PHY2206 (Electromagnetic Fields) Curvilinear Coordinate Systems

Curvilinear Coordinate Systems

Many operators have particularly simple forms in Cartesian coordinates and are easy to remember and
evaluate. However, when problems deal with highly symmetric systems it is often helpful to use
coordinate systems which exploit the symmetry and so it is useful to have a general method for
expressing operators in non-Cartesian forms.

Let f(x,y,z) = u specify a surface characterised by the constant parameter u. The family of spherical
i i

( )
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surfaces of radius u would be x 2 + y 2 + z 2 = u for example. Consider three such surfaces
f 1 ( x, y, z,) = u1 f 2 ( x, y, z,) = u2 f 3 ( x, y, z,) = u3

where the point of intersection is specified by (u 1 ,u 2 ,u 3 ) which are its orthogonal curvilinear
coordinates. If the surfaces u1 and u1 + du1 are separated by an element of length dl1 normal to the
i i

surface u1 then dl1=h1du1 where h1=h1(u1,u2,u3) and dl2 and dl3 are similarly defined. For example,
the rectangular Cartesian coordinate system is defined by
f 1 ( x, y, z,) = x = u1 f 2 ( x, y, z,) = y = u2 f 3 ( x, y, z,) = z = u3

and h1 = h2 = h3 = 1. The unit vectors ê1 , ê 2 , ê3 are normal to the u1, u2, u3 surfaces and point towards
increasing values of the coordinates with the subscripts assigned an order so that ê1 × ê 2 = ê3 . The
infinitesimal volume element is therefore
dV = dl1dl2 dl3 = h1h2 h3du1du2 du3 .

Note that the Cartesian coordinate system is a special case because, in general, the orientation of the
unit vectors vary with the values of u1, u2, u3.

There is more than one conventional way to choose symbols to represent coordinate systems.
Unfortuately the choice made in course PHY1016 (i.e. (ρ ,φ ,z) for cylindrical and (r,θ ,φ ) for
spherical) is not the usual one made in elctromagnetism which uses the symbols ρ and φ for charge
density and potential respectively. In the following definitions f is a scalar function and
A = A1ê1 + A2 ê 2 + A3ê3 is a vector function of orthogonal curvilinear coordinates u1, u2, u3. Notice
that both r and θ are defined differently in the cylindrical and spherical cases.

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PHY2206 (Electromagnetic Fields) Curvilinear Coordinate Systems

z z

θ
y y
r
ϕ θ
x x
Spherical Polar System Cylindrical Polar System

Coordinate System (u1,u2,u3) x y z h1 h2 h3

Cartesian (x,y,z) x y z 1 1 1
Cylindrical Polar (r,θ ,z) rcosθ rsinθ z 1 r 1
Spherical Polar (r,θ ,ϕ ) r sin θ cos ϕ r sin θ sin ϕ r cos θ 1 r r sin θ

1 ∂f 1 ∂f 1 ∂f
Gradient ∇f = ê1 + ê 2 + ê3
h1 ∂ u1 h2 ∂ u2 h3 ∂ u3

1  ∂ ∂ ∂ 
Divergence ∇⋅A = 
h1h2 h3  ∂ u1
( h2 h3 A1 ) +
∂ u2
( h3h1 A2 ) +
∂ u3
( h1h2 A3 )


h1ê1 h2 ê 2 h3ê3
1 ∂ ∂ ∂
Curl ∇× A=
h1h2 h3 ∂ u1 ∂ u2 ∂ u3
h1 A1 h2 A2 h3 A3

1  ∂  h2 h3 ∂ f  ∂  h3h1 ∂ f  ∂  h1h2 ∂ f  
Laplacian ∇ 2 f = ∇ ⋅ (∇f ) =   +  +  
h1h2 h3  ∂ u1  h1 ∂ u1  ∂ u2  h2 ∂ u2  ∂ u3  h3 ∂ u3  

Laplacian ∇ 2 A = ∇(∇ ⋅ A) − ∇ × (∇ × A)

© Copyright CDH Williams

Exeter 1995, CW970129/3
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