4.2.

1 KINEMATICS OF A FLUID ELEMENT

MO4.1
Prior to deriving the differential form of the conservation equations, we will look at
the motion of a fluid element, which is nothing more than an infinitesimal volume of
the fluid. As opposed to our previous control volume analysis which was a fixed
volume in space, a fluid element is fixed to the fluid (i.e. the fluid element is
always the same fluid, though it moves, distorts its shape, varies in its properties,
etc). Figure 4.1 shows a fluid element that at has a square shape and a short
time later at has moved and deformed.
Figure 4.1: Motion of a fluid element from to an infinitesimal time later
.
The motion of the fluid element, i.e. the kinematics of the fluid element, over this
infinitesimal time can be broken into four distinct types of motion:
t = 0
t = t
t = 0
t = t
Convection:
the motion of the center of mass of the fluid element.
Rotation:
the angular motion of the fluid element about its center of mass.
Normal strain:
the compression or elongation of the fluid element without changing its angles.
Shear strain:
skewing the fluid element such that its angles change without compressing or
elongating the element.
These different types of motion are shown in Figure 4.2.
Figure 4.2: Four types of pure motion of a fluid element.
Next, we relate the different types of motions to the velocity field. The simplest
motion is the convection of the fluid element and is given directly by the velocity,
. We can think of this as the motion of the center of mass of the fluid element.
The remaining types of fluid element motion describe the rotation and distortion of
the shape of the fluid element.
V