Vector and Tensor Analysis

Vector and Tensor Analysis
Introduction
Transport Phenomena is the subject which deals with the movement of

different physical quantities in any chemical or mechanical process and
describes the basic principles and laws of transport. It also describes the
relations and similarities among different types of transport that may occur in
any system. Transport in a chemical or mechanical process can be classified
into three types:
1. Momentum transport deals with the transport of momentum in fluids

and is also known as fluid dynamics.
2. Energy transport deals with the transport of different forms of energy
in a system and is also known as heat transfer.
3. Mass transport deals with the transport of various chemical species
themselves.
Three different types of physical quantities are used in transport phenomena:

scalars (e.g. temperature, pressure and concentration), vectors (e.g. velocity,
momentum and force) and second order tensors (e.g. stress or momentum
flux and velocity gradient). It is essential to have a primary knowledge of the
mathematical operations of scalar, vector and tensor quantities for solving the
problems of transport phenomena. In fact, the use of the indicial notation in
cartesian coordinates will enable us to express the long formulae encountered
in transport phenomena in a concise and compact fashion. In addition, any
equation written in vector tensor form is equally valid in any coordinate
system.
In this course, we will using the following notations for scalar, vector and
tensor quantities:
a,b,c scalar quantities
ns: vector quantities
2nd order tensor quantities
Cartesian coordinates and unit vectors

A xyz cartesian coordinate system may also be conventionally written as
shown in Fig.1.1 below.
Fig. 1.1 3-dimensional cartesian coordinate system with unit vector

Here, and are the unit vectors in x, y and z direction
respectively.
Tensor quantities
Most of us might have already encountered scalars and vectors in the study
of high-school physics. It was pointed out that the vectors also have a
direction associated with them along with a magnitude, whereas scalars only
have a magnitude but no direction. Extending this definition, we can loosely
define a 2nd order tensor as a physical quantity which has a magnitude and
two different directions associated with it. To better understand, why we might
need two different directions for specifying a particular physical quantity. Let
us take the example of the stresses which may arise in a solid body, or in a
fluid. Clearly, the stresses are associated with magnitude of forces, as well as
with an area, whose direction is also need to be specified by the outward
normal to the face of the area on which a particular force acting. Hence, we
will require 32, i.e., 9 components to specify a stress completely in a 3
dimensional cartesian coordinate system. In general, an nth order tensor will
be specified by 3n components (in a 3-dimensional system). However, the
number of components alone cannot determine whether a physical quantity is
a vector or a tensor. The additional requirement is that there should be some
transformation rule for obtaining the corresponding tensors when we rotate
the coordinate system about the origin. Thus, the tensor quantities can be
defined by two essential conditions:
1. These quantities should have 3n components. According to this
definition, scalar quantities are zero order tensors and have 30= 1
component. Vector quantities are first order tensors and have 31 = 3
components. Second order tensors have 32 = 9 components and third
order tensors have 33 = 27 components. Third and higher order tensors
are not used in transport phenomena, and are not dealt here.
2. The second necessary requirement of any tensor quantity is that it
should follow some transformation rule.
Kronecker delta & Alternating Unit Tensor
There are two quantities which are quite useful in conveniently and concisely
expressing several mathematical operations on tensors. These are the
Kronecker delta and the alternating unit tensor.
Kronecker delta
Kronecker delta or Kronecker’s delta is a function of two index variables,

usually integer, which is 1 if they are equal and 0 otherwise.
It is expressed as a symbol δij

δij=1, if i=j
δij=0, if i≠j
Thus, in three dimensions, we may also express the Kronecker delta in matrix
form
Alternating unit tensor
The alternating unit tensor εijk is useful when expressing certain results in a
compact form in index notation. It may be noted that the alternating unit
tensor has three index and therefore 27 possible combinations but it is a scalar
quantity .
 εijk=0 if any two of indices i, j, k are equal. For example

ε113,ε131,ε111,ε222=0
 εijk=+1 when the indices i, j, k are different and are in cyclic order (123),
For example ε123
 εijk=-1 when the indices i, j, k are different and are in anti-cyclic order.
For example ε321
Free indices and Dummy indices
Free indices
Free indices are the indices which occur only once in each tensor term. For
example, i is the free index in following expression vij wj
In any tensorial equation, every term should have an equal number of free
indices. For example, vij wj =cj dj is not a valid tensorial expression since the
number of free indices (index i) is not equal in both terms.
Any free indices in a tensorial expression can be replaced by any other indices
as long as this symbol has not already occurred in the expression. For
example, Aij Bj= CiDjEj is equivalent to Akj Bj= CkDjEj.
The number of free indices in an equation gives the actual number of

mathematical equations that will arise from it. For example, in equation Aij Bj=
CiDjEj corresponds to 31 = 3 equations since there is only one free indices i. It
may be noted that each indices can take value i=1, 2 or 3.
Dummy indices
Dummy indices are the indices that occur twice in a tensor term. For example,
j is the dummy index in Aij Bj.
Any dummy index implies the summation of all components of that tensor
term associated with each coordinate axis. Thus, when we write Aiδi, we
actually imply .
Any dummy index in a tensor term can be replaced by any other symbol as
long as this symbol has not already occurred in previous terms. For example,
Aijkδjδk= Aipqδpδq.
Note: The dummy indices can be renamed in each term separately in a

equations but free indices should be renamed for all terms in a tensor
equations. For example, Aij Bj= CiDjEj can be replaced by Akp Bp= CkDjEj.
Here, i is the free index which has been replaced by k in both terms but j is a
dummy index and can be replaced either in one term or both.
Summation convention in vector and tensor analysis

According to the summation convention rule, if k is a dummy index which
repeats itself in a term then there should be a summation sign associated with
it. Therefore, we can eliminate the implied summation sign and can write the
expression in a more compact way. For example, using the summation
convention
can be simply written as εijkεljk . Since j and k are repeating,

there is no need to write summation sign over these indices

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Vector and Tensor Analysis

Transport Phenomena is the subject which deals with the movement of

1. Momentum transport deals with the transport of momentum in fluids

Three different types of physical quantities are used in transport phenomena:

ns: vector quantities

2nd order tensor quantities

Cartesian coordinates and unit vectors

Fig. 1.1 3-dimensional cartesian coordinate system with unit vector

Kronecker delta & Alternating Unit Tensor

Kronecker delta or Kronecker’s delta is a function of two index variables,

It is expressed as a symbol δij

Alternating unit tensor

 εijk=0 if any two of indices i, j, k are equal. For example

Free indices and Dummy indices

The number of free indices in an equation gives the actual number of

Note: The dummy indices can be renamed in each term separately in a

Summation convention in vector and tensor analysis

can be simply written as εijkεljk . Since j and k are repeating,

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