What is Navier stokes: Definition and 63 Discussions

In physics, the Navier–Stokes equations () are a set of partial differential equations which describe the motion of viscous fluid substances, named after French engineer and physicist Claude-Louis Navier and Anglo-Irish physicist and mathematician George Gabriel Stokes.
The Navier–Stokes equations mathematically express conservation of momentum and conservation of mass for Newtonian fluids. They are sometimes accompanied by an equation of state relating pressure, temperature and density. They arise from applying Isaac Newton's second law to fluid motion, together with the assumption that the stress in the fluid is the sum of a diffusing viscous term (proportional to the gradient of velocity) and a pressure term—hence describing viscous flow. The difference between them and the closely related Euler equations is that Navier–Stokes equations take viscosity into account while the Euler equations model only inviscid flow. As a result, the Navier–Stokes are a parabolic equation and therefore have better analytic properties, at the expense of having less mathematical structure (e.g. they are never completely integrable).
The Navier–Stokes equations are useful because they describe the physics of many phenomena of scientific and engineering interest. They may be used to model the weather, ocean currents, water flow in a pipe and air flow around a wing. The Navier–Stokes equations, in their full and simplified forms, help with the design of aircraft and cars, the study of blood flow, the design of power stations, the analysis of pollution, and many other things. Coupled with Maxwell's equations, they can be used to model and study magnetohydrodynamics.
The Navier–Stokes equations are also of great interest in a purely mathematical sense. Despite their wide range of practical uses, it has not yet been proven whether smooth solutions always exist in three dimensions – i.e. they are infinitely differentiable (or even just bounded) at all points in the domain. This is called the Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness problem. The Clay Mathematics Institute has called this one of the seven most important open problems in mathematics and has offered a US$1 million prize for a solution or a counterexample.

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  1. Saladsamurai

    Navier Stokes EquationQuestion about the Diff EQ

    Hello! :smile: I am going over an example in my fluid mechanics text and I am confused about a few lines. My question is more about the math then the fluid mechanics. In fact, I doubt you need to understand the FM at all; if you understand Diff eqs, you can probably answer my question. I am...
  2. J

    The Statistics of Navier Stokes Equations

    I am curious about what insight people might have as to the statistics of Navier Stokes equation. I thought of the following way someone might try to calculate these. 1) Choose a bais (Basis A) 2) Pick a discrete number of points to constrain the solution of stokes equation. 3) Find the...
  3. J

    COMSOL doing periodic boundary conditions in navier stokes

    Please can anyone tell me how to set this up? I know how to do the required settings in the Physics/Period Conditions. However, to fully implement it, I'm also required to choose boundary conditions in the 2D incompressible navier stokes solver (e.g. wall, inlet, outflow, open boundary...
  4. O

    Navier Stokes with chemical reaction

    I wasn't sure whether to put this in Aerospace, but decided on physics in the end. 1.) How do you factor a chemical reaction into the solution for the Navier Stokes equations? More precisely, how can you include the affects of a heat absorbing (endothermic), or heat releasing (exothermic)...
  5. B

    Navier Stokes Equations - Helmholtz-Hodge decomposition and pressure

    Hi, I've been doing some work with the NS equations. I've read a few papers by fellow undergrads that imply a relationship between the helmholtz-hodge decomposition and the pressure equation. As far as I can see, they're both separate ways of resolving the problem of keeping the flow...
  6. G

    Navier Stokes Equations - General Question

    (This is from the perspective of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics) In the Navier Stokes equations I am confused as to why there is both a pressure term and a gravity term. Is this pressure resulting from differences in densities and temperature differences alone? I would think that the gravity term...
  7. H

    Navier Stokes, separation steady/non-steady

    Hello, I want, for obscur reasons which would lead us too far to explain, to split my flow into two component, one steady and another one non-steadyv = v_0 + v' I'm looking for a simple equation governing the evolution of this non steady components. The complete momentum equation gives...
  8. J

    Evolution of pressure in navier stokes

    Hello, I haven't studied PDEs much yet, but checked out what the Navier Stokes equations are. I think I understood meaning of the terms in Navier Stokes equations, and what is their purpose in defining the time evolution of velocity of the fluid, but I couldn't see any conditions for the...
  9. S

    Using Navier Stokes for rigid body with constant angular speed

    I've seen several examples of using Navier Stokes in a rotating container where gravity is purely in the Z direction. These solutions generally used cylindircal coordinate systems. I wanted to attempt this problem where the gravity vector does not point purely in the Z direction. (ie...
  10. S

    Can Navier Stokes equations explain pressure on a stationary body's surface?

    Consider a stationary body within the flow of some fluid. I want to calculate pressure on the surface of the body. From the Navier Stokes (incompressible, stationary, no volume forces) equations, you would get something like: dp/dx=-rho(u du/dx+v du/dy+w du/dz)+eta(d²u/dx²+d²u/dy²+d²u/dz²)...
  11. S

    Compressible Navier Stokes in cylinder coordinates

    Hello, I need the Navier Stokes equations for compressible flow (Newtonian fluid would be ok) in cylinder coordinates. Can anybody help? Thanks
  12. S

    Navier Stokes: Spherical form

    Hi, I'm trying to understand how to convert the cartesian form of the N-S equation to cylinderical/spherical form. Rather than re-derive the equation for spherical/cylindrical systems, I am trying to directly convert the cartesian PDE. I'm ok with converting the d/dx and d2/dx2 terms. What...
  13. B

    Understanding the Vector Laplacian in the Navier Stokes Equations

    I recently came across the vector version of the Navier Stokes equations for fluid flow. \displaystyle{\frac{\partial \mathbf{u}}{\partial \mathbf{t}}} + ( \mathbf{u} \cdot \bigtriangledown) \mathbf{u} = v \bigtriangleup \mathbf{u} - grad \ p Ok, all is well until \bigtriangleup. I know...
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