Fluid Dynamics Equations 189
4.6. Similarity and non-dimensional parameters
4.6.1. Principles
4.6.1.1. Invariance of physical laws
The fundamental physical laws are described by relations between real numbers
obtained as measures of physical quantities. A measurement is a comparison
between the quantity studied and a similar quantity considered as a unit. Most units
are “derived”, as they depend on physical laws: for example, the surface unit is a
square whose sides measure one unit of length. With such choices, physical laws are
relations which comprise either dimensional coefficients which have a physical
interpretation (the speed of sound for example) and which can be expressed using
the units of the system, or non-dimensional coefficients which are independent of
the system (for example,
S
for the surface of a circle). There are four fundamental
units which can be arbitrarily taken for mass, length, time and temperature, and
whose choice determines a coherent system of units. No specific physical
phenomenon is used to govern the particular quantities chosen as units, and for
practical reasons we can arbitrarily choose the four fundamental units of the
international metric system (the meter, the kilogram, the second, the Kelvin).
With these choices, the mathematical relations representing physical phenomena
are true regardless of the fundamental units which are used, which means that they
possess an invariance with respect to changes in the units which are used,
transformations which form a group. A given physical problem thus has an infinity
of equivalent numerical representations. Similarly, a numerical problem can
represent many different physical problems obtained using different systems of
units.
4.6.1.2.
Similar problems
A given problem must be repeatable, meaning that its definition must always
lead to identical results, within a certain margin of error. The problem is only
defined if analysis of the phenomena involved has been correct and complete, in
other words if we know the partial differential equations, and the boundary and
initial conditions which define the problem.
Two problems are similar if two systems of units exist, such that the
measurements of all the quantities of one of the problems, using a given system of
units, are equal to the measurements of the corresponding quantities of the other
problem using another system of units.
The conditions for similarity may be obtained by searching for conditions in
which the two problems will obey the same ensemble of equations and boundary
conditions after an appropriate change of the system of units. Because we can