Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 344 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The dynamical scaling of binary-fluid coarsening assumes a statistically self-similar bicontinuous morphology with one growing length , thin interfaces, curvature of order , and typical fluid speed of order . Inertial acceleration then scales as and , viscous force density as , and capillary force density as . The pressure is eliminated or estimated together with the interfacial force. The numerical coefficients summarize geometry and projected force directions; this is a scaling closure, not a spatially exact momentum equation.
The approximation further neglects diffusive growth relative to advective growth, assumes fixed volume fraction and material parameters, no external forcing, and no additional relevant macroscopic length. A finite initial domain size, interface width or finite container would introduce further ratios outside the asymptotic scaling regime. Velocity gradients need not stay on the domain scale in a genuinely multiscale turbulent flow, so this single-length argument is not a proof for every hydrodynamic morphology.
With , and , dimensional analysis gives the unique scalesThus, within the stated asymptotic single-scale hypothesis, the hydrodynamic coarsening crossover scales give , . All four force-density terms have the same dimensional prefactor . Dividing by it yieldsPrimes denote . The PDF includes ; the TeX drops . The PDF expression is dimensionally consistent. For a positive growth branch, a resisting viscous term and a driving capillary term have opposite signed coefficients; one may set , . The question calls these coefficients order one, not positive. Treating every term on the printed right-hand side as positive would lose the viscous-capillary balance.