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NavierStokesequations
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inphysics,theNavierStokesequations/nvjestoks/,namedafterClaudeLouisNavierandGeorgeGabrielStokes,describethemotionof
viscousfluidsubstances.ThesebalanceequationsarisefromapplyingNewton'ssecondlawtofluidmotion,togetherwiththeassumptionthatthestress
inthefluidisthesumofadiffusingviscousterm(proportionaltothegradientofvelocity)andapressuretermhencedescribingviscousflow.The
maindifferencebetweenthemandthesimplerEulerequationsforinviscidflowisthatNavierStokesequationsalsointheFroudelimit(noexternal
field)arenotconservationequations,butratheradissipativesystem,inthesensethattheycannotbeputintothequasilinearhomogeneousform:

NavierStokesequationsareusefulbecausetheydescribethephysicsofmanythingsofscientificandengineeringinterest.Theymaybeusedtomodel
theweather,oceancurrents,waterflowinapipeandairflowaroundawing.TheNavierStokesequationsintheirfullandsimplifiedformshelpwith
thedesignofaircraftandcars,thestudyofbloodflow,thedesignofpowerstations,theanalysisofpollution,andmanyotherthings.Coupledwith
Maxwell'sequationstheycanbeusedtomodelandstudymagnetohydrodynamics.
TheNavierStokesequationsarealsoofgreatinterestinapurelymathematicalsense.Somewhatsurprisingly,giventheirwiderangeofpracticaluses,
ithasnotyetbeenproventhatinthreedimensionssolutionsalwaysexist(existence),orthatiftheydoexist,thentheydonotcontainanysingularity
(theyaresmooth).ThesearecalledtheNavierStokesexistenceandsmoothnessproblems.TheClayMathematicsInstitutehascalledthisoneofthe
sevenmostimportantopenproblemsinmathematicsandhasofferedaUS$1,000,000prizeforasolutionoracounterexample.[1]

Contents
1 Flowvelocity
2 Generalcontinuumequations
2.1 Convectiveacceleration
3 Incompressibleflow
3.1 Discretevelocity
3.2 Pressurerecovery
4 Compressibleflow
5 Otherequations
5.1 Continuityequation
6 Streamfunctionfor2Dequations
7 Properties
7.1 Nonlinearity
7.2 Turbulence
7.3 Applicability
8 Applicationtospecificproblems
9 ExactsolutionsoftheNavierStokesequations
9.1 Athreedimensionalsteadystatevortexsolution
10 Wylddiagrams
11 Representations
12 NavierStokesequationsuseingames
13 Seealso
14 Notes
15 References
16 Externallinks

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Flowvelocity
ThesolutionoftheNavierStokesequationsisaflowvelocity.Itisafield,sinceitisdefinedateverypointinaregionofspaceandanintervaloftime.
Oncethevelocityfieldiscalculated,otherquantitiesofinterest,suchaspressureortemperature,maybefound.Thisisdifferentfromwhatone
normallyseesinclassicalmechanics,wheresolutionsaretypicallytrajectoriesofpositionofaparticleordeflectionofacontinuum.Studyingvelocity
insteadofpositionmakesmoresenseforafluidhoweverforvisualizationpurposesonecancomputevarioustrajectories.

Generalcontinuumequations
TheNavierStokesmomentumequationcanbederivedasaparticularformoftheCauchymomentumequation.Inaninertialframeofreference,the
conservationformoftheequationsofcontinuummotionis:[2]
Cauchymomentumequation(conservationform)

where
isthedensity,
istheflowvelocity,
isthedeloperator.
isthepressure
istheidentitymatrix
isthedeviatoricstresstensor,whichhasordertwo,
representsbodyaccelerations(perunitmass)actingonthecontinuum,forexamplegravity,inertialaccelerations,electricfieldacceleration,
andsoon.
Theleftsideoftheequationdescribesacceleration,andmaybecomposedoftimedependent,convective,andhydrostaticeffects(alsotheeffectsof
noninertialcoordinatesifpresent).Therightsideoftheequationisineffectasummationofbodyforces(suchasgravity)anddivergenceofdeviatoric
stress.
IntheEulerianformsitisapparentthattheassumptionofnodeviatoricstressbringsCauchyequationstotheEulerequations.Allnonrelativistic
balanceequations,suchastheNavierStokesequations,canbederivedbybeginningwiththeCauchyequationsandspecifyingthestresstensor
throughaconstitutiverelation.Byexpressingthesheartensorintermsofviscosityandfluidvelocity,andassumingconstantdensityandviscosity,the
CauchyequationswillleadtotheNavierStokesequations.
Theincompressiblecaseissimplerthanthecompressibleonesofordidacticalpurposeitshouldbepresentedbefore.However,thecompressiblecase
isthemostgeneralframeworkofNavierStokesequationssowherenotspecified,NavierStokesequationsareintendedtobecompressibleNavier
Stokesequations.

