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Del Operator
The vector differential operator was introduced by Sir W. R. Hamilton
and later on developed by P. G. Tait.
Mathematically the vector differential operator can be written in the general form as:
.................................(1.43)
Gradient of a Scalar function
In Cartesian coordinates:
................................................(1.44)
In cylindrical coordinates:
...........................................(1.45)
and in spherical polar coordinates:
.................................(1.46)
Let us consider a scalar field V(u,v,w) , a function of space
coordinates.
Gradient of the scalar field V is a vector that represents both the magnitude
and direction of the maximum space rate of increase of this scalar field V as
shown in fig 4.1.
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Fig 4.1 : Gradient of a scalar function
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By comparison we can write,
....................................................................(1.52)
Hence for the Cartesian, cylindrical and spherical polar coordinate system,
the expressions for gradient can be written as:
In Cartesian coordinates:
...................................................................................(1.53)
In cylindrical coordinates:
..................................................................(1.54)
and in spherical polar coordinates:
..........................................................(1.55)
The following relationships hold for gradient operator.
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...............................................................................(1.56)
where U and V are scalar functions and n is an
integer.
It may further be noted that since magnitude of depends on the direction of
dl, it is called the directional derivative. If is called the scalar potential
function of the vector function .
Divergence of a Vector Field:
In study of vector fields, directed line segments, also called flux lines or
streamlines, represent field variations graphically. The intensity of the
field is proportional to the density of lines. For example, the number of
flux lines passing through a unit surface S normal to the vector measures
the vector field strength as shown in fig 4.2.
Fig 4.2: Flux Lines
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We have already defined flux of a vector field as
....................................................(1.57)
For a volume enclosed by a surface,
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.........................................................................................(1.58)
We define the divergence of a vector field at a point P as the net outward
flux from a volume enclosing P, as the volume shrinks to zero.
.................................................................(1.59)
Here is the volume that encloses P and S is the
corresponding closed surface as shown in fig 4.3.
Fig 4.3: Evaluation of divergence
in curvilinear coordinate
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Let us consider a differential volume centered on point P(u,v,w) in a
vector field . The flux through an elementary area normal
to u is given by ,
........................
................(1.60)
Net outward flux along u can be calculated considering the two elementary
surfaces perpendicular to u .
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........................
...............(1.61) Considering the contribution from all six surfaces that
enclose the volume, we can write
.......................................(1.62)
Hence for the Cartesian, cylindrical and spherical polar coordinate system,
the expressions for divergence ca written as:
In Cartesian coordinates:
................................(1.63)
In cylindrical coordinates:
....................................................................(1.64)
and in spherical polar coordinates:
......................................(1.65)
In connection with the divergence of a vector field, the following can be noted
Divergence of a vector field gives a scalar.
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..............................................................................(1.66)
Divergence theorem :
Divergence theorem states that the volume integral of the divergence of
vector field is equal to the net outward flux of the vector through the
closed surface that bounds the
volume. Mathematically,
Proof:
Let us consider a volume V enclosed by a surface S . Let us subdivide the volume in
large
number of cells. Let the kth cell has a volume and the corresponding
surface is denoted by Sk. Interior to the volume, cells have common
surfaces. Outward flux through these common surfaces from one cell
becomes the inward flux for the neighboring cells. Therefore when the total
flux from these cells are considered, we actually get the net outward flux
through the surface surrounding the volume. Hence we can write:
......................................(1.67)
In the limit, that is when and the right hand of the expression
can be written as .
Hence we get , which is the divergence theorem.
Curl of a vector field
We have defined the circulation of a vector field A around a closed path as .
Curl of a vector field is a measure of the vector field's tendency to rotate about a
point.
Curl , also written as is defined as a vector whose magnitude is
maximum of the net circulation per unit area when the area tends to zero and
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its direction is the normal direction to the area when the area is oriented in
such a way so as to make the circulation maximum.
Therefore, we can write:
......................................(1.68)
To derive the expression for curl in generalized curvilinear coordinate
system, we first compute and to do so let us consider the figure 4.4 :
Fig 4.4: Curl of a Vector
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C1 represents the boundary of , then we can write
......................................(1.69)
The integrals on the RHS can be evaluated as
follows:
.................................(1.70)
................................................(1.71)
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The negative sign is because of the fact that the direction of traversal reverses. Similarly,
..................................................(1.72)
............................................................................(1.73)
Adding the contribution from all components, we can write:
…………………………………………...............(1.74)Therefore,
..........(1.75)
In the same manner if we compute for and we can write,
.......(1.76)
This can be written as,
...............................(1.77)
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In Cartesian coordinates: ......................................................... (1.78)
In Cylindrical coordinates, ............................................................ (1.79)
In Spherical polar coordinates,
..............(1.80) Curl operation exhibits the
following properties:
..............(1.81)
As shown in figure 1.17, let us consider two surfaces S1and S2 where the
function V has constant magnitude and the magnitude differs by a small
amount dV. Now as one moves from S1 to S2, the magnitude of spatial rate
of change of V i.e. dV/dl depends on the direction of elementary path length
dl, the maximum occurs when one traverses from S1to S2along a path normal
to the surfaces as in this case the distance is minimum.
By our definition of gradient we can write:
.................................................(1.47)
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since which represents the distance along the normal is the shortest
distance between the two surfaces.
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