wave
equation and second order wave equation for a constant speed c, constant wave speed c.
Then, we have also written the Vorticity transport equation and from there we have written
stream function equation, so that these Vorticity transport equation and the stream function
equation combined if you solve you will be able to solve a fluid flow problem.

Then we considered the energy equation in general, with the fluid flow, then putting the
velocity as zero we have written the heat conduction equation in a solid and after that we
have written the species transport equation in terms of the mass fraction Yi and at last we
have written all these equations, transport equations in a general transport equation for any
variable, general variable phi and where you have the temporal term, convective term then
diffusive term as well as you have a source term SΦ

Thank you.