Convectiveacceleration
AsignificantfeatureofCauchyequationandconsequentlyallothercontinuumequations(includingEulerand
NavierStokes)isthepresenceofconvectiveacceleration:theeffectoftimeindependentaccelerationofaflow
withrespecttospace.Whileindividualfluidparticlesindeedexperiencetimedependentacceleration,the
convectiveaccelerationoftheflowfieldisaspatialeffect,oneexamplebeingfluidspeedingupinanozzle.

Incompressibleflow
TheincompressiblemomentumNavierStokesequationresultfromthefollowingassumptionsontheCauchy
stresstensor:[3]
thestressisGalileianinvariant:itdoesnotdependdirectlyontheflowvelocity,butonlyonspatial
derivativesoftheflowvelocity.Sothestressvariableisthetensorgradient
.
thefluidisassumedtobeisotropic,aswithgasesandsimpleliquids,andconsequently isanisotropic
tensorfurthermore,sincethedeviatoricstresstensorcanbeexpressedintermsofthedynamicviscosity
:
Stokes'sstressconstitutiveequation(expressionusedforincompressibleelasticsolids)

Anexampleofconvection.Though
theflowmaybesteady(time
independent),thefluiddeceleratesas
itmovesdownthedivergingduct
(assumingincompressibleorsubsonic
compressibleflow),hencethereisan
accelerationhappeningoverposition.

whereIistheidentitytensor,and

istherateofstraintensor.Sothisdecompositioncanbeexplicitedas:[3]
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Stokes'sstressconstitutiveequation(expressionusedforincompressibleviscousfluids)

Dynamicviscosityneednotbeconstantinincompressibleflowsitcandependondensityandonpressure.Anyequationexplicitingoneofthese
transportcoefficientintheconservativevariablesiscalledanequationofstate.[4]
Thedivergenceofthedeviatoricstressisgivenby:

Incompressibilityrulesoutdensityandpressurewaveslikesoundorshockwaves,sothissimplificationisnotusefulifthesephenomenaareofinterest.
TheincompressibleflowassumptiontypicallyholdswellwithallfluidsatlowMachnumbers(sayuptoaboutMach0.3),suchasformodellingair
windsatnormaltemperatures.[5]Forincompressible(uniformdensity0)flowsthefollowingidentityholds:

wherewisthespecific(withthesenseofperunitmass)thermodynamicwork,theinternalsourceterm.ThentheincompressibleNavierStokes
equationsarebestvisualisedbydividingforthedensity:
IncompressibleNavierStokesequations(convectiveform)

Velocityprofile(laminarflow)
,

forthe direction,simplifyNavierStokesequation

integratetwicetofindvelocityprofilewithboundaryconditions:

Fromthisequation,subinyourtwoboundaryconditionstoget2equations

AddandsolveforB

SubstituteandsolveforA

Finallyyougetthevelocityprofile

intensornotation:
IncompressibleNavierStokesequations(convectiveform)

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where:

= isthekinematicviscosity
0

Itiswellworthobservingthemeaningofeachterm(comparetotheCauchymomentumequation):

Thehigherorderterm,namelytheshearstressdivergence,hassimplyreducedtothevectorlaplacianterm2u.[6]Thislaplaciantermcanbe
interpretedasthedifferencebetweenthevelocityatapointandthemeanvelocityinasmallsurroundingvolume.ThisimpliesthatforaNewtonian
fluidviscosityoperatesasadiffusionofmomentum,inmuchthesamewayastheheatconduction.Infactneglectingtheconvectionterm,
incompressibleNavierStokesequationsleadtoavectordiffusionequation(namelyStokesequations),butingeneraltheconvectiontermispresent,so
incompressibleNavierStokesequationsbelongtotheclassofconvectiondiffusionequations.
Intheusualcaseofanexternalfieldbeingaconservativefield:

bydefiningthehydraulichead:

onecanfinallycondensethewholesourceinoneterm,arrivingtotheincompressibleNavierStokesequationwithconservativeexternalfield:

TheincompressibleNavierStokesequationswithconservativeexternalfieldisthefundamentalequationofhydraulics.Thedomainforthese
equationsiscommonlya3orlesseuclideanspace,forwhichanorthogonalcoordinatereferenceframeisusuallysettoexplicitthesystemofscalar
partialderivativeequationstobesolved.In3Dorthogonalcoordinatesystemsare3:Cartesian,cylindrical,andspherical.ExpressingtheNavierStokes
vectorequationinCartesiancoordinatesisquitestraightforwardandnotmuchinfluencedbythenumberofdimensionsoftheeuclideanspace
employed,andthisisthecasealsoforthefirstorderterms(likethevariationandconvectionones)alsoinnoncartesianorthogonalcoordinate
systems.Butforthehigherorderterms(thetwocomingfromthedivergenceofthedeviatoricstressthatdistinguishNavierStokesequationsfrom
Eulerequations)sometensorcalculusisrequiredfordeducinganexpressioninnoncartesianorthogonalcoordinatesystems.
TheincompressibleNavierStokesequationiscomposite,thesumoftwoorthogonalequations,

