Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 49 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be kinematic pressure, with the resting hydrostatic part subtracted, and let be the buoyancy perturbation about background buoyancy . The nonrotating inviscid Boussinesq equations, with no buoyancy diffusion, areHere the third equation is mass conservation for incompressible flow, and the last expresses buoyancy conservation following a parcel. Linearization about rest removes the products of disturbances. For a plane internal gravity wave proportional to , the resulting Linearized Boussinesq equations becomeWith and , the first and third equations give . Substitution in vertical momentum and buoyancy gives the dispersion relationSince the velocity is the time derivative of the displacement field, . Thus the complete buoyancy polarization of a plane internal gravity wave isBoth velocity and displacement are perpendicular to the wavevector; pressure and velocity are in quadrature with buoyancy and displacement.
For upward/rightward phase velocity, choose and . Differentiating this dispersion relation gives the group velocity, while the vector phase velocity points along the wavevector:Their dot product is zero and . Draw from the tip of : the right-triangle geometry of internal-wave velocities has horizontal hypotenuse . This hypotenuse is distinct from the horizontal phase velocity .
At an instant with real complex amplitude , write . The spatial fields areThe constant-phase lines of an internal gravity wave slope down to the right, with . Buoyancy maxima lie a quarter wavelength from pressure maxima; the oscillating displacement and velocity run along the phase lines. The group velocity points down and right along them, despite upward/rightward motion of the wave phase.
Internal-wave buoyancy, displacement, pressure and velocity fields, with downward energy propagation and the phase/group-velocity right triangle
. Details. Let , using horizontal averaging over a wavelength. This is the displacement pseudomomentum of an internal gravity wave, whose sign convention is opposite to . For complex coefficients, . The above wave polarization consequently givesSince , these obey . With weak kinematic viscosity, each leading monochromatic velocity component satisfies , . The dissipative term is therefore , so the supplied averaged balance reduces toFor constant and a steady wave envelope, . As is proportional to squared wave amplitude, viscous attenuation of an internal gravity wave givesHere , so amplitude decreases below a source at : the source is above the receiving level. The same conclusion follows directly because downward group velocity carries energy from the source downward. Upward phase velocity does not locate the source.
For a slowly varying mean shear flow , the local intrinsic frequency is . A local WKB approximation uses , with varying vertical wavenumber and group velocity. The appropriate transported quantity is wave action, or horizontal wave pseudomomentum ; its vertical flux has viscous loss, and the changing polarization factors must be retained. In particular, is no longer constant.
Near a critical level of an internal gravity wave, , so and . The damping per vertical distance, of order , grows rapidly. The waves are strongly attenuated over a narrow altitude range and transfer momentum to the mean flow there or before reaching the critical level. The inviscid WKB approximation eventually fails; viscosity and possibly internal-wave breaking regulate the small scales.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 52 3 a Solution 2026-10-14
Let and denote longitudinal length and time scales, and let be a typical streamwise velocity. The shallow water approximation requires , slow changes in the channel geometry , and small longitudinal slopes. The vertical velocity is then of order ; its acceleration must be small compared with the restoring acceleration, for example in a reduced-gravity layer. The leading pressure is hydrostatic pressure, and cross-sectional horizontal velocity is approximated by . High Reynolds number permits negligible interior viscous terms but does not itself guarantee the geometric or hydrostatic assumptions. We also require and in the wetted interior. The dimensionless need not be small: it measures the cross-section's opening angle, while the smallness condition concerns streamwise variation.
The cross-sectional area and volume transport areFor an impermeable bed and no fluid entrainment, volume conservation givesor, equivalently,The geometrical source term expresses the depth change needed when a moving layer encounters a wider or narrower triangular section.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 52 4 c Solution 2026-10-14
With and , and , where . No carrier momentum is withdrawn; hence the integrated momentum flux is exactly constant:On an initially small-Froude number branch, the pressure term dominates. At leading orderA slightly more accurate large-distance amplitude is , so . The Froude number satisfies and remains small. The growing depth can eventually violate confinement or the shallow water assumption; this does not make the asymptotic momentum calculation inconsistent within its intended regime.
