PHYSICS 526 NOTES: FLUID DYNAMICS

Jean Eilek
Physics Department, New Mexico Tech Socorro, NM 87801, U.S.A. and jeilek@aoc.nrao.edu

Our goal in this course is to explore the basic physics of uid systems, both with and without the effects of magnetic elds. Fluid physics by itself hydrodynamics applies to any neutral uid (think about water, or molasses, or the earths atmosphere), whether or not there are magnetic elds around. Hydro or HD has broad applications smooth ows, turbulent ows, shocks, sound waves, instabilities. If the uid is ionized (think of liquid sodium, the higher reaches of the earths atmosphere, or just about any astrophysical system you can bring to mind), it can (and almost certainly will) carry a current. The interaction of the current with a magnetic eld (external or self-generated) modies all of the phenomena above and adds some new ones. This is described by magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Traditionally, HD and MHD are treated separately, but they have a lot in common, and I have learned a lot by comparing and contrasting HD and MHD phenomena. Im hoping to share that with you as we go through this course. A word of caution: you should especially note units and dimensions. These notes are in cgs. That makes very little difference for rocks (analyses that involve mass, length, time); but it makes a big difference for electrodynamics and MHD. The E and B elds, as well as the fundamental charge, have different dimensions in cgs than in SI; and the coupling constants in Maxwells equations are different. Both systems appear in the literature; while there is some trend towards SI, many important references are in cgs. I am going to follow my experience and preference and use cgs; Ill also give the SI versions of most critical equations.

D. Work in a Rotating Frame E. Dimensional Analysis F. Appendix: When can we use hydrodynamics? 1. hard sphere collisions 2. plasmas: the coulomb cross section 3. collisionless plasmas 2. VISCOSITY AND LAMINAR FLOW: BASICS A. One-dimensional Laminar Flows B. Steady Flow: Cartesian Applications 1. ow between parallel plates 2. ow in an open channel 3. hele shaw ow C. Steady Flow: Cylindrical Applications 1. pipe ow 2. circulating ow D. Viscous Stresses, Generally 1. do it physically rst 2. then do it formally E. The Navier-Stokes Equation (in Cartesian) F. Appendix: Navier-Stokes in other coordinates 1. Cylindrical coordinates 2. Spherical Polar Coordinates 3. POTENTIAL FLOW A. Setups and Assumptions 1. velocity potential 2. stream function 3. other coordinates B. Two-dimensional Planar Problems 1. sources and sinks, ow past half body 2. ow past a cylinder C. Axisymmetric 3D Problems point source and stream ow ow around a sphere a line source D. dAlemberts Paradox 4. VORTICITY A. Vortex Kinematics B. Vortex Dynamics C. Conservation of Circulation: Kelvins Theorem D. The Magnus Effect E. Vortex lines and their behavior

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Contents
1. BASIC CONCEPTS AND TOOLS A. Kinematics: How to Describe a Flow stream function B. Mass Conservation: The Continuity Equation lagrangian derivative C. Momentum Conservation: Eulers Equation 1. control volumes 2. bernoullis relation 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3

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F. Generation of Vorticity 5. LAMINAR FLOW: MORE APPLICATIONS A. Geostrophic Flow atmospheric circulation rossby waves the ekman layer B. Viscous Flow: Time-Dependent Problems 1. similarity methods in a diffusion equation 2. smoothing out a velocity jump 3. ow above an oscillating plate 4. irrotational vortex decay C. Creeping Flow 6. BASICS OF COMPRESSIBLE FLOW A. Some useful thermodynamic quantities B. Hydrostatics: gaseous atmospheres 1. constant gravity: the exponential atmosphere 2. variable gravity: the isothermal sphere 3. reality: nonisothermal atmospheres 4. adiabatic atmosphere C. Convective Stability 1. adiabatic atmosphere 2. potential temperature 3. brunt-v is l frequency a aa D. Energetics of Compressible Flow E. Appendix: Viscous Dissipation 7. SIGNAL PROPAGATION A. Sound Waves and the Signal Speed sound waves: a physical approach sound waves: a formal approach B. Why is the sound speed important? 1. when can we assume incompressible ow? 2. the importance of causality C. Weak Waves and Causality D. Two examples of simple waves 1. shock tube 2. piston problem 3. waves at boundaries 8. ONE-DIMENSIONAL STEADY FLOW A. Two-point Connections in Steady Flow B. One-dimensional channel ow 1. nozzles and diffusers 2. a smooth transition? 3. normal shocks 4. 1D ows with internal shocks C. Spherical stellar wind ow 9. SHOCKS IN FLUID FLOW A. Jump conditions B. Normal shocks 25 26 26 26 26 27 27 28 28 28 28 29 31 31 31 31 31 32 32 33 34 34 34 35 36 38 38 38 38 39 39 39 40 41 41 41 41 43 43 44 44 44 45 45 46 48 48 48 strong shock limit, normal shocks C. Oblique shocks 1. two possible deections 2. high mach number limit D. The Weak Shock Limit prandtl-meyer function 10. ONE-DIMENSIONAL UNSTEADY FLOW A. Shock Formation: The Physical Picture shock thickness B. The Method of Characteristics 1. piston motion in a channel 2. connection to shock formation 3. trafc shocks 11. TWO-DIMENSIONAL STEADY FLOW A. The Nature of Steady, two-dimensional ow. B. Signal Propagation in Flows C. How Does Supersonic Flow Turn a Corner? D. One example: Prandtl-Meyer ow 12. SIMILARITY SOLUTIONS A. Blast Waves: the Sedov-Taylor Solution B. Prandtl-Meyer ow, revisited C. Gravitational Collapse: the Shu Solution 13. FOUNDATIONS OF MHD A. Remember your E&M? 1. conductivity and ohms law: i 2. conductivity and ohms law: ii B. Field Evolution: Induction Equation 1. ideal limit: ux freezing 2. resistive limit: ux annihilation C. Fluid Equations: Lorentz force D. Fluid Equations: Energetics 1. energetics of the e and b elds 2. energetics of the uid E. Appendix I: Conductivity notes 1. collisional conductivity 2. cross-eld conductivity F. Appendix II: Do It in SI 1. maxwell in SI: 2. induction equation 3. force equation, magnetic tension and pressure 4. energy equation 14. SIMPLE MHD EQUILIBRIA A. Potential Fields B. Plasma Connement 1. theta pinch 2. bennet pinch or z pinch 3. general screw pinch C. Force-Free Fields 49 49 50 51 51 51 53 53 53 54 55 56 57 58 58 58 59 60 62 62 64 65 66 66 66 66 66 67 67 68 68 68 68 69 69 70 71 71 71 71 71 72 72 72 72 73 74 74