whereSandIaresolenoidalandirrotationalprojectionoperatorssatisfyingS+I=1and andfIarethenonconservativeandconservative
partsofthebodyforce.ThisresultfollowsfromtheHelmholtzTheorem(alsoknownasthefundamentaltheoremofvectorcalculus).Thefirst
equationisapressurelessgoverningequationforthevelocity,whilethesecondequationforthepressureisafunctionalofthevelocityandisrelatedto
thepressurePoissonequation.
Theexplicitfunctionalformoftheprojectionoperatorin3DisfoundfromtheHelmholtzTheorem:

withasimilarstructurein2D.ThusthegoverningequationisanintegrodifferentialequationsimilartoCoulombandBiotSavartlaw,notconvenient
fornumericalcomputation.
Anequivalentweakorvariationalformoftheequation,provedtoproducethesamevelocitysolutionastheNavierStokesequation,[7]isgivenby,

fordivergencefreetestfunctionswsatisfyingappropriateboundaryconditions.Here,theprojectionsareaccomplishedbytheorthogonalityofthe
solenoidalandirrotationalfunctionspaces.Thediscreteformofthisisimminentlysuitedtofiniteelementcomputationofdivergencefreeflow,aswe
shallseeinthenextsection.Therewewillbeabletoaddressthequestion,"Howdoesonespecifypressuredriven(Poiseuille)problemswitha
pressurelessgoverningequation?"
Theabsenceofpressureforcesfromthegoverningvelocityequationdemonstratesthattheequationisnotadynamicone,butratherakinematic
equationwherethedivergencefreeconditionservestheroleofaconservationequation.Thisallwouldseemtorefutethefrequentstatementsthatthe
incompressiblepressureenforcesthedivergencefreecondition.

Discretevelocity
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Withpartitioningoftheproblemdomainanddefiningbasisfunctionsonthepartitioneddomain,thediscreteformofthegoverningequationis,

Itisdesirabletochoosebasisfunctionswhichreflecttheessentialfeatureofincompressibleflowtheelementsmustbedivergencefree.Whilethe
velocityisthevariableofinterest,theexistenceofthestreamfunctionorvectorpotentialisnecessarybytheHelmholtzTheorem.Further,to
determinefluidflowintheabsenceofapressuregradient,onecanspecifythedifferenceofstreamfunctionvaluesacrossa2Dchannel,ortheline
integralofthetangentialcomponentofthevectorpotentialaroundthechannelin3D,theflowbeinggivenbyStokes'Theorem.Discussionwillbe
restrictedto2Dinthefollowing.
WefurtherrestrictdiscussiontocontinuousHermitefiniteelementswhichhaveatleastfirstderivativedegreesoffreedom.Withthis,onecandrawa
largenumberofcandidatetriangularandrectangularelementsfromtheplatebendingliterature.Theseelementshavederivativesascomponentsofthe
gradient.In2D,thegradientandcurlofascalarareclearlyorthogonal,givenbytheexpressions,

Adoptingcontinuousplatebendingelements,interchangingthederivativedegreesoffreedomandchangingthesignoftheappropriateonegivesmany
familiesofstreamfunctionelements.
Takingthecurlofthescalarstreamfunctionelementsgivesdivergencefreevelocityelements.[8][9]Therequirementthatthestreamfunctionelements
becontinuousassuresthatthenormalcomponentofthevelocityiscontinuousacrosselementinterfaces,allthatisnecessaryforvanishingdivergence
ontheseinterfaces.
Boundaryconditionsaresimpletoapply.Thestreamfunctionisconstantonnoflowsurfaces,withnoslipvelocityconditionsonsurfaces.Stream
functiondifferencesacrossopenchannelsdeterminetheflow.Noboundaryconditionsarenecessaryonopenboundaries,thoughconsistentvaluesmay
beusedwithsomeproblems.TheseareallDirichletconditions.
Thealgebraicequationstobesolvedaresimpletosetup,butofcoursearenonlinear,requiringiterationofthelinearizedequations.
Similarconsiderationsapplytothreedimensions,butextensionfrom2Disnotimmediatebecauseofthevectornatureofthepotential,andthereexists
nosimplerelationbetweenthegradientandthecurlaswasthecasein2D.

Pressurerecovery
Recoveringpressurefromthevelocityfieldiseasy.Thediscreteweakequationforthepressuregradientis,

wherethetest/weightfunctionsareirrotational.Anyconformingscalarfiniteelementmaybeused.However,thepressuregradientfieldmayalsobeof
interest.InthiscaseonecanusescalarHermiteelementsforthepressure.Forthetest/weightfunctionsgionewouldchoosetheirrotationalvector
elementsobtainedfromthegradientofthepressureelement.

