CEE 262A

HYDRODYNAMICS

Lecture 7
Conservation Laws Part III

The Boussinesq approximation
The x
3
momentum equation reads (after neglecting rotation):
i.e., part of the pressure is associated with offsetting the weight of
the fluid above.

We can subtract out a significant part of this as follows:
( ) ( )
0 3
Let ' , x x t = + +
Reference
density
Background density
variation exists in
the absence of
motion
Perturbation
density
association with
motion
The preferred ordering (which is often valid in oceans, estuaries
and lakes) is
( ) ( )
0 3
' , x x t >> >>
Likewise we write the pressure as
( ) ( )
0 3
' , p p x p x t = +
such that in the absence of motion
( )
0
0
3
0
p
g
x
c
= +
c
If p
0
is defined by this eqn., then we can subtract out the
background hydrostatic pressure gradient and the weight force
associated with the density field that exists in the absence of
motion.
Start with


Then define p
0
such that


Then since p=p
0
+p',




Substitution into NSE gives

( )
0
0
3
0
p
g
x
c
= +
c
We can use the ordering of the density field to make an
important simplification/approximation:
( )
0 0
'
Du Du
Dt Dt
++ ~
i.e., the mass of each fluid particle that determines what
acceleration results from a given force is approximately
constant. On the other hand we retain the effect of density
variations in the buoyancy (gravity) term ( g). This requires
that
( )
' '
Du
g
Dt
Du
g
Dt
+ <<
<<
Particle accelerations << g
This approximation is known as the Boussinesq approximation
If '<<, we require that
Navier-Stokes equation with the Boussinesq approximation
We also need to make the same approximation in the mass-
conservation equation, i.e.
which implies that, as a consequence of the Boussinesq
approximation,
Note that we assumed this a priori when writing the viscous
term as given above...
0
1
~
Dt
D

The difference between incompressibility and the Boussinesq

approximation
If a flow is incompressible, this implies that the density following a fluid particle is
identically zero, which gives the equations for conservation of momentum and mass
as
Under the Boussinesq approximation, the density following a fluid particle is not
constant, but its time rate of change is much smaller than that due to changes resulting
from velocity gradients. This enables one to write the momentum and mass
conservation equations as
The Boussinesq approximation does two things: it linearizes the acceleration term in
the Navier-Stokes equations and enables use of the continuity equation while
retaining the effects of density in the momentum equation.
I ncompressible
Boussinesq
How do we cope with free surfaces?
( )
1 2
, , x x t q
x
3
=0
x
3
q-x
3
From before, we had p=p0+p', where p0 was the pressure field
in the absence of motion, while p' was that associated with motion.
We can define an alternate splitting of the pressure as p=p
h
+
0
H,
where:
p
h
= Hydrostatic pressure arising from weight of fluid
(can include motion this time)

0
H = Dynamic, or nonhydrostatic, pressure
arising from fluid motion

Defining the hydrostatic pressure as satisfying the balance

we can integrate both sides to obtain p
h
:

Surface pressure
Pressure due to depth
and free surface:
BAROTROPIC
PRESSURE
Pressure due to density
variations:
BAROCLINIC
PRESSURE
Now take gradients of p
h
:

Where we have assumed that

(Why is this not obvious?)
Adopting very commonly-used shorthand notation for the horizontal
gradient, such that
we have
Surface pressure gradient
i.e. Atmospheric pressure.
Barotropic pressure gradient
due to free-surface gradient.
Baroclinic pressure gradient
due to density gradient.
Substitution into the Navier-Stokes equation with the Boussinesq
approximation gives
Or, component-wise:
Why does water level go down when atmospheric pressure goes up?
An example from SF Bay/Delta (observations):
10 cm (water)
15 cm
Answer:
The ocean likes to tend towards steady state which has
Thus, the response to an imposed pressure on the surface would
give
1 1
1 1
1 1
1 1
0
1 1
0 1 1
1 1
0
0
s
x b x b
s
x a x a
x b x b
s
x a x a
s
p
g
x x
p
g dx dx
x x
g p
p
g
= =
= =
= =
= =
c cq
=
c c
c cq
=
c c
q =
A
Aq =

} }
The inverse barometer - water
level goes down when pressure
goes up