STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY

In the previous lecture the strain rate tensor ij and the rotation rate
tensor rij were defined as

1 ui u j ui u j
ij , rij
2 x j x i
x x
j i

The shear stress tensor ij was represented as

ij pij ijv
where ijv denotes the viscous stress tensor, and ijv was related only to
the strain rate tensor ij, in the most general linear form

ijv Aijklkl
This was done because we want to relate ijv to how a body deforms,
not how it rotates. But to do this we must establish that ij does indeed
characterize deformation, and rij does indeed characterize rotation.
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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
A deformable body may be deformed in two ways: extension shearing.
Extensional deformation is illustrated below:

Shear deformation is illustrated below:

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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
We first consider extensional deformation. A moving deformable body
has length x1 in the x1 direction. The velocity u1 is assumed to be
changing in the x1 direction, so that the values on the left-hand side
and right-hand side of the body are, respectively is
u1
u1 and u1 x1
x 1 x1

u1
u1 u1 x1
x1
x1
In time t the left boundary moves a distance u1t, and the right
boundary moves a distance [u1 + (u1/x1)x1]t
u1
u1 x1 t
x1
x 1
u1t

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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
The initial length of the body is x1. The length of the body after time t
is given as u
x1 u1 1 x1 t u1t
x1

u
x1 u1 1 x1 t
x1
u1t

The extensional strain rate is the rate of length increase of the body
per unit initial length per unit time =
[(new length) (old length)]/(old length)/(t) =

u1
x 1 u
1 x x 1 t u1 t x 1
1 u
1 4
x1t x1
 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
Note that u1/x1 > 0 for an elongating body and u1/x1 < 0 for a
shortening body. The corresponding extensional strain rates in the x 2
and x3 directions are, respectively,
u2 u3
and
x 2 x 3

These extensional strain rates relate to the diagonal components of the

strain rate tensor 11, 22 and 33 as follows:

1 u1 u1 u1
11
2 x1 x1 x1
1 u2 u2 u2
22
2 x 2 x 2 x 2
1 u3 u3 u3
33
2 x 3 x 3 x 3 5
 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
Now we consider shear deformation. Consider the points A, B and C
below. The velocities in the x1 direction at points A and C are, respectively,
u1
u1 and u1 x 2
x 2
and the velocities in the x2 direction at points A and B are, respectively,
u2
u2 and u2 x1
x1
u C
u1 1 x 2
x 2
x 2
x1

x2 u1
A B
x1
u2
u2 u2 x 1 6
x1
 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
The body undergoes shear deformation over time t. That is:
Point A moves a distance u1t in the x1 direction and u2t in the x2
direction;
Point B moves a distance [u2 + (u2/x1)x1]t in the x2 direction; and
Point C moves a distance [u1 + (u1/x2)x2]t in the x1 direction.

u1
u1 x 2 t
x 2
x 2

u1t
x1
u2
u2 t u2 x1 t
x2 x1
x1
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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
Recall that for small angle , sin . The angles and created in
time t are defined below. These can be approximated as:
u1 u2
u1 x 2 t u1t u2 x1 t u2 t
x 2 u x1 u
1 t 2 t
x 2 x 2 x x x1

u1
u1 x 2 t
x 2
x 2

u1t
x1
x2 u2
u2 t u2 x1 t
x1
x1
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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
The strain rate due to shearing can be defined as the angle increase rate
( + )/t, or thus
u1 u2
t
( ) x x 1 u u
2
1 2
t t x 2 x1

u1
u1 x 2 t
x 2
x 2

u1t
x1
x2 u2
u2 t u2 x1 t
x1
x1
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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
The strain rate due to shearing due to shearing d( + )/dt in the x1-x2 plane
is related to the component 12 of the strain rate tensor as

1 u1 u2 1 ( )
12
2 x 2 x1 2 t

The corresponding components of the strain rate tensor due to shearing in

the x2-x3 and x1-x3 planes are correspondingly

1 u2 u3
23
2 x 3 x 2
1 u1 u3
13
2 x 3 x1

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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
It is thus seen that the strain rate tensor ij does indeed characterize the
rate at which a body is deformed by elongation or shearing. We now must
establish that the tensor
ui u j
rij
x x
j i

does indeed characterize rotation.

We approach this indirectly, by first defining circulation. Circulation is an
integral measure of the tendency of a fluid to rotate. Let C denote some
fixed closed circuit within a fluid (across which fluid can flow freely), and let

ds denote an elemental arc length tangential to the circuit that is positive in
the counterclockwise direction.
The circulation is defined as:
ds

C
u ds
C
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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
To illustrate the idea of circulation, we consider two simple examples.

