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Navier-Stokes Equation (An overview and the simplification)

Preprint · July 2020

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.17406.00323

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 Navier-Stokes Equation
(An overview and the simplification)

Faro A. Ayodeji

Designed and Edited by Favour Abigail Obiomah

July, 2020
 Overview and Simplification of Navier-Stokes Equation

A Short Story...
Imagine on a Monday morning, you add milk to your cup of coffee and stir it. Then, you suddenly
wonder, is it possible to track the motion of each molecule of
milk that has dissolved in the coffee? If yes, then what would
the path of molecules look like? You would most likely think
that the path would resemble a simple spiral shape. But No! Its
not that simple.

Each molecule of the sugar will behave

differently and follow a wildly random path in 3-dimensions. It's not easy (and
till now impossible) to track path of each of them. So how do we do that?
Louis Navier and Gabriel Stokes, individually gave weird-looking Partial Differ-
ential Equations to get this job done. The equations that look like this:

Figure: NASA, Glenn Research Centre (Navier-Stokes Equations)

“Now, this is definitely not an easy task to solve. The equations have three (3) Dimensions, are
unsteady (depending on time), have Pressure gradient terms and Viscous flow. Solving it directly
might give you about 64 Constant coefficients and finding values of each of them will require 64
Boundary conditions. Did you see that? 64 Boundary conditions! At this point, it is possibly an
impossible task to do. Therefore, rather than solving directly, we try to solve the problem with
assumptions, like constant pressure gradient, 2-dimensional, inviscid flow, etc. This will make it a
little simple to analyze. That's it!“----- [ Nikhil Patel]

Faro A. Ayodeji |2
 Overview and Simplification of Navier-Stokes Equation

What are Navier-Stokes Equations?

These equations describe how the velocity, pressure, temperature and density of a moving fluid are
related. The equations were derived independently by G.G. Stokes, in England, and M. Navier, in
France, in the early 1800s. The equations are a set
of coupled differential equations and could in the-
ory, be solved for a given flow problem by using
methods from calculus. But, in practice, these
equations are too difficult to solve analytically.

In the past, engineers made further approximations

and simplifications to the equation set until they
had a group of equations that they could solve.
Recently, high speed computers have been used to
solve approximations to the equations using a variety of techniques like finite difference, finite
volume, finite element, and spectral methods. This area of study is called Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD).
The Navier-Stokes equations consist of a time-dependent continuity equation for conservation of
mass, three time-dependent conservation of momentum equations and a time-dependent con-
servation of energy equation. (https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/nseqs.html, 2015)

How Do They Apply to Simulation and Modeling?

These equations are at the heart of Fluid flow modeling. Solving them, for a particular set of bound-
ary conditions (such as inlets, outlets, and walls) predicts the fluid velocity and its pressure in a giv-
en geometry. Because of their complexity, these equations only admit a limited number of analyti-
cal solutions. It is relatively easy, for instance, to solve these equations for a flow between two par-
allel plates or for the flow in a circular pipe. For more complex geometries, however, the equations
need to be solved.

Figure: Temperature
gradients in a T-
Junction pipe

Faro A. Ayodeji |3
 Overview and Simplification of Navier-Stokes Equation

Example: Laminar Flow Past a Backstep

In the following example, the Navier-Stokes equations were numerically solved (hereon also referred
to as "NS equations") and the mass conservation equation in a computational domain. These equa-
tions need to be solved with a set of boundary conditions: (https://www.comsol.com/multiphysics/
navier-stokes-equations)

The fluid velocity is specified at the inlet and the pressure is prescribed at the outlet. A no-slip
boundary condition (i.e. the velocity is set to zero) is specified at the walls. The numerical solution
of the steady-state NS (the time-dependent derivative in diagram 1 is set to zero) and continuity
equations in the laminar regime and for constant boundary conditions is as follows:

Velocity magnitude profile and streamlines [COMSOL]

Pressure field [COMSOL]

Faro A. Ayodeji |4
 Overview and Simplification of Navier-Stokes Equation

Derivation of N-S Equation.

N-S is Newton’s second law of motion for a liquid:

(1)
The 2nd law is based on the conservation of momentum.

(2)
The spatial derivative terms are consequence of a Eulerian, rather than Lagrangian, frame of reference

Figure: Unit control volume.

Momentum change by convection:

(3)

Momentum change per time by convection:

(4)

These changes of momentum per time can be rewritten as;

(5)
For an infinitesimal volume, dxdydz, with uniform density, the convection terms are written as;

(6)

Faro A. Ayodeji |5
 Overview and Simplification of Navier-Stokes Equation

The dx/dt, dy/dt, and dz/dt are the velocity components in the x, y, and z directions; so, the momen-
tum change per unit volume is:

(7)

Physically, these terms are the momentum transfer by convection, the coherent motion of the fluid.
Mathematically, these terms represent the ‘’ma’’ in ‘’∈F=ma’’.

Derivation of Forcing Terms.

The other half of N-S is the refined definition of the sum of the forces, ∈F, acting on a fluid in order to
produce the acceleration. Many different forces may be imposed on a fluid, just as they are imposed
on a solid body, for example, the forces exerted by a machine, and these forces depend on the partic-
ular problem at hand.
There are some forces e.g. gravity, that are always present in every situation, so, they are spelled out.

Fmisc

Fgrv

Faro A. Ayodeji |6
 Overview and Simplification of Navier-Stokes Equation

Derivation of Force Terms: Gravity

There are 3 forces that always act on a fluid: Gravity, Pressure and Viscosity, in addition to miscellaneous forces.

(8)

(9)

The force of gravity is the same as it is in solid mechanics, mg or ρgɗxɗyɗz

Therefore,

= (10)

Gravity is a body force, which acts on the centre of mass in one uniform direction.
Just as in solid mechanics, one can apply ∑F = mc in different directions.

(11)

(12)

(13)

Depending on your choice of orienting the x, y, z-axis, some terms may dropout.

Derivation of Force Terms: Pressure.

Pressure is a surface stress always normal and inward to the surface of a fluid control volume. It is in a way analo-
gous to the normal force of solid mechanics.
The force due to pressure, P, is defined as;

(14)

The gradient is applied in the direction of the forces examined; for example, for sum of the forces in x-direction,
the gradient of P is ɗρ/ɗx . This change in pressure may be directly caused by external sources, e.g. pumps, or a
consequence of the other forces

(15)

(16)

(17)

Faro A. Ayodeji |7
 Overview and Simplification of Navier-Stokes Equation

forces; e.g. pumps, or a consequence of other forces, e.g. gravity causing hydrostatic pressure.

Derivation of Force Terms: Viscosity.

The final general force active on a fluid is viscosity. Its effect is shear stress, i.e. a stress acting parallel
to a surface. It is analogous to the friction force of solid mechanics. Like pressure, a normal stress, the
force due to viscosity and a shear stress, are defined according to a gradient.

(18)

Unlike pressure, which has one force couple per direction, shear stress has 3 forces couples in each di-
rection.

(19)

(20)

(21)

For a Newtonian fluid, the rate of shear stress is proportional to the shear strain rate, similar to Hooke’s
law; because a fluid, by definition cannot support a shear stress i.e. Youngs modulus is zero, shear
stresses create infinite strains but finite strain rates.

(22)

(23)

(24)

(25)

(26)

(27)

Substituting these stress-strain rate relations into the momentum rate equations.

(28)

(29)

(30)

Faro A. Ayodeji |8
 Overview and Simplification of Navier-Stokes Equation

Summary of Derivations

The N-S equations are the sum of gravitational force, pressure force and viscous force and are equal to
a product of the mass and acceleration:

(**)

 The 3 forces are analogous to the forces of gravity, normal stress and friction. The last two forces
are reaction forces, reacting to the motion.
 The manner in which the fluid moves is determined by the initial and boundary conditions; the
equation remains the same.
 Depending on the problem, some terms may be considered to be negligible or zero and they are
left out.
 In addition to the constraints, the continuity equation (conservation of mass) is frequently
required. If heat transfer is occurring, the N-S equations may be coupled to the 1st law of thermo-
dynamics (conservation of energy).
 Solving the equations is very difficult, except for simple problems. Mathematicians are yet to
prove general solutions exist and the equations are considered the sixth most important unsolved
problem in all of math! ___Clay Mathematics Institute.
 In addition, the phenomenon of turbulence, caused by the convective terms, is considered the
last unsolved problem of classical mechanics.
 We know more about quantum particles and supernova than we do about the swirling of creamer
in a steaming cup of coffee.

References

 Academy Resource Center, Illinois Institute of Technology

 J.T. Salmon, T.J. Bogar, and M. Sajben, “Laser Doppler Velocimetry in Unsteady, Separated,
Transonic Flow”, AIAA Journal, vol. 21, no. 12, pp. 1690–1697, 1983.
 T. Hsieh, A.B. Wardlaw Jr., T.J. Bogar, P. Collins, and T. Coakley, “Numerical Investigation of
Unsteady Inlet Flowfields,” AIAA Journal, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 75–81, 1987.
 (https://www.comsol.com/multiphysics/navier-stokes-equations, 2017)
 (https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/nseqs.html, 2015)

Faro A. Ayodeji |9
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