On an initially large-Froude number branch, horizontal momentum flux dominates instead. The leading depth is constant, , while the decaying reduced gravity makes the Froude number still larger. To resolve the small change, put and :soThe depth decreases slightly and tends exactly to . Its Froude number grows like . Both approximations agree with the exact depth equation : the subcritical flow deepens, while the supercritical flow thins.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 52 5 b Solution 2026-10-14
In the top-hat plume model, vertical velocity and reduced gravity are uniform over . The ambient has zero vertical velocity, negligible ambient turbulence and a prescribed . Thenand the equations becomeEquivalently, the ordinary differential equations for the three unknowns areThe last equation displays dilution by fluid entrainment as well as loss of relative buoyancy while rising through a stably stratified ambient. The model assumes a steady slender two-dimensional turbulent plume, large Reynolds number, the Boussinesq approximation, constant and , negligible heat loss, negligible imposed crossflow, and negligible pressure departure from ambient hydrostatic pressure. The factors of two count both entraining edges; is a half-width. A finite source also requires its volume, momentum and buoyancy fluxes as boundary data.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 52 6 a Solution 2026-10-14
Use the Boussinesq approximation and a top-hat plume model. Let be the uniform ambient return velocity outside the plume. Negligible source volume flux and an impermeable cylindrical wall require zero net transport through every horizontal section:The entrainment speed must be specified relative to that moving ambient. Taking it to be givesThe surrounding unmodified fluid has zero buoyancy relative to the initial fluid. Neglecting thermal or compositional loss therefore givesLet denote the conserved specific source buoyancy flux: if is the actual integrated source flux, or if the source strength has already been normalized by .
To obtain the usual integral-model singularity one must also state a pressure closure. Here take the whole-section mean pressure to have only its reference ambient hydrostatic pressure, and neglect wall force and extra vertical turbulent-stress fluxes in the integral budget. Internal momentum transfers between plume and ambient cancel in that whole-section balance. The remaining upward force is the plume buoyancy, givingThe two momentum fluxes add, even though is negative: vertical momentum transported downward also contributes to the flux through an upward-oriented horizontal section. These three flux balances, with the algebraic return-velocity constraint, govern in the confined plume with compensating return flow.
The pressure-neglecting closure is an integral approximation, not a claim that the return fluid has zero acceleration. If a mean pressure departure is retained, the whole-section momentum balance instead contains , along with any wall-force or stress contribution. The entrainment hypothesis alone does not specify that function. The singularity calculated below belongs to the stated pressure-neglecting model; it is not forced by continuity alone or asserted to be an infinite velocity in the real fluid.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 52 6 c Solution 2026-10-14
It is helpful to solve using the nonsingular total flux and volume flux before recovering . The relation is quadratic:The plus sign selects the small-area pure-source branch. Its discriminant vanishes when , givingThereforeThe specific upward plume and ambient momentum-flux contributions are equal, not opposite. The ambient's transported momentum has the opposite sign from its transported volume, so their product remains positive.
To show that the pure branch actually reaches this fold in finite height and that it is a genuine pole, introduceThen andThe pure-source condition is . Before the fold, and . Thus for every fixed positive , the derivative is bounded above by a constant times on . If the branch continued for arbitrarily large , would remain bounded, contradicting . Hence it reaches at a finite . Its height is finite because is finite away from the source and behaves like a constant times at the source, an integrable singularity.
For the numerator, write . ThenAt the fold , so . On the other hand the dimensionless numerator in the equation at isIt is strictly negative because . The denominator approaches zero from above. Consequently at finite , although the fluxes and velocities themselves remain finite. This proves the confined-plume momentum fold rather than merely noticing a possible zero denominator.
The dimensionless pure-source branch uniquely determines the remaining amplitudes. They can be specified without an elementary antiderivative by integrating the displayed scalar equation for until , and settingA direct numerical integration gives , , so the dimensional results for this specified entrainment convention areA convention using instead of would produce different numerical amplitudes; the relative-speed convention was stated in part (a).
Physically is a turnover or breakdown height for a slender steady plume surrounded by uniform counterflow. The opposing streams then occupy equal areas and have equal speeds; the single-valued small-area branch cannot continue smoothly. Above it one expects lateral spreading, stronger recirculation, mixing and unsteady buoyant structures rather than a continuation of the same slender top-hat column. A detailed flow or upper-layer evolution requires restoring pressure and stress dynamics and, eventually, the modified ambient stratification. The model does not predict an infinite physical velocity, nor does it require that all buoyant fluid forever remain below .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 53 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An isotropic simple fluid has local stress determined by the deformation history of the material element. A viscometric flow is one whose relative deformation history is that of steady simple shear flow, up to rigid changes of frame. At a given element the shear rate is constant along its history, although it can differ between elements. This includes the locally simple-shear kinematics used in standard viscometric measurements.
