The Reynolds transport Theorem:

The basic equations, involving the time derivative of extensive properties (total mass
linear momentum, angular momentum, energy) are applicable for systems. In solid
mechanics we often use a system representing a quantity of mass of fixed identity so, the
basic equations are directly applied to know the time derivatives of extensive properties.
In fluid mechanics it is convenient to work with control volume, representing region in
space considered for study.
(139- white)
Fig. illustrates different types of control volumes: fixed control volume, control volume
moving at constant speed and deforming control volume. Therefore this is essential to
derive a relationship between the time derivative of system property and the rate of
change of that property within a control volume. This relationship is expressed by the
Reynolds transport theorem (RTT) which establish the link between the system and
control volume approaches.
Before deriving the general form of the RTT, a derivation for one dimensional fixed
control volume is given below.
One- dimensional fixed control volume:
Consider a diverging (expanding) of a flow field bounded by a stream tube. The selected
control volume is considered to be fixed between sections a and section b. Note that
both the sections are normal to the direction of flow. At some initial time t, system I
exactly coincides. The control volume and therefore system and control volume are
identical at that time. At time t t system I has moved in the flow direction at uniform
speed v1 and a part of system II has centered into the control volume.
Let N represents any properties of the fluid (mass, momentum, energy) and n represent
the amount of N per unit mass (called as intensive properties) in a small proportion of
the fluid. The total amount of N in a control volume is expresses as
N dm dv ,
cv

cv

dN
dm

As the system coincides with the control volume at time t, a relation between the system
and the control volume is
N system ,t N cv ,t
At time t d t ,

N system ,t t N cv ,t dt N II t dt N1,t dt
Using the definition of derivatives, we can write,
dN sys
dt

lim

t o

lim

N sys ,t dt N sys ,t
t
N cv1t t N cv1t
t

t o

lim

t o

N II ,t t
t

lim

t o

N I ,t t
t

or
dN sys
dt

dN cv
N ix ,t t N out ,wt
dt

the time rate of

change of N of

the system

the rate change

of N within the

cv

the flux of N
passing into the
control fans

the flux of
N
the
passing out

control surface

The influx rate of n into the control surface be computed as

N in ,t t lim

N II ,t t

t
Av II , N II ,t t Av II t
t 0

Finally, Equation ( ) can be written as

dN sys
dt

dN cv
Av II Av I
dt

This equation implies that the time rate of change of any extensive property for a system
is equal to the rate of change of that extensive property inside the control volume plus the
net of efflux of the property through the control surface. This is known as RTT which
relates the change of a property of a system to the change of that property for a control
volume.
Arbitrary fixed control volume :
As similar to the previous derivation a fixed control volume with an arbitrary flow pattern
passing through. At time t the system coincides with the control volume which is fixed
relative to the x, y, z axes. At time t t the system has moved and occupies the region
II and III as shown in fig. (Streeter-89). Note that the region II is common to the system
at both times t and t t . The time rate of change of N for the system can be given by

1
dN
lim

dt system t 0 t

dv

dv

II
III
t t

dv

dv

II

Rearranging the above equation we have

dN
lim

dt system t 0

dv
III

t t

dv
II

lim
0
t

dv
III

t t

lim
t 0

dv
I

As t 0 region II becomes that of control volume, the first term on the right becomes
d
dv . The integral for region III approximates the amount of N that has crossed
dt
cv
the control surface ABCD shown in fig.
Let an area dA on the control surface where a steady flow velocity v is attained during
time interval t , the interface has moved a distance vdt along a direction which is
tangential to stream line at that point.
The volume of the fluid swept across the area dA is dv V .dt dA cos
Using the dot product we can define
dv V .n dAdt
So, the integral for the region III, is expressed by substituting dv . Efflux rate through
control surface ABC

V&.n& dA

ABC

Similarly, the influx rate through control surface ADC can be expressed
r n
Influx rate: v n dA

ADC
The negative sign indicates influx rate of N through the control surface. The net efflux
rate of N through the whole control surface is

