Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Navier–Stokes equations (/ n æ v ˈ j eɪ s t oʊ k s / nav-YAY STOHKS) are partial differential equations which describe the motion of viscous fluid substances. They were named after French engineer and physicist Claude-Louis Navier and the Irish physicist and mathematician George Gabriel Stokes. They were developed over several decades ...
This equation is called the mass continuity equation, or simply the continuity equation. This equation generally accompanies the Navier–Stokes equation. In the case of an incompressible fluid, Dρ / Dt = 0 (the density following the path of a fluid element is constant) and the equation reduces to:
In mathematics, the Navier–Stokes equations are a system of nonlinear partial differential equations for abstract vector fields of any size. In physics and engineering, they are a system of equations that model the motion of liquids or non-rarefied gases (in which the mean free path is short enough so that it can be thought of as a continuum mean instead of a collection of particles) using ...
However, theoretical understanding of their solutions is incomplete, despite its importance in science and engineering. For the three-dimensional system of equations, and given some initial conditions, mathematicians have not yet proven that smooth solutions always exist. This is called the Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness problem.
The equation of motion for Stokes flow can be obtained by linearizing the steady state Navier–Stokes equations.The inertial forces are assumed to be negligible in comparison to the viscous forces, and eliminating the inertial terms of the momentum balance in the Navier–Stokes equations reduces it to the momentum balance in the Stokes equations: [1]
The Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANS equations) are time-averaged [a] equations of motion for fluid flow. The idea behind the equations is Reynolds decomposition , whereby an instantaneous quantity is decomposed into its time-averaged and fluctuating quantities, an idea first proposed by Osborne Reynolds . [ 1 ]
In fluid mechanics, non-dimensionalization of the Navier–Stokes equations is the conversion of the Navier–Stokes equation to a nondimensional form. This technique can ease the analysis of the problem at hand, and reduce the number of free parameters. Small or large sizes of certain dimensionless parameters indicate the importance of certain ...
This is considered one of the simplest unsteady problems that has an exact solution for the Navier–Stokes equations. [1] [2] In turbulent flow, this is still named a Stokes boundary layer, but now one has to rely on experiments, numerical simulations or approximate methods in order to obtain useful information on the flow.