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1. cylindrical geometry 2. spherical geometry 3. non-linear elds 4. boundaries D. Gravitational Equilibrium I 1. planar geometry: the galaxy E. Magnetic Bouyancy 1. convective instability 2. scale of unstable perturbations: Parker Instability 15. NOT-SO-SIMPLE EQUILIBRIA A. Flux functions I: Gravitational Equilibrium Revisited 1. dene the ux functions 2. apply them: solar magnetic arches B. Flux Functions II: Grad-Shafranov Equation 1. dene the ux functions 2. apply them: the g-s equation 3. example: simple pinches C. Helicity and Taylor relaxation 1. helicity 2. Invariance of the helicity 3. the minimum energy state 4. taylor relaxation 16. MHD EFFECTS IN FLUID FLOWS A. Magnetic damping and stirring 1. Magnetic damping. 2. Magnetic stirring. B. Channel ow with MHD: Hartmann ow 1. The basic setup 2. the solution 3. an mhd generator or an mhd pump? C. Magnetic Coupling of Two Plasma Slabs. 1. pure mhd 2. current-based approach 3. energetics and equivalent circuit 17. WAVES AND SHOCKS IN MHD A. MHD Waves 1. basic structure: linear analysis 2. alfven waves 3. magnetosonic waves 4. validity of mhd wave theory B. MHD Shocks; Jump Conditions C. Perpendicular (Normal) Shocks D. Oblique Shocks 1. do it generally 2. nd a useful reference frame 3. now solve the system: i 4. now solve the system: ii 5. back to the physics 18. MAGNETIC RECONNECTION 74 74 75 75 75 75 76 76 77 78 78 78 79 79 80 80 81 81 81 82 82 83 85 85 85 85 85 86 86 86 87 87 87 88 89 89 89 89 90 91 91 92 93 93 94 94 95 95 96 A. Advection vs. dissipation of magnetic eld 1. resistive limit: eld decay on axis 2. advection limit: eld growth on axis B. Steady, 2D Reconnection 1. why do eld lines break? 2. sweet-parker model 3. energetics 4. timescales and rates C. Speed up the reconnection? 1. petschek reconnection 2. compressible ow 3. anomalous diffusion D. Other approaches 1. spontaneous reconnection 2. driven reconnection 3. non-steady reconnection 4. three-dimensional reconnection E. Appendix 1. diffusion-only solution 2. advection-only solution 19. FLUID INSTABILITIES A. Buoyancy and Thermal Convection B. The Rayleigh Taylor Instability 1. the physics 2. the math 3. the magnetized case C. The Kelvin Helmholtz Instability 1. the physics 2. the math 3. the magnetized case 20. IDEAL MHD INSTABILITIES A. Overview; Energy Methods 1. energy methods 2. the details B. Apply: Pinch Instabilities 1. theta pinch 2. z pinch 21. RESISTIVE MHD INSTABILITIES A. Tearing Mode: the Physics B. Tearing Mode: the Math C. Tearing Mode: the Consequences 22. TURBULENCE, part I A. The transition to turbulence B. Turbulent ows: overview 1. characteristics 2. behavior C. Homogeneous Turbulence 1. overview 2. eddies and the energy cascade 96 97 97 97 97 98 99 99 99 99 100 100 100 100 101 101 101 101 101 102 104 104 104 104 105 106 107 107 107 108 110 110 110 110 111 111 112 114 114 115 116 117 117 118 118 119 119 119 120

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3. the kolmogorov scaling arguments 4. what if the uid is magnetized? D. Appendix: fun facts from Fourier transforms 23. TURBULENCE, part II A. Mean Field Equations 1. the continuity equation 2. the mean momentum equation 3. example: 2D channel ow 4. the mean energy equation 5. what about the turbulent terms? B. Two-dimensional Turbulence C. Small scales and intermittency 1. intermittency 2. turbulence on small scales 3. the role of vortex laments 24. MHD Turbulence and Dynamos A. Magnetic elds in Isotropic turbulence B. The Inertial Range in MHD Turbulence 1. the kraichnan model 2. anisotropy; goldreich-sridhar model 3. what now? C. Cascades and Related Things 1. ideal invariants 2. cascade directions 3. self-organization in mhd D. MHD Dynamos 1. cowlings theorem 2. parkers solar dynamo E. Kinematic Dynamos F. Mean-Field Dynamos G. Astrophysical dynamos in the lab 120 121 121 123 123 123 123 124 124 124 125 126 126 126 126 128 128 128 129 129 129 130 130 130 130 131 131 132 133 133 134