Net efflux rate

Efflux rate on ABC influx rate on ADC

r
r
Vn dAt V .n dA
ABC

ADC

r
V .n dA

Control fans

Collecting the terms of equation ( ) gives the compact from of RTT as

r
d
dN

V
.n dA

dv

dt sys dt cv
control surface

Special case:
Control volume moving at constant velocity:
In the case of fixed control volume the velocity field was measured relative to x, y, z
references. If the control volume moves at a uniform velocity Ve it is necessary to
compute relative velocity Vr of fluid crossing the control surface, defined by Vr V Ve .
The flux terms are to be defined in terms of Vr , but the volume integral remains
unchanged when the control volume does not deform.
The RTT for a uniformly moving control volume is
r
d
dN

dv

p
V
r n dA

dt sys dt cv
contrl surface

Laminar and turbulent flow:

In fluid flows there are two distinct fluid behaviors experimentally observed. Osborne
Reynolds demonstrated the fluid behavior by conducting an experiment in which water
was discharged through a small glass tube from a large tank (fig.)
A colour die was injected at the entrance of the tube and the rate of flow could be
regulated by a valve at the out let. When the water flowed at low velocity it was found
that the die moved in a straight line. This clearly showed that the particles of water
moved in parallel lines. This type of flow is called laminar flow, in which the particles of
fluid moves along smooth paths in layers. There is no exchange of momentum from one
fluid particle to another. This type of flow mainly occurs in high viscosity fluids at low
velocity, for example, oils at low velocity. Fig. shows the steady velocity for a lamina
flow.
When the water flowed at high velocity, the dye colour was diffused over the whole cross
section. This could be interpreted that the particles of fluid moved in very irregular paths,

causing an exchange of momentum from one fluid particle to another. This type of flow is
known as turbulent flow. The velocity measured at a point in turbulent flw is shown in
fig.
The flow is characterized by continuous random fluctuations in the magnitude and the
direction of velocity of the fluid particles.
Velocity Field: Consider a uniform stream flow pass on a cylinder (fig.). The velocities at
different locations within the fluid domain, as shown in the figure varies from position to
position at a particular time t. At different time instants this velocity distribution may
change keeping in mind this observation the velocity within a flow domain can be
represented as depending function of position (x, y, z) and time (t).
r
In the Cartesian co-ordinates the velocity V ui vj wk where u, v, w are the velocity
components in x, y and z directions respectively. The velocity components u, v and w are
dependent functions of position and time. Mathematically we can express
u u x, y , z , t
v v x, y , z , t

w w x, y , z , t
This type of continuous function distribution with position and time for velocity is known
as velocity field, it is based on the Eularian description of the flow. However we can
represent the lagrangian description for this. Let a fluid particle exactly positioned at
point A moving to another pint A during time interval t the velocity of the fluid
particle is the same as the local velocity at that point as obtained from the Eulerian
description
r
r
At time t, V particle at x, y, z t V x, y , z , t , obtained the Eulerian.
r
r
At time t t , V particle at x, y, z t t V x, y, z , t t
The particle velocity at both the times are
This means that instead of describing the motion of the fluid flow using the lagrangian
description, the use of Eularian description makes the fluid flow problems quite easier to
solve them.
It is worth to note for complete description of a fluid flow the Lagrangian description
needs a large number of fluid particles and their movements with time.
The Acceleration field: At given position A the acceleration o the fluid particle is the
time derivative of the particles velocity
r
dV particle
r
Acceleration of a fluid particle: a particle
dt

Since the particle velocity is a function of four independent variables (x, y, z and t).
r
dV particle

r
a particle

dt

r
dV x particle , y particle , z particle
dt

Using chain rule

r
r
r
r
V dt
V dx particle V dy particle V dz particle
r
a particle
.

t dt x particle dt
y dt
z dt
where and d are the partial derivative operator and total derivative operator
respectively. The time rate of change of the particle in the x-direction equals to the xcomponent of velocity vector, u. Therefore
dx particle
dt