Use the component-first velocity gradient . The first two Rivlin-Ericksen tensors areIn the axes of a steady shear , the relative deformation gradient over a lag is , since . The material history is determined by , and its tensor symmetries exclude and stress components. The remaining symmetric stress consists of an isotropic part, one shear component, and two independent normal-stress differences. The relevant matrices areThus span the allowed stress components. Material isotropy and reversal of the shear show that their scalar coefficients depend on . Define the viscometric functions bySolving for the matrix coefficients givesThis is an exact steady-viscometric representation, rather than an assumption that the fluid is everywhere a second-order fluid. The shear viscosity measures the shear resistance, while and measure the first and second normal-stress differences generated by shear. Their zero-rate values are understood as limits when these exist. An isotropic pressure changes neither normal difference.
For a flow in the lubrication approximation with gap , longitudinal scale and speed , the shear-rate scale is . The viscous shear force per unit volume scales as . Quadratic viscoelastic normal stresses scale as ; their longitudinal gradients, and the comparable mixed-component corrections, contribute forces of scale . Therefore the normal-stress smallness in lubrication criterion isEquivalently, the thin-gap aspect ratio must multiply the shear-based elastic parameter to give a small quantity: . Normal stresses need not themselves be smaller than the shear stress; it is their effect on the leading force balance that matters. If the flow changes on an additional short time scale , the term also requires for its neglect. Material coefficients should be evaluated at the characteristic shear rate.
Now take positive cylinder rotation, measure counterclockwise from the rightward horizontal, and let increase outward through the film. The tangent has upward component , so the tangential gravitational acceleration is . To leading order in , neglect inertia and higher-order hydrostatic or capillary pressure gradients, and write . Tangential force balance and the shear-free free surface givehenceThe wall shear stress is . It opposes rotation on the uphill side and assists it on the downhill side.
For a power-law fluid, . Its inversion must retain the sign:Integrating with the no-slip boundary condition yieldsThe volume flux per unit axial length is . The integrated bracket is , so the power-law coating on a rotating cylinder hasAt the gravitational term vanishes by continuity. Steady mass conservation makes independent of .
On the uphill half, put and . The local flux is , withIt has a unique maximum atA positive coating must carry the same steady flux at every angle. The tightest local bound occurs at , not on the downhill side, where the flux increases monotonically with thickness. ConsequentlyFor the thinner positive root on the uphill side connects through to the unique downhill root, giving a periodic leading-order coating profile. At the limiting flux the two uphill roots meet at ; it is the maximum flux of this lubrication model, with a possible limiting corner resolved by neglected higher-order effects. For the check is . All these conclusions require the resulting film to remain thin enough for the lubrication approximation and for the neglected normal stresses and inertia to satisfy their scaling restrictions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 53 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
At rest the tensor equation relaxes toward and the stretch equation relaxes toward one. ThusThe equilibrium nonpressure stress is isotropic and can be absorbed into the arbitrary pressure in incompressible flow.
For the linear response, put , and take the velocity gradient to be . The first-order tensor equation isIts matrix trace has no forcing, because incompressibility gives . Starting relaxed, . The first-order stretch equation is , hence . Consequently , and its anisotropic stress is . From the relaxed remote past,The linear and second-order response of the differential pom-pom model therefore hasThe stretch time does not enter the linear shear relaxation modulus.
For the second-order fluid constants, additionally make the slow-flow expansion: count as first order and as raising the order by one. IteratinggivesUsing the Rivlin-Ericksen tensor convention , the identityreduces this to . Since , normalization givesStretch first changes at second order. Its equation gives . Multiplication by therefore adds only an isotropic stress at second order; multiplying its second-order increment by the anisotropic first-order term would be third order. Absorb these isotropic corrections into to obtainComparison with the viscometric functions parametrization yieldsEquivalently, in , the constants are and . The general small-amplitude linear response above permits fast oscillation; the local second-order fluid expansion also requires the slow-flow ordering just used.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 53 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Choose the extending direction as and write . The uniaxial extensional flow, satisfying incompressibility, hasStarting from rest, symmetry preserves . The differential pom-pom model tensor equation becomesPut . For , the solutions areIf , both transients decay, givingIf , the axial component is instead and grows exponentially without bound, while . At the boundary , which lies between the two stated regimes, grows linearly and .
