A4.19
(a) Solute diffuses and is advected in a moving fluid. Derive the transport equation and deduce that the solute concentration satisfies the advection-diffusion equation
where is the velocity field and the diffusivity. Write down the form this equation takes when , both and are unidirectional, in the -direction, and is a constant.
(b) A solution occupies the region , bounded by a semi-permeable membrane at across which fluid passes (by osmosis) with velocity
where is a positive constant, is a fixed uniform solute concentration in the region , and is the solute concentration in the fluid. The membrane does not allow solute to pass across , and the concentration at is a fixed value (where .
Write down the differential equation and boundary conditions to be satisfied by in a steady state. Make the equations non-dimensional by using the substitutions
and show that the concentration distribution is given by
where and should be defined, and is given by the transcendental equation
What is the dimensional fluid velocity , in terms of
(c) Show that if, instead of taking a finite value of , you had tried to take infinite, then you would have been unable to solve for unless , but in that case there would be no way of determining .
(d) Find asymptotic expansions for from equation in the following limits:
(i) For fixed, expand as a power series in , and equate coefficients to show that
(ii) For fixed, take logarithms, expand as a power series in , and show that
What is the limiting value of in the limits (i) and (ii)?
(e) Both the expansions in (d) break down when . To investigate the double limit , show that can be written as
where and is to be determined. Show that for , and for .
Briefly discuss the implication of your results for the problem raised in (c) above.