Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 321 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let be the kinetic energy per unit volume. Dot the momentum equation with . The Coriolis acceleration does no work because . Incompressibility turns the advection and pressure terms into divergences, yieldingThus is the energy flux and is the source in the requested kinetic-energy form.
To decide about conservation of energy, absorb the ordinary radial shearing-sheet tidal potential into the density. Its material derivative cancels the work term:For this is the usual conservative Jacobi energy in a shearing sheet, subject to vanishing boundary energy flux. For , the extra body force has nonzero curl, , so no scalar potential can absorb it. A potential would necessarily introduce a vertical force , absent from the model. Therefore this vertical-shear model does not generically conserve the standard total mechanical energy: its maintained shear/irradiation background can supply or remove energy. This is the energy balance of the incompressible vertical-shear model.