Acoustic Theory - Governing Equations in Cylindrical Coordinates | Governing Equations Cylindrical Coordinates

Governing Equations in Cylindrical Coordinates

If we use a cylindrical coordinate system with basis vectors, then the gradient of and the divergence of are given by

$\begin{align} \nabla p & = \cfrac{\partial p}{\partial r}~\mathbf{e}_r + \cfrac{1}{r}~\cfrac{\partial p}{\partial \theta}~\mathbf{e}_\theta + \cfrac{\partial p}{\partial z}~\mathbf{e}_z \\ \nabla\cdot\mathbf{v} & = \cfrac{\partial v_r}{\partial r} + \cfrac{1}{r}\left(\cfrac{\partial v_\theta}{\partial \theta} + v_r\right) + \cfrac{\partial v_z}{\partial z} \end{align}$

where the velocity has been expressed as .

The equations for the conservation of momentum may then be written as

$\rho_0~\left + \cfrac{\partial p}{\partial r}~\mathbf{e}_r + \cfrac{1}{r}~\cfrac{\partial p}{\partial \theta}~\mathbf{e}_\theta + \cfrac{\partial p}{\partial z}~\mathbf{e}_z = 0$

In terms of components, these three equations for the conservation of momentum in cylindrical coordinates are

$\rho_0~\cfrac{\partial v_r}{\partial t} + \cfrac{\partial p}{\partial r} = 0 ~;~~ \rho_0~\cfrac{\partial v_\theta}{\partial t} + \cfrac{1}{r}~\cfrac{\partial p}{\partial \theta} = 0 ~;~~ \rho_0~\cfrac{\partial v_z}{\partial t} + \cfrac{\partial p}{\partial z} = 0 ~.$