1.

2 ANALYSIS METHOD
1.2.3 DESCRIPTION- LAGRANGIAN AND EULARIAN
There are two approaches to describe the motion of a fluid and its associated
properties.
1. Lagrangian approach
2. Eulerian approach

Lagrangian approach:
Picture a fluid flow where each fluid particle carries its own properties such
as density, momentum, etc. As the particle advances its properties may
change in time. The procedure of describing the entire flow by recording the
detailed histories of each fluid particle is the Lagrangian description.
The fluid parcels are labelled by some (time-independent) vector field x0.
(Often, x0 is chosen to be the center of mass of the parcels at some initial
time t0. It is chosen in this particular manner to account for the possible
changes of the shape over time. Therefore the center of mass is a good
parameterization of the flow velocity u of the parcel.) In the Lagrangian
description, the flow is described by a function U(x0, t) giving the position of
the parcel labeled x0 at time t.
The Lagrangian description is simple to understand: conservation of mass
and Newtons laws apply directly to each fluid particle. However, it is
computationally expensive to keep track of the trajectories of all the fluid
particles in a flow and therefore the Lagrangian description is used only in
some numerical
simulations.

Fig:-Lagrangian description
Eulerian description:
Rather than following each fluid particle we can record the evolution of the
flow properties at every point in space as time varies. This is the Eulerian
description. It is a field description. A probe fixed in space is an example of
an Eulerian measuring device.
This means that the flow properties at a specified location depend on the
location and on time. The locations are described in coordinate systems. In
the Eulerian specification of a field, it is represented as a function of
position x and time t. For example, the flow velocity is represented by a
function u(x,t).
The Eulerian description is harder to understand: how do we apply the
conservation laws? However, it turns out that it is mathematically simpler to
apply. For this reason, in Fluid Mechanics we use mainly use the Eulerian
description.

Fig:-Eulerian description