The first of these is constant, rectilinear flow in the x direction with velocity
U, so that (u, v, w) = (U, 0, 0). The circuit has length L in the x direction and
length H in the y direction. The circulation around the circuit is:

u ds
ds 3
C

ds
u ds u ds u ds u ds
1 2 3 4
H 2
4 U UL 0 ( UL) 0 0

ds

1 ds Thus the is no circulation around a
y circuit in rectilinear flow.
x L
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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
Now we consider the case of plane Couette flow with
y
(u, v, w ) U , 0, 0
H
Note that u = 0 where y = 0 and u = U where y = H. Now

u ds
ds 3
C

ds
u ds u ds u ds u ds
1 2 3 4
H 2
4 U
0 0 ( UL) 0 UL

ds

1 ds Thus there is circulation, and it is
y negative (i.e. directed in the clockwise
L direction).
x 13
 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
The concept of circulation is closely related to the concept of vorticity.
Consider a loop around a region with area dA, such that the circulation
around the circuit is d. The vorticity is defined as
d

dA
The vorticity of a fluid at a point is equal to twice the angular velocity of
the fluid particles at that point. This can be seen by considering a fluid
particle rotating with angular speed , at the center of a circle with radius
dr. The arc length of the periphery of the circle is 2dr, the area of the circle
is (dr)2, and the peripheral velocity is dr. Thus

d dr 2dr
dr
dA (dr ) 2

d dr 2dr
2
dA (dr ) 2
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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
The vorticity can be related to the velocity field as follows. Consider the
elemental rectangular circuit below. The components of velocity at the
center of the rectangle are (u, v). The component of the velocity normal to
the circuit on segments 1, 2, 3 and 4 are
u 1
1. u y
y 2
v 1
2. v x
x 2
ds 3
u 1
3. u y
y 2 ds
v 1
4. v x y
x 2 4 2
(u,v)
Thus ds
u 1 v 1
d (u y)x ( v x )y 1 ds
y 2 x 2
y
u 1 v 1
(u y)x (v x )y x 15
y 2 x 2 x
 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
Reducing,

v u
d xy
x y
dA xy

And thus since = d/dA, ds 3

ds
y 2
4
v u (u,v)
2
x y ds

1 ds
y
x 16
x
 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
Now we return to constant rectilinear flow and plane Couette flow.

For rectilinear flow (u, v, w) = (U, 0, 0) and U

v u
2 0
x y
Therefore the illustrated red paddle will
y
not rotate as it moves with the flow.
x
For plane Couette flow (u, v, w) = (Uy/H, 0, 0) and

v u U
2
x y H U
The illustrate red paddle will thus rotate
in the clockwise direction as it moves
with the flow, with angular speed = U/ y
(2H).
x 17
 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
So far we have considered only 2D flows in the (x, y) plane, in which case
angular velocity and vorticity are directed along the z axis. The appropriate
3D extension is
uk
2 xu or i 2i ijk
x j
Or expanding out
i j k

x u
x1 x 2 x 3
u1 u2 u3
u3 u2 u1 u3 u2 u1
i j k
x 2 x 3 x 3 x1 x1 x 2
Thus for example
u2 u1 v u
3
x1 x 2 x y 18
 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
The rate of rotation tensor rij is directly related to the vorticity vector i and
thus to the angular velocity i. That is,

u1 u2 u1 u3
0
x 2 x1 x 3 x1
ui u j u2 u1 u2 u3
rij 0
x x x x 2
j i 1 x 3 x 2
u u1 u3 u2

x x 0
3

1 3 x 2 x 3
0 3 2

3 0 1 ijk k
1 0
2
(Note: do not confuse the Levi-Civita third-order tensor ijk with the strain
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rate tensor ij.)
 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
Our goal is to relate the viscous stress tensor ijv to a measure of the rate of
deformation not the rate of rotation, of a fluid. Thus we relate ijv to ij
rather than ui/xj.

The most general linear relation between ijv and ij is

ijv Aijklkl
The relation can be simplified by assuming that it is
a) isotropic, so that the form of the relation is invariant to coordinate
rotation, and has the same physics in any direction, and
b) symmetric, so that ijv = jiv.

We do not go through the complete details of isotropy here. We showed in

Lecture 2, however, that pressure p is isotropic. More specifically, where ijp
denotes the part of the stress tensor associated with pressure,

ijp pij
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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
The most general second-order isotropic tensor Aij takes the form

Aij Cij
where C is an arbitrary scalar. (In the case of ijp, C = -p.) It turns out that
the most general fourth-order isotropic tensor is (Aris, 1962)
Aijkl C1ijkl C2ik jl C3il jk
where again C1, C2 and C3 are arbitrary scalars. Thus the relation

ijv Aijklkl
reduces to

ijv C1ijklkl C2ij C3 ji

But for an incompressible fluid
uk
klkl kk 0
x k
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 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
Thus
ijv C2ij C3 ji
But
1 ui u j
ij
2 x j x i
But ij is a symmetric tensor, i.e. ij = ji. Further defining C2+ C3 = 2,
where = the dynamic viscosity of the fluid, the relation reduces to
ijv 2ij , ij pij ijv pij 2ij
or
ui u j
ij pij
x x
j i

The above relation defines the constitutive relation for a viscous Newtonian
fluid. Note that the form guarantees symmetry in ij. 22
 STRAIN RATE, ROTATION RATE AND ISOTROPY
Reference

Aris, R. (1962) Vectors, Tensors and the Basic Equations of Fluid

Mechanics. Prentice-Hall.

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