Similarly

dy particle
dt
dz particle
dt

V
w

As discussed earlier the position vector of the fluid particle (x particle, y particle, z
particle) in the Lagranian description is the same as the position vector (x, y, z) in the
Eulerian frame at time t and the acceleration of the fluid particle (a particle), which
occupied the position (x, y, z) is equal to a (x, y, z, t) in the Eularian description.
Therefore the
r acceleration
r
ris defined
r by
V
V
V
V
r
a x , y , z ,t
u
v
w
t
x
y
z
In vector form
r
a x , y , z ,t

r
V
t

local accelaration

V . V

convective accelartion

Where is the gradient operator.

The first term of the right hand side of equation(-) represents the time rate of change of
velocity field at the position of the fluid particle at time t. This acceleration component is
also independent to the change of the particle position and is referred as the local
r
r
acceleration. However the term V . V accounts for the affect of the change of the

velocity at various position in this field. This time rate of change of velocity because of
changing position in the field is called the convective acceleration.
Deformation of fluid particles:
Fig. illustrates the deformation of three fluid particles originating from a uniform stream
flow. The fluid particle A of a definite shape (square in this case) moves from its initial
position along the direction of stream flow. As there is no significant velocity gradient the
particle is undergone only translation motion.
But in the case of the particle B it can be seen that the particle rotates in clockwise
direction near to the obstruction. This results due to the presence of the velocity gradient
at that region. So, this type of motion of a fluid particle is known as rotation.
The particle C moves in the region of high velocity gradient. Therefore, the particle is
deformed volumetrically and is also undergoes angular deformation because of nonuniform distribution of velocity in the path x and y direction.
In short the types of motion of a fluid particle are (a) translation (b) rotation (c) linear
deformation (d) angular deformation.
Rotation: Consider a two dimensional fluid particle motion in a fluid flow domain. The
flow velocity at point A of the particle is expressed as
r
V ui vj
As per the continuum hypothesis the velocity components u and v are continuous
function of space and time. The velocity at point A can be expressed using the Taylor
series
u
2 u x
u x x, y at A u x, y x 2
L
x
x
2
2

Neglecting the second and higher order terms in the expression we obtain
u x x , y u x , y

y
x
x

Similarly the velocity components at point B and A can be derived.

The pure rotation of the element is resulted from v-velocity component at point A and
the u-velocity component at point B.
The angle 1 rotated during time t

v
x t t t
v
x
t
x
x

u
u y t u t
similarly,
y

u t
2
y
y
The negative sign has been introduced because of clock-wise rotation.
The average rotation angle is
1
1 2
2
Thus the rate of rotation in the x and y plane becomes
w

d 1 v u


dt 2 x y

In three dimension we can express rate of rotation or angular velocity in vector form as
r 1 w v 1 u w 1 v u
w
i
j
k
2 y z
2 z x
2 x y
Linear deformation: In fluid mechanics the rate of linear deformation is emphasized
instead of linear deformation in solid mechanics. The rate of linear deformation or linear
strain rate is the rate of increased or decreased length per unit length.
Consider two points P and Q located on a fluid particle in the x-direction. The velocity at
u
x respectively. During time t , P moves to P
pint P and Q at time t are u and u
x
and Q to Q . The rate of linear deformation xx is
PQ PQ 1
xx lim

t 0
PQ t

u x t x u t x
x

lim
t 0
x t
Thus

xx

u
x

Similarly linear strain rate in other directions are-

v
y
w
zz
z
yy

Angular deformation:
As shown in figure angular deformation at point Pis defined as the half of the rate of the
angle decreased between two mutually perpendicular axes.
The angle between these two axes decreases from / 2 to / 2 1 2 shown in the
fig. The rate of angle 1 , derived in section is
d1 v
&

1
dt x
The angular deformation in the xy plane is
1
1 2
2
1 v u


2 x y

xy

Note that 2 is in the clockwise direction. Extending to three dimensions the shear strain
rate is given by
1 v u
xy

2 x y
1 v w
yz

2 z y
1 w u
xz

2 x z