Compressibleflow
TheNavierStokesequationsresultfromthefollowingassumptionsonthestresstensor:[3]
thestressisGalileianinvariant:itdoesnotdependdirectlyontheflowvelocity,butonlyonspatialderivativesoftheflowvelocity.Sothe
stressvariableisthetensorgradientu.
thestressislinearinthisvariable:(u)=C:(u),whereCisthefourthordertensorrepresentingtheconstantofproportionality,called
theviscosityorelasticitytensor,and:isthedoubledotproduct.
thefluidisassumedtobeisotropic,aswithgasesandsimpleliquids,andconsequently isanisotropictensorfurthermore,sincethestress
tensorissymmetric,byHelmholtzdecompositionitcanbeexpressedintermsoftwoscalarLamparameters,thebulkviscosityandthe
dynamicviscosity,asitisusualinlinearelasticity:
Linearstressconstitutiveequation(expressionusedforelasticsolid)

1
1
whereIistheidentitytensor,(u) u+ (u)Tistherateofstraintensoranduistherateofexpansionoftheflow.Sothis
2
2
decompositioncanbeexplicitedas:

Sincethetraceoftherateofstraintensorinthreedimensionsis:

Thetraceofthestresstensorinthreedimensionsbecomes:
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Sobyalternativelydecomposingthestresstensorisintoisotropicanddeviatoricparts,asusualinfluiddynamics:[10]

Introducingthesecondviscosity,

wearrivetothelinearconstitutiveequationintheformusuallyemployedinthermalhydraulics:[3]
Linearstressconstitutiveequation(expressionusedforfluids)

Bothbulkviscosityanddynamicviscosityneednotbeconstantingeneral,theydependondensity,oneachother(theviscosityisexpressedin
pressure),andincompressibleflowsalsoontemperature.Anyequationexplicitingoneofthesetransportcoefficientintheconservationvariablesis
calledanequationofstate.[4]
Bycomputingthedivergenceofthestresstensor,sincethedivergenceoftensoruis2uandthedivergenceoftensor(u)Tis(u).,one
finallyarrivestothecompressible(mostgeneral)NavierStokesmomentumequation:[11]
NavierStokesmomentumequation(convectiveform)

Bulkviscosityisassumedtobeconstant,otherwiseitshouldnotbetakenoutofthelastderivative.Theeffectofthevolumeviscosityisthatthe
mechanicalpressureisnotequivalenttothethermodynamicpressure:[12]

Thisdifferenceisusuallyneglected,sometimesbyexplicitlyassuming=0,butitcouldhaveanimpactinsoundabsorptionandattenuationandshock
waves,see.[13]
Forthespecialcaseofanincompressibleflow,thepressureconstrainstheflowsothatthevolumeoffluidelementsisconstant:isochoricflow
resultinginasolenoidalvelocityfieldwithu=0.[14]

Otherequations
TheNavierStokesequationsarestrictlyastatementofthebalanceofmomentum.Tofullydescribefluidflow,moreinformationisneeded,howmuch
dependingontheassumptionsmade.Thisadditionalinformationmayincludeboundarydata(noslip,capillarysurface,etc.),conservationofmass,
balanceofenergy,and/oranequationofstate.

Continuityequation
Regardlessoftheflowassumptions,astatementoftheconservationofmassisgenerallynecessary.Thisisachievedthroughthemasscontinuity
equation,giveninitsmostgeneralformas:

or,usingthesubstantivederivative:

ItcanbederivedfromusingtheNavierStokesEquationabove.
IntheexamplebelowwecanassumetohaveaNewtonianFluidaswellashaving and bothbeconstant
Recallthatmasscontinuityissimplythesummationoftherateofmassinandtherateofmassout.
[RateofMassAccumulated]=[RateofMassIn][RateofMassOut]

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SincethereisnochangeinPressure(P)overtime,

wehave:

Recallthat isaconstantthusprovingthedivergencetheoremabove.

Streamfunctionfor2Dequations
TakingthecurloftheNavierStokesequationresultsintheeliminationofpressure.Thisisespeciallyeasytoseeif2DCartesianflowisassumed(like
inthedegenerate3Dcasewith
andnodependenceofanythingonz),wheretheequationsreduceto:

Differentiatingthefirstwithrespecttoy,thesecondwithrespecttoxandsubtractingtheresultingequationswilleliminatepressureandany
conservativeforce.Definingthestreamfunction through

resultsinmasscontinuitybeingunconditionallysatisfied(giventhestreamfunctioniscontinuous),andthenincompressibleNewtonian2Dmomentum
andmassconservationcondenseintooneequation:

where

isthe(2D)biharmonicoperatorand isthekinematicviscosity,

.WecanalsoexpressthiscompactlyusingtheJacobian

determinant:

Thissingleequationtogetherwithappropriateboundaryconditionsdescribes2Dfluidflow,takingonlykinematicviscosityasaparameter.Notethat
theequationforcreepingflowresultswhentheleftsideisassumedzero.
Inaxisymmetricflowanotherstreamfunctionformulation,calledtheStokesstreamfunction,canbeusedtodescribethevelocitycomponentsofan
incompressibleflowwithonescalarfunction.
TheincompressibleNavierStokesequationisadifferentialalgebraicequation,havingtheinconvenientfeaturethatthereisnoexplicitmechanismfor
advancingthepressureintime.Consequently,muchefforthasbeenexpendedtoeliminatethepressurefromallorpartofthecomputationalprocess.
Thestreamfunctionformulationeliminatesthepressurebutonlyintwodimensionsandattheexpenseofintroducinghigherderivativesand
eliminationofthevelocity,whichistheprimaryvariableofinterest.

