Queen's University

Dept. of Mechanical and Materials Engineering

MECH 341
Fluid Mechanics II

Mass Conservation

Darko Matovic, 2010

 Objectives:

● Derive mass conservation law in differential

form
● Distinguish special cases: steady flow,
incompressible flow
● Examples
Derivation via a little box element
y

w  xdx , y , z
wx , y , z
ux , y , z u xdx , y , z

v  x , y , z   xdx , y , z 
U v  xdx , y , z
  x , y , z
U
x
dy
dz

z dx
 y

N out N in
∂
wx , y , z
w  xdx , y , z ∫ ∂t
dV ∑ i U i A
i out −∑  j U j A j in =0
u x , y , z u  xdx , y , z CV i=1 j=1

v  x , y , z   xdx , y , z 
U v  xdx , y , z
∂ ∂
  x , y , z
U
dy
dz
x
∫ ∂t
dV ≈
∂t
dx dy dz
CV
z dx

At surface x : 
 U A x = u dy dz
At surface  
xdx :  U Axdx =  u∂
u
∂x 
dx dy dz 
At surface 
y :  U A y = v dz dx
At surface ydy :  U
∂y 
 A ydy =  u∂  v dy dz dx

At surface 
z :  U A z = w dx dy

At surface zdz :  U
∂z 
 A zdz =  w∂  w dz dx dy

∂  ∂u ∂ v ∂ w
Put together and divide by dxdydz :    =0
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z
 Derivation via Gauss Divergence
Theorem
∂
● The integral form: ∫ ∂t
dV ∫  U
 n dA=0
CV CS

● Can be transformed by Gauss theorem into:

∂
∫ ∂t
dV ∫ ∇  U
 dV =0
CV CV

• Now, if we let control volume collapse into a

point, then
∂  =0
∇  U
∂t
 Are these two the same?
● Yes, in Cartesian coordinates, the “nabla”
operator, takes the form: ∇ =i ∂ j ∂ k ∂
∂x ∂y ∂z

thus: ∂  ∂ u ∂ v ∂ w

   =0
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z
∂  =0
is equivalent to: ∇  U
∂t
Mass conservation in cylindrical
polar coordinate system

 =U
U  r , , z ,t =u r⋅ir u iu z iz
where ir , i and iz are local unit vectors at point r ,  , z 
∂  1 ∂r  u r  1 ∂ u   ∂ u z 
   =0
∂t r ∂r r ∂ ∂z
 Special cases
● Steady compressible  =0
∇  U
flow:
 =0
∇U
● Steady Incompressible ∂u ∂v ∂w
1
(constant density) flow :   =0
∂x ∂y ∂z

● Two-dimensional steady ∂u ∂v
 =0
incompressible case: ∂x ∂y

1) We consider flow to be incompressible when Ma < 0.3, where Ma

is the Mach number