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In the Boussinesq approximation, variations in fluid properties other than density ρ are ignored, and density only appears when it is multiplied by g, the gravitational acceleration. [ 2 ] : 127–128 If u is the local velocity of a parcel of fluid, the continuity equation for conservation of mass is [ 2 ] : 52
As the temperature difference between the top and bottom of the fluid becomes higher, significant differences in fluid parameters other than density may develop in the fluid due to temperature. An example of such a parameter is viscosity, which may begin to significantly vary horizontally across layers of fluid. This breaks the symmetry of the ...
The Navier–Stokes equations are based on the assumption that the fluid, at the scale of interest, is a continuum – a continuous substance rather than discrete particles. Another necessary assumption is that all the fields of interest including pressure, flow velocity, density, and temperature are at least weakly differentiable.
Two types of convective heat transfer may be distinguished: Free or natural convection: when fluid motion is caused by buoyancy forces that result from the density variations due to variations of thermal ±temperature in the fluid. In the absence of an internal source, when the fluid is in contact with a hot surface, its molecules separate and ...
Dimensionless numbers (or characteristic numbers) have an important role in analyzing the behavior of fluids and their flow as well as in other transport phenomena. [1] They include the Reynolds and the Mach numbers, which describe as ratios the relative magnitude of fluid and physical system characteristics, such as density, viscosity, speed of sound, and flow speed.
where g is the gravitational acceleration, is the thermal expansion coefficient, T hot is the hot wall temperature, T ref is the reference temperature, L is the characteristic length, and V is the characteristic velocity. The Richardson number can also be expressed by using a combination of the Grashof number and Reynolds number,
Sometimes, two physical properties diffuse between layers simultaneously; salt and temperature, for instance. This may form diffusive layers or even salt fingering, when the surfaces of the diffusive layers become so wavy that there are "fingers" of layers reaching up and down. Not all mixing is driven by density changes.
This friction is the effect of (linear) momentum exchange caused by molecules with sufficient energy to move (or "to jump") between these fluid sheets due to fluctuations in their motion. The viscosity is not a material constant, but a material property that depends on temperature, pressure, fluid mixture composition, local velocity variations.