Properties
Nonlinearity
TheNavierStokesequationsarenonlinearpartialdifferentialequationsinthegeneralcaseandsoremaininalmosteveryrealsituation.[15][16]Insome
cases,suchasonedimensionalflowandStokesflow(orcreepingflow),theequationscanbesimplifiedtolinearequations.Thenonlinearitymakes
mostproblemsdifficultorimpossibletosolveandisthemaincontributortotheturbulencethattheequationsmodel.

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Thenonlinearityisduetoconvectiveacceleration,whichisanaccelerationassociatedwiththechangeinvelocityoverposition.Hence,anyconvective
flow,whetherturbulentornot,willinvolvenonlinearity.Anexampleofconvectivebutlaminar(nonturbulent)flowwouldbethepassageofaviscous
fluid(forexample,oil)throughasmallconvergingnozzle.Suchflows,whetherexactlysolvableornot,canoftenbethoroughlystudiedand
understood.[17]

Turbulence
Turbulenceisthetimedependentchaoticbehaviorseeninmanyfluidflows.Itisgenerallybelievedthatitisduetotheinertiaofthefluidasawhole:
theculminationoftimedependentandconvectiveaccelerationhenceflowswhereinertialeffectsaresmalltendtobelaminar(theReynoldsnumber
quantifieshowmuchtheflowisaffectedbyinertia).Itisbelieved,thoughnotknownwithcertainty,thattheNavierStokesequationsdescribe
turbulenceproperly.[18]
ThenumericalsolutionoftheNavierStokesequationsforturbulentflowisextremelydifficult,andduetothesignificantlydifferentmixinglength
scalesthatareinvolvedinturbulentflow,thestablesolutionofthisrequiressuchafinemeshresolutionthatthecomputationaltimebecomes
significantlyinfeasibleforcalculationordirectnumericalsimulation.Attemptstosolveturbulentflowusingalaminarsolvertypicallyresultinatime
unsteadysolution,whichfailstoconvergeappropriately.Tocounterthis,timeaveragedequationssuchastheReynoldsaveragedNavierStokes
equations(RANS),supplementedwithturbulencemodels,areusedinpracticalcomputationalfluiddynamics(CFD)applicationswhenmodeling
turbulentflows.SomemodelsincludetheSpalartAllmaras,k(komega),k(kepsilon),andSSTmodels,whichaddavarietyofadditional
equationstobringclosuretotheRANSequations.Largeeddysimulation(LES)canalsobeusedtosolvetheseequationsnumerically.Thisapproachis
computationallymoreexpensiveintimeandincomputermemorythanRANS,butproducesbetterresultsbecauseitexplicitlyresolvesthelarger
turbulentscales.

Applicability
Togetherwithsupplementalequations(forexample,conservationofmass)andwellformulatedboundaryconditions,theNavierStokesequations
seemtomodelfluidmotionaccuratelyeventurbulentflowsseem(onaverage)toagreewithrealworldobservations.
TheNavierStokesequationsassumethatthefluidbeingstudiedisacontinuum(itisinfinitelydivisibleandnotcomposedofparticlessuchasatoms
ormolecules),andisnotmovingatrelativisticvelocities.Atverysmallscalesorunderextremeconditions,realfluidsmadeoutofdiscretemolecules
willproduceresultsdifferentfromthecontinuousfluidsmodeledbytheNavierStokesequations.DependingontheKnudsennumberoftheproblem,
theBoltzmannequationmaybeasuitablereplacementfailingthat,onemayfindthetechniquesofstatisticalmechanicssufficientorhavetoresortto
moleculardynamics.
Anotherlimitationissimplythecomplicatednatureoftheequations.Timetestedformulationsexistforcommonfluidfamilies,buttheapplicationof
theNavierStokesequationstolesscommonfamiliestendstoresultinverycomplicatedformulationsandoftentoopenresearchproblems.Forthis
reason,theseequationsareusuallyrewrittenforNewtonianfluidswheretheviscositymodelislineartrulygeneralmodelsfortheflowofotherkinds
offluids(suchasblood)donot,asof2012,exist.

