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Thursday, 14 May 2015

Continuity equation

Consider a control volume of fixed mass δM that moves with the fluid. Letting δV=δxδyδz be the volume, we can write: 1δMDDt(δM)=1ρδVDDt(ρδV)=1δρDρDt+1δVDδVDt=0

So, following the motion of a control volume, the mass is conserved, and the fractional change in density is equal and opposite to the fractional change in volume.
 

 We can rewrite the volume term: 1δVDδVDt=1δxδyδzDDt(δxδyδz)=1δxDδxDt+1δyDδyDt+1δzDδzDt What does DδxDt represent? Consider the u velocity at the left (u1) and the right (u2) of our control volume: u1=DxDtu2=D(x+δx)Dtu2u1=δu=DδxDt