Acceleration Field

• The acceleration of the particle is ascribable to two

reasons.
– One reason is due to the fluid particle being convected
from one given location to another location in flow and the
second location being of higher or lower velocity. This is
called as convective acceleration. It is also known as
advective acceleration.
– The second reason is due to the unsteadiness of the flow,
that is due to the change in the local velocity of the fluid
particle as a function of time. This is called as local
acceleration.
    
 dV V V V V
a  u v w
dt t x y z
Total acceleration Local acceleration Convective acceleration
 Acceleration Field
a  at 
• Lagrangian Frame:
• Eulerian Frame: we describe the
acceleration in terms of position and
time without following an individual
particle. This is analogous to
describing the velocity field in terms
of space and time.
V A V A  rA , t  V A  x A  t  , y A  t  , z A  t  , t 
• A fluid particle can accelerate due to a
change in velocity in time
(“unsteady”) or in space (moving to a
place with a greater velocity).
 Acceleration Field: Material (Substantial)
Derivative

We note:

Then, substituting:

The above is good for any fluid particle, so we drop “A”:

 Acceleration Field: Material (Substantial)
Derivative
• Writing out these terms in vector components:
• x-direction:
• y-direction:
• z-direction:

• Writing these results in “short-hand”:

where,
 Acceleration Field
• The time dependant term in the acceleration field is called the local
acceleration and is nonzero only for unsteady flows.
• The spacial dependant term in the acceleration field is called the
advective acceleration and accounts for the effect of the fluid particle
moving to a new location in the flow, where the velocity is different.
• The total derivative operator d/dt is called the material derivative and
is often given special notation, D/Dt.
• Advective acceleration is nonlinear: source of many phenomenon and
primary challenge in solving fluid flow problems.
• Advective acceleration provides ``transformation'‘ between Lagrangian
and Eulerian frames.
• Other names for the material derivative include: total, particle,
Lagrangian, Eulerian ,and substantial derivative.
 Acceleration Field: Material (Substantial)
Derivative
• Applied to the Temperature Field in a Flow:

• The material derivative of any variable is the rate at which

that variable changes with time for a given particle (as seen by
one moving along with the fluid—Lagrangian description).
 Acceleration Field: Unsteady Effects
• If the flow is unsteady, its paramater values at any location
may change with time (velocity, temperature, density, etc.)
• The local derivative represents the unsteady portion of the
flow:
• If we are talking about velocity, then the above term is local
acceleration.
• In steady flow, the above term goes to zero.
• If we are talking about temperature, and V= 0, we still have
heat transfer because of the following term:
 Acceleration Field: Unsteady Effects
• Consider flow in a constant diameter pipe, where the flow is
assumed to be spatially uniform:
 Acceleration Field: Convective Effects
• The portion of the material derivative represented by the spatial
derivatives is termed the convective term or convective accleration:
• It represents the fact the flow property associated with a fluid particle
may vary due to the motion of the particle from one point in space to
another.
• Convective effects may exist whether the flow is steady or unsteady.

Example 1: Example 2:
Control Volume and System Representations

• Systems of Fluid: a specific identifiable quantity of matter that

may consist of a relatively large amount of mass (the earth’s
atmosphere ) or a single fluid particle. They are always the
same fluid particles which may interact with their
surroundings.
• Example: following a system the fluid passing through a
compressor
• We can apply the equations of motion to the fluid mass to
describe their behavior, but in practice it is very difficult to
follow a specific quantity of matter.
Control Volume and System Representations

• Control Volume: is a volume or space through which

the fluid may flow, usually associated with the
geometry.
• When we are most interested in determining the
forces put on a fan, airplane, or automobile by the
airflow past the object rather than following the fluid
as it flows along past the object.
• Identify the specific volume in space and analyze the
fluid flow within, through, or around that volume.
Control Volume and System Representations