Applicationtospecificproblems
TheNavierStokesequations,evenwhenwrittenexplicitlyforspecificfluids,arerathergenericinnatureandtheirproperapplicationtospecific
problemscanbeverydiverse.Thisispartlybecausethereisanenormousvarietyofproblemsthatmaybemodeled,rangingfromassimpleasthe
distributionofstaticpressuretoascomplicatedasmultiphaseflowdrivenbysurfacetension.
Generally,applicationtospecificproblemsbeginswithsomeflowassumptionsandinitial/boundaryconditionformulation,thismaybefollowedby
scaleanalysistofurthersimplifytheproblem.
a)Assumesteady,parallel,onedimensional,nonconvectivepressuredrivenflowbetweenparallelplates,theresultingscaled(dimensionless)
boundaryvalueproblemis:

Theboundaryconditionisthenoslipcondition.Thisproblemiseasilysolvedfortheflowfield:

Fromthispointonwardmorequantitiesofinterestcanbeeasilyobtained,suchasviscousdragforceornetflowrate.
b)Difficultiesmayarisewhentheproblembecomesslightlymorecomplicated.Aseeminglymodesttwistontheparallelflowabovewouldbethe
radialflowbetweenparallelplatesthisinvolvesconvectionandthusnonlinearity.Thevelocityfieldmayberepresentedbyafunction
thatmust
satisfy:

ThisordinarydifferentialequationiswhatisobtainedwhentheNavierStokesequationsarewrittenandtheflowassumptionsapplied(additionally,
thepressuregradientissolvedfor).Thenonlineartermmakesthisaverydifficultproblemtosolveanalytically(alengthyimplicitsolutionmaybe
foundwhichinvolvesellipticintegralsandrootsofcubicpolynomials).IssueswiththeactualexistenceofsolutionsariseforR>1.41(approximately
thisisnotthesquarerootof2),theparameterRbeingtheReynoldsnumberwithappropriatelychosenscales.[19]Thisisanexampleofflow
assumptionslosingtheirapplicability,andanexampleofthedifficultyin"high"Reynoldsnumberflows.[19]

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ExactsolutionsoftheNavierStokesequations
SomeexactsolutionstotheNavierStokesequationsexist.ExamplesofdegeneratecaseswiththenonlineartermsintheNavierStokesequations
equaltozeroarePoiseuilleflow,CouetteflowandtheoscillatoryStokesboundarylayer.Butalsomoreinterestingexamples,solutionstothefull
nonlinearequations,existforexampletheTaylorGreenvortex.[20][21][22]Notethattheexistenceoftheseexactsolutionsdoesnotimplytheyare
stable:turbulencemaydevelopathigherReynoldsnumbers.
Underadditionalassuptions,thecomponentpartscanbeseparated(http://www.claudino.webs.com/Navier%20Stokes%20Equations.pps).
Atwodimensionalexample
Forexample,inthecaseofanunboundedplanardomainwithtwodimensionalincompressibleandstationaryflowinpolar
coordinates

thevelocitycomponents

andpressurepare:[23]

whereAandBarearbitraryconstants.Thissolutionisvalidinthedomainr1andfor
InCartesiancoordinates,whentheviscosityiszero(

),thisis:

Athreedimensionalexample
Forexample,inthecaseofanunboundedEuclideandomainwiththreedimensional
incompressible,stationaryandwithzeroviscosity(
)radialflowin
Cartesiancoordinates
thevelocityvector andpressurepare:

Visualizationofa)parallelflowandb)radialflow.

Thereisasingularityat

Athreedimensionalsteadystatevortexsolution
AnicesteadystateexamplewithnosingularitiescomesfromconsideringtheflowalongthelinesofaHopffibration.Letrbeaconstantradiustothe
innercoil.Onesetofsolutionsisgivenby:[24]

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forarbitraryconstantsAandB.Thisisasolutioninanonviscousgas(compressiblefluid)whosedensity,
velocitiesandpressuregoestozerofarfromtheorigin.(NotethisisnotasolutiontotheClayMillennium
problembecausethatreferstoincompressiblefluidswhere isaconstant,neitherdoesitdealwiththe
uniquenessoftheNavierStokesequationswithrespecttoanyturbulenceproperties.)Itisalsoworth
pointingoutthatthecomponentsofthevelocityvectorareexactlythosefromthePythagoreanquadruple
parametrization.Otherchoicesofdensityandpressurearepossiblewiththesamevelocityfield:
SomeoftheflowlinesalongaHopf
fibration.

Otherchoicesofdensityandpressure

Anotherchoiceofpressureanddensitywiththesamevelocityvectoraboveisonewherethepressureanddensityfalltozeroattheorigin
andarehighestinthecentralloopat
:

Infactingeneraltherearesimplesolutionsforanypolynomialfunctionfwherethedensityis:

Wylddiagrams
WylddiagramsarebookkeepinggraphsthatcorrespondtotheNavierStokesequationsviaaperturbationexpansionofthefundamentalcontinuum
mechanics.SimilartotheFeynmandiagramsinquantumfieldtheory,thesediagramsareanextensionofKeldysh'stechniquefornonequilibrium
processesinfluiddynamics.Inotherwords,thesediagramsassigngraphstothe(often)turbulentphenomenainturbulentfluidsbyallowingcorrelated
andinteractingfluidparticlestoobeystochasticprocessesassociatedtopseudorandomfunctionsinprobabilitydistributions.[25]

