Extensions to the Navier–Stokes equations

Abstract

Historically, the mass conservation and the classical Navier–Stokes equations were derived in the co-moving reference frame. It is shown that the mass conservation and Navier–Stokes equations are Galilean invariant—they are valid in any arbitrary inertial reference frame. From the mass conservation and Navier–Stokes equations, we can derive a wave equation, which contains the speed of pressure wave as its parameter. This parameter is independent of the speed of the source—the fluid element velocity. The speed of pressure wave is determined from the thermodynamic equation of state of the fluid, which is reference frame independent. It is well known that Lorentz transformation ensures wave speed invariant in all inertial frames, and the Lorentz invariance holds for different inertial observers. Based on these arguments, general Navier–Stokes equations (conservation law for the energy–momentum) can be written in any arbitrary inertial reference frame, they are transformed from one reference frame into another with the help of the Lorentz transformation. The key issue is that the Lorentz factor is parametrized by the local Mach number. In the instantaneous co-moving reference frame, these equations will degrade to the classical Navier–Stokes equations—the limit of the non-relativistic ones. These extended equations contain a square of the Lorentz factor. When the local Mach number is equal to one (the Lorentz factor approaches infinity), the extended Navier–Stokes equations will embody an intrinsic singularity, meaning that the transitions from the subsonic flow to the supersonic flow will happen. For the subsonic flow, the square of the Lorentz factor is positive, while for the supersonic flow, the square of the Lorentz factor becomes a negative number, which represents that the speed of sound cannot travel upstream faster than the flow velocity.