Normalization makes the molecular orientation finite even when the unnormalized conformation tensor diverges. For , direct division by givesFor , the divergent axial component dominates the matrix trace, soThe same normalized limit holds at , agreeing continuously with the limit of the subcritical expression. The limiting orientations have nonnegative eigenvalues and unit matrix trace, as required for the normalized molecular orientation.
Now set . Its limiting value isThe scalar stretch equation is . If , its coefficient is eventually bounded above by a negative constant. The variation of constants formula gives a bounded solution, converging toIf , the coefficient is eventually positive, and the positive stretch grows without bound. At equality a bounded stretch would imply , which contradicts boundedness. Thus equality is not an additional bounded steady regime.
The function is continuous and strictly increasing from zero to infinity. Consequently there is a unique critical extension rate defined byand the molecular stretch remains bounded precisely for . This is distinct from the tensor threshold . If , for example, the normalized orientation can remain well defined and the stretch remain bounded for some rates above the tensor threshold; divergence of alone does not prove divergence of the physical stress.
In the requested doubly subcritical regime, write . The steady uniaxial extension of the differential pom-pom model hasThe isotropic pressure cancels from the tensile normal-stress difference. Hence the extensional viscosity isorIts zero-rate limit is , recovering the Trouton ratio of three. The restrictions exclude both loss of a finite tensor steady state and loss of a finite stretch steady state; neither denominator may be continued through its singularity as a physical steady constitutive response.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 71 5 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put and choose the residual synchronous frame comoving with cold dark matter, so . Its Euler equation preserves this choice. The continuity equation then gives . Neglect background baryon pressure and all unenhanced corrections of order , but retain because a short wavelength can make it important. The trace equation becomesUsing provesFor baryons let . The retained continuity and Euler terms are and . Differentiate the first and substitute the second:HenceThe pressure sign is stabilizing. The drag terms contain first derivatives of the density perturbations, as printed in the PDF; those primes are lost in the converted TeX. The approximation assumes slowly varying nonrelativistic background baryon pressure and the growing physical mode, not a residual synchronous gauge mode.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 71 5 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For small baryon fraction the CDM growing mode is , and its gravity forcesFor an adiabatic cosmological perturbation to follow the unsuppressed growing mode, pressure must be below the gravitational forcing frequency: . With physical wavelength , this becomesThis is Jeans support versus forced baryon response. The wording “only grow” must refer to unsuppressed gravitational structure growth; it is not a theorem that all shorter-wavelength baryon perturbations are absent or constant. In the pressure-dominated regime a forced response remains. In particular, a falling sound speed can make this small response grow even before it catches up to CDM.
Before photon decoupling, the photon-baryon fluid has sound speed of order . Its Jeans scale is roughly a horizon scale, so smaller perturbations oscillate acoustically instead of freely following the growing CDM structures. After decoupling the baryon sound speed drops sharply. Above the new Jeans scale, pressure is negligible and subtraction of the CDM equation gives . For , the difference is a constant plus a decaying term; its ratio to the growing CDM contrast tends to zero. Baryons therefore catch up. Under the stipulated post-decoupling , the physical Jeans length scales as , the comoving scale as and the corresponding Jeans mass as .
For the requested instantaneous mass estimates, define the baryonic Jeans mass as the baryon content of a sphere of radius :Using the supplied matter-era age gives s and . ThenThe drop is by . A definition using the total gravitating mass instead of baryon content gives values about ten times larger. The pre-decoupling number is an acoustic Jeans order estimate, not an accurate application of the nonrelativistic equations from part a when .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 ib Paper 3 8C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
With polar unit vectors and , the second term is . It is tangent to circles, independent of , and has zero divergence and zero vorticity away from the axis. Its singular axis carries a line vortex; adding the constant velocity field gives a uniform flow plus that line vortex.
The counterclockwise circulation around a positively oriented loop is . For a radius- circle, the uniform flow contributes zero and the