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Partial
Differential
Equations

D’ALEMBERT
SOLUTION OF THE
WAVE EQUATION

Partial Differential
Equations

2 y 1 2 y

x 2 a 2 t 2

2 z  2 z  1 2 z
x 2 y 2 a 2 t 2

 2 u   2 u   2 u  1 u
x 2 y 2 z 2 a 2 t

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derivation of PDE’s
“Assembling” the pizza ingredients…

VIBRATING STRING
y s

T

y


T
x x x  x x

s

0 x x  x L x

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ONE-DIMENSIONAL WAVE
EQUATION

2 y 1 2 y

x 2 a 2 t 2
y - displacement
x - location
t - time
gT
a (wave velocity)


VIBRATING MEMBRANE
z

x y x
y

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VIBRATING MEMBRANE

wxy z
z wxy
Sx Sy
2 2

1 1

Sx Sy
y y  y y x x  x x

S – tension per unit length

w – weight per unit area

TWO-DIMENSIONAL WAVE EQUATION

2 z  2 z  1 2 z
x 2 y 2 a 2 t 2

z - displacement
x , y - location
t - time
gS
a
w

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HEAT CONDUCTION
u  85  C u  20  C

A
x

H  kA du
dx
… driven by temperature (u) gradient
The rate of heat flow across
a surface is proportional to
the area of the surface and
the normal derivative of the
temperature change.
(FOURIER’S LAW OF HEAT
CONDUCTION)

ENERGY BALANCE

RATE OF
ENERGY control volume RATE OF
INPUT ENERGY
OUTPUT

RATE OF ENERGY
ACCUMULATION

dE
 E
dt
( accumulation  in  out )

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EQUATION OF HEAT CONDUCTION
(Derivation…) z
x  x
2
x  x
2

z  z
2
+ control volume
z u x, y , z, t 

z  z x
2 y y

y y
y y
2 2
x

EQUATION OF HEAT CONDUCTION

 2 u   2 u   2 u  1 u
x 2 y 2 z 2 a 2 t

u - local temperature
x , y , z - location
t - time
a 2  k (thermal diffusivity)
c p

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PDE CLASSIFICATION
2 2 2
A  u B  u 
C u  0
x 2 xy y 2

PARABOLIC

B 2  4 AC  0

ELLIPTIC

B 2  4 AC  0

HYPERBOLIC

B 2  4 AC  0

D’ALEMBERT SOLUTION OF THE

WAVE EQUATION
y x ,t   f x  at   g x  at 

x  at  x  at 
y x , t  
2
x  at
 1  x' dx'
2 a x at
x   y x ,0  (initial displacement)

y
x   (initial velocity)
t t 0 Jean-Le Rond D’Alembert
(1717-1783)

…a superposition of a wave moving to the right and a wave moving to the left

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D’ALEMBERT SOLUTION: Example
initial displacement initial velocity

 x    0 x   0
 9  x , 3 X 3
2
a 1
 , otherwise

Initial condition (t = 0)
10 SOLUTION

y x, t   9 
x  at 2  x  at 2
2
f ( x) 5

0
10 0 10
x

When t>0, the disturbance splits into two parts, one propagating to
the right while the other propagating to the left, as shown below.

10
9

u ( x 0)
Propagate to the left Propagate to the right
u ( x 1.2)

u ( x 2) 5

u ( x 8)

u ( x 12)

0 0
15 10 5 0 5 10 15
 15 x 15

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D’ALEMBERT SOLUTION: Example
initial displacement initial velocity
0 x L x   0

 
x   2 1 XL  L  x 0
 
2 1 x
L
0  x L y

D’ALEMBERT SOLUTION:Example
a 1 (continued)

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D’ALEMBERT SOLUTION
Example… y x ,t   f x  at   g x  at 
f x   exp  x8 
2
 
 
g x   0.5 exp  x 2
a 1

D’ALEMBERT SOLUTION
EXERCISE…
[1] Determine the displacement of a flexible string of length L that is
fixed at both ends. The string is released from rest with an initial
displacement of
x L  x 
y x ,0   x  
100 L2

[2] Determine the displacement of a flexible string of length L that is

fixed at both ends. The initial displacement of the string is zero and its
initial velocity is
y x ,t 
t
 x   100
1 sin x
L L
t 0

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