Representations
3DCartesiancoordinates
FromthegeneralformoftheNavierStokes,withthevelocityvectorexpandedas
,wemaywritethevectorequationexplicitly,

,sometimesrespectivelynamed

Notethatgravityhasbeenaccountedforasabodyforce,andthevaluesofgx,gy,gzwilldependontheorientationofgravitywithrespect
tothechosensetofcoordinates.
Thecontinuityequationreads:

Whentheflowisincompressible, doesnotchangeforanyfluidparticle,anditsmaterialderivativevanishes:

.Thecontinuity

equationisreducedto:
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NavierStokesequationsWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Thus,fortheincompressibleversionoftheNavierStokesequationthesecondpartoftheviscoustermsfallaway(seeIncompressible
flow).
Thissystemoffourequationscomprisesthemostcommonlyusedandstudiedform.Thoughcomparativelymorecompactthanother
representations,thisisstillanonlinearsystemofpartialdifferentialequationsforwhichsolutionsaredifficulttoobtain.
3DCylindricalcoordinates
AchangeofvariablesontheCartesianequationswillyield[5]thefollowingmomentumequationsforr, ,andz:

Thegravitycomponentswillgenerallynotbeconstants,howeverformostapplicationseitherthecoordinatesarechosensothatthegravity
componentsareconstantorelseitisassumedthatgravityiscounteractedbyapressurefield(forexample,flowinhorizontalpipeistreated
normallywithoutgravityandwithoutaverticalpressuregradient).Thecontinuityequationis:

ThiscylindricalrepresentationoftheincompressibleNavierStokesequationsisthesecondmostcommonlyseen(thefirstbeingCartesian
above).Cylindricalcoordinatesarechosentotakeadvantageofsymmetry,sothatavelocitycomponentcandisappear.Averycommon
caseisaxisymmetricflowwiththeassumptionofnotangentialvelocity(
),andtheremainingquantitiesareindependentof :

3DSphericalcoordinates
Insphericalcoordinates,ther,,andmomentumequationsare[5](notetheconventionused:ispolarangle,orcolatitude,[26]0):

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Masscontinuitywillread:

Theseequationscouldbe(slightly)compactedby,forexample,factoring
undesirablyalterthestructureoftheLaplacianandotherquantities.

fromtheviscousterms.However,doingsowould

NavierStokesequationsuseingames
TheNavierStokesequationsareusedextensivelyinvideogamesinordertomodelawidevarietyofnaturalphenomena.Simulationsofsmallscale
gaseousfluids,suchasfireandsmoke,areoftenbasedontheseminalpaper"RealTimeFluidDynamicsforGames"[27]byJosStam,whichelaborates
oneofthemethodsproposedinStam'searlier,morefamouspaper"StableFluids"[28]from1999.StamproposesstablefluidsimulationusingaNavier
Stokessolutionmethodfrom1968,coupledwithanunconditionallystablesemiLagrangianadvectionscheme,asfirstproposedin1992.
MorerecentimplementationsbaseduponthisworkrunontheGPUasopposedtotheCPUandachieveamuchhigherdegreeofperformance.[29][30]
ManyimprovementshavebeenproposedtoStam'soriginalwork,whichsuffersinherentlyfromhighnumericaldissipationinbothvelocityandmass.
Anintroductiontointeractivefluidsimulationcanbefoundinthe2007ACMSIGGRAPHcourse,FluidSimulationforComputerAnimation.[31]

Seealso
AdhmarJeanClaudeBarrdeSaintVenant
BogoliubovBornGreenKirkwoodYvonhierarchyofequations
Boltzmannequation
Cauchymomentumequation
Convectiondiffusionequation
ChapmanEnskogtheory
ChurchillBernsteinequation
Coandeffect
Computationalfluiddynamics
Eulerequations
HagenPoiseuilleflowfromtheNavierStokesequations
DerivationoftheNavierStokesequations
NondimensionalizationandscalingoftheNavierStokesequations
Pressurecorrectionmethod
Stokesequations
Reynoldstransporttheorem
Vlasovequation

Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.

