Past exam of the fluids and waves course of the University of Oxford / 2017 / 1 / a / iii / Solution

Write $\rho$ for the mass density. A material volume contains the same fluid elements at all times, so conservation of mass requiresby the Reynolds transport theorem. Since the initial material volume can be chosen arbitrarily, continuity of the integrand forces it to vanish pointwise. Thus the continuity equation isFor positive mass density, the incompressibility condition $D\rho /Dt=0$ reduces this to $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{u}=0$. Mass conservation itself does not require incompressible flow.