Governing Equations
This section describes the definition and formulation of the equations governing the conservations of mass, momentum and energy in a fluid flow and obtaining a closed form solution from these equations.
The equations which govern the motion of a fluid are called the Navier-Stokes equations. These equations refer to the basic governing continuity equations for a compressible, viscous, heat conducting fluid.
They describe the transport of three conserved quantities for a local system: mass, momentum and energy and can be expressed in an integral form when applied to a finite region known as the control volume, or a differential form when applied at an infinitesimally small fluid element.
Continuity Equation
The instantaneous mass conservation equation commonly termed as the continuity equation, is derived by applying mass conservation to a control volume for a general fluid.
- is the fluid density
- is time
- is the flow velocity vector
Momentum Equation
The momentum conservation equation is derived by applying Newton’s second law of motion to the fluid control volume, which applies as the rate of change of momentum of the fluid particle equals the sum of surface and body forces.
The surface forces comprise of viscous forces (Tensile and shear) and pressure (compressive) and the body (volume) forces can be gravity, centrifugal force, Coriolis force, electromagnetic force, and so on.
- is the pressure
- is the source term (generally gravity)
- is the viscous stress tensor
where is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid
The general form of the momentum equation can be seen to be comprised of the following terms:
Time derivative + Convection terms = Forcing (Source) terms + Diffusive terms
The momentum conservation equation for the flow velocity vector can be written as three separate equations in an orthogonal system. These equations describe the conservation of momentum in x, y, z directions with flow velocity components u, v and w.
Energy Equation
The energy conservation equation is derived by applying first law of thermodynamics to fluid control volume, which applies as rate of change of energy of a fluid particle equals the sum of rate of heat addition and rate of work done.
The energy of a fluid particle comprises of internal (thermal) energy and kinetic energy. Heat addition generally takes place in the form of conduction due to a temperature difference through sources such as chemical reactions, potential energy, and so on. Work is done on the fluid volume by the surface and body forces.
- is the total energy (internal + kinetic)
- is the heat flux given by Fourier’s Law
- is the heat source
- is the internal energy substituted from the relation
- is the temperature
- is the thermal conductivity of the fluid
- is the double dot product defined as describing the irreversible transfer of mechanical energy into heat
- is the enthalpy substituted from the relation
- is the energy transfer due to work done by compressive forces, that is, pressure work