MillenniumPrizeProblems,ClayMathematicsInstitute,retrieved20140114
Batchelor(1967)pp.137&142.
Batchelor(1967)pp.142148.
Batchelor(1967)p.165.
SeeAcheson(1990).
Batchelor(1967)pp.21&147.
Temam,Roger(2001),NavierStokesEquations,TheoryandNumericalAnalysis,AMSChelsea,pp.107112
Holdeman,J.T.(2010),"AHermitefiniteelementmethodforincompressiblefluidflow",Int.J.Numer.Meth.FLuids64(4):376408,
Bibcode:2010IJNMF..64..376H,doi:10.1002/fld.2154
Holdeman,J.T.Kim,J.W.(2010),"ComputationofincompressiblethermalflowsusingHermitefiniteelements",Comput.MethodsAppl.Mech.Engrg.199
(4952):32973304,Bibcode:2010CMAME.199.3297H,doi:10.1016/j.cma.2010.06.036
Chorin,Mardsenp.33
Batchelor(1967)pp.147&154.
Landau&Lifshitz(1987)pp.4445,196
White(2006)p.67.
Batchelor(1967)p.75.
FluidMechanics(Schaum'sSeries),M.Potter,D.C.Wiggert,Schaum'sOutlines,McGrawHill(USA),2008,ISBN9780071487818
Vectors,Tensors,andthebasicEquationsofFluidMechanics,R.Aris,DoverPublications,1989,ISBN(10)0486661105
McGrawHillEncyclopaediaofPhysics(2ndEdition),C.B.Parker,1994,ISBN0070514003
EncyclopaediaofPhysics(2ndEdition),R.G.Lerner,G.L.Trigg,VHCpublishers,1991,ISBN(Verlagsgesellschaft)3527269541,ISBN(VHCInc.)0
895737523
Shah,TasneemMohammad(1972)."Analysisofthemultigridmethod".PublishedbyDr.TMShahrepublishedbyTheSmithsonian/NASAAstrophysicsData
System.Retrieved8January2013.
Wang,C.Y.(1991),"ExactsolutionsofthesteadystateNavierStokesequations",AnnualReviewofFluidMechanics23:159177,
Bibcode:1991AnRFM..23..159W,doi:10.1146/annurev.fl.23.010191.001111
Landau&Lifshitz(1987)pp.7588.
Ethier,C.R.Steinman,D.A.(1994),"Exactfully3DNavierStokessolutionsforbenchmarking",InternationalJournalforNumericalMethodsinFluids19(5):
369375,Bibcode:1994IJNMF..19..369E,doi:10.1002/fld.1650190502
Ladyzhenskaya,O.A.(1969),TheMathematicalTheoryofviscousIncompressibleFlow(2nded.),p.preface,xi
Kamchatno,A.M(1982),Topologicalsolitonsinmagnetohydrodynamics(PDF)
McComb,W.D.(2008),Renormalizationmethods:Aguideforbeginners,OxfordUniversityPress,ISBN0199236526pp.121128.
EricW.Weisstein(20051026),SphericalCoordinates,MathWorld,retrieved20080122
Stam,Jos(2003),RealTimeFluidDynamicsforGames(PDF)

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28.
29.
30.
31.

NavierStokesequationsWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Stam,Jos(1999),StableFluids(PDF)
Harris,MarkJ.(2004),"38",GPUGemsFastFluidDynamicsSimulationontheGPU
Sander,P.Tatarchuck,N.Mitchell,J.L.(2007),"9.6",ShaderX5ExplicitEarlyZCullingforEfficientFluidFlowSimulation,pp.553564
RobertBridsonMatthiasMllerFischer."FluidSimulationforComputerAnimation".www.cs.ubc.ca.

References
Acheson,D.J.(1990),ElementaryFluidDynamics,OxfordAppliedMathematicsandComputingScienceSeries,OxfordUniversityPress,
ISBN0198596790
Batchelor,G.K.(1967),AnIntroductiontoFluidDynamics,CambridgeUniversityPress,ISBN0521663962
Landau,L.D.Lifshitz,E.M.(1987),Fluidmechanics,CourseofTheoreticalPhysics6(2ndreviseded.),PergamonPress,ISBN008033932
8,OCLC15017127
Rhyming,IngeL.(1991),Dynamiquedesfluides,Pressespolytechniquesetuniversitairesromandes
Polyanin,A.D.Kutepov,A.M.Vyazmin,A.V.Kazenin,D.A.(2002),Hydrodynamics,MassandHeatTransferinChemicalEngineering,
Taylor&Francis,London,ISBN0415272378
Currie,I.G.(1974),FundamentalMechanicsofFluids,McGrawHill,ISBN0070150001
V.GiraultandP.A.Raviart.FiniteElementMethodsforNavierStokesEquations:TheoryandAlgorithms.SpringerSeriesinComputational
Mathematics.SpringerVerlag,1986.
White,F.M.(2006),ViscousFluidFlow,McGrawHill,ISBN007124493X
V.GiraultandP.A.Raviart.FiniteElementMethodsforNavierStokesEquations:TheoryandAlgorithms.SpringerSeriesinComputational
Mathematics.SpringerVerlag,1986.

Externallinks
SimplifiedderivationoftheNavierStokesequations(http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/Flow2.htm)
MillenniumPrizeproblemdescription(http://www.claymath.org/sites/default/files/navierstokes.pdf)
CFDonlinesoftwarelist(http://www.cfdonline.com/Wiki/Codes)Acompilationofcodes,includingNavierStokessolvers
Onlinefluiddynamicssimulator(http://nerget.com/fluidSim/)SolvestheNavierStokesequationnumericallyandvisualizesitusingJavascript
ThreedimensionalunsteadyformoftheNavierStokesequations(https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k12/airplane/nseqs.html)GlennResearch
Center,NASA
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