The Reynolds Transport Theorem

The question arises as to how a given quantity changes , (where (x,t) is some fluid property
per unit volume) with respect to time as a material volume deforms.

We define the material volume as: An arbitrary chosen control volume of fluid whose surface
moves at the particle velocity.

The significance of the volume moving at the same rate as the particle velocity is that no mass is
transported across the chosen control surface that encloses the control volume. In addition, we
state by definition that the material control volume deforms with the body motion.

V
m
(t)
S
m
(t) n
v
Material Control Volume

Consider a material volume V
m
(t) with surface area S
m
(t). The unit normal to the surface is
denoted by n, and the surface velocity is denoted by v. Within this control volume is a property
of the continuum that is of interest. We would like to determine how changes with time.
The total amount of present in the volume V
m
(t) can be expressed as:

F( ) t = (x, t) dV
V
m
(t)

(1)
The time rate of change if the fluid property is defined as:


d
dt
=
d
dt
(x, t) dV
V
m
(t)
F

(2)

Since the limits of integration are a function of time (in our case this is the material volume
V
m
(t)), the time derivative cannot be taken inside the integral directly. In order to overcome
this problem, we transform the volume, and material property from a spatial representation, to a
reference/material representation..

Recall that any differential volume element at time t is related to the volume at tine t = 0 by:

dV = J dV
o
where the Jacobian J is defined as:

J
x
X
x
X
x
X
x
X
x
X
x
X
x
X
x
X
x
X
= det F = given x = (X, t)

1
1
2
1
3
1
1
2
2
2
3
2
1
3
2
3
3
3
(3)
also, the quantity (x,t) can always be expressed in terms of the material coordinates by
employing the results x = (X, t) . Therefore, we can express (x,t) as:


| |
(x, t) = (X, t), t (X, t) (4)

Therefore we can express the integral in equation 2 in terms of the material coordinates:


d
dt
=
d
dt
(X, t) JdV
Vo
o
F

(5)
Since V
o
is independent of time, the order of integration and differentiation can be switched.
Note that since X is held constant, we are in effect taking the material derivative of the
integrand.


d
dt
=
d (X,t)
dt
J + (X, t)
d J
dt
dV
X
X
Vo
o
F

(6)

But recall that


d
dt
=
D
Dt
=

t
+ v
X
x

|
\

|
.
|


and ( )
d J
dt
=
DJ
Dt
= J v
X

Therefore we can rearrange equation 6 to have the form

( )
d
dt
=

t
+ v + v J dV


Vo
o
F

`
)

(7)
or in terms of the material volume at time t

( )
d
dt
(x, t) dV = + v dV
V
m
(t
V
m
(t)

t

(8)

Equation 8 is known as the Reynolds Transport Theorem Equation (RTT). An alternative form
of the RTT can be obtained by applying the divergence theorem to the last term of the equation


( )
d
dt
(x, t) dV = dV + v n dS
Rate of change Net flow of
at a point across the surface S (t)
V
m
(t
V
m
(t) S
m
(t)
m

t

(9)

We can expand the development of the RTT to derive the general transport theorem (GTT). The
difference being that the time rate of change of a material property in an arbitrary control volume
is not necessarily a material control volume.

Instead of a material control volume, consider an arbitrary control volume V
a
(t) with surface area
S
a
(t). The unit normal to the surface is denoted by n, and the surface velocity is denoted by w.

V
a
(t)
S
a
(t) n
w
Arbitrary Control Volume

The important consequence of is that since the volume is not a material control volume, a flux of
a material property (i.e. mass) can be allowed to pass across surface S
a
(t)

Consider the quantity (x,t). Similar to the development of the RTT, the total amount of
present in the volume V
a
(t) can be expressed as:

F( ) t = (x, t) dV
V
a
(t)

(10)
The time rate of change if the fluid property is defined as:


d
dt
=
d
dt
(x, t) dV
V
a
(t)
F

(11)

Next we define a field of observers who are moving at a velocity w. At time t = 0, the position
of the observer is given by . The position of the observer as a function of time can be
expressed as: x = ( , t) , and let V
o()
be the volume of the integral at time t = 0. Therefore,
we express the differential volume as:

dV = J
()
dV
o()
,with (x,t) = (,t)

so that


d
dt
=
d
dt
( , t) J dV
Vo
o
F

(12)
and, since V
o()
is independent of time, we can state:


d
dt
=
d
dt
J + (X, t)
d J
dt
dV
Vo
o
F

(13)

As before, recall that


d
dt
=

t
+ w

|
\

|
.
|
|
(14)

and (
d J
dt
= J w

) (15)

combining equations 12 - 15 we arrive at an expression for the general transport theorem.

( )
d
dt
(x, t) dV =
t
+ w dV
V
a
(t
V
a
(t)

(16)