AE 602: Mathematics for Aerospace Engineers
Term: Fall 2024
Instructor: Prof. Rajesh Ranjan
Assignment-II
Due Date: Sep. 30, 2024 (Monday) Total points: 40
Each question carries an equal weightage.
1. Consider the vectors given below:
1 1 0
a = 1 , b = 0 , c = 1
0 1 1
(a) Find the orthonormal vectors using these initial vectors.
(b) Find the QR decomposition.
2. Euler equations in fluid dynamics provide the conservation laws for inviscid fluid
flows. These equations for one-dimensional flow can be written in primitive variables,
density (ρ), velocity (u) and pressure (p), as:
∂ρ ∂ρ ∂u
+u +ρ = 0
∂t ∂x ∂x
∂u ∂u 1 ∂p
+u + = 0
∂t ∂x ρ ∂x
∂p ∂u ∂p
+ ρa2 +u = 0
∂t ∂x ∂x
(a) Write it in the matrix form as given below and find eigenvalues (characteristics)
and eigenvectors of matrix [A].
∂U ∂U
+ [A] =0
∂t ∂x
(b) Diagonalize [A] to decouple above equations and put in the characteristic form
as given below. Explicitly write vector V and matrix [Λ].
∂V ∂V
+ [Λ] =0
∂t ∂x
3. In a forest, the deer population x and the lion population y are governed by:
dx
= 13x − 9y
dt
dy
= 3x + y
dt
(a) If the initial population of deer and lion is 80 and 40, respectively, what is the
population at any time t?
(b) What is the ratio of populations of deer to lion after a long time?
4. The basic SIR model for predicting an epidemic spread has three groups: susceptible
(S), infectious (I) and recovered (R), with a total population size N = S + I + R.
The contact rate is β and the infectious period is γ1 .
(a) Find the ODEs that govern the spread of the pandemic. Also, state the as-
sumptions, if any.
(b) If 1 person is infected on day zero in a population of N = 1000. Show the daily
change in S, I and R assuming β = 0.2, γ1 = 10 days.
(c) Double the contact rate and plot the daily changes again. Comment on the
change in the peak of infection due to the change in contact rate. Can you
think of a non-dimensional parameter which governs the dynamics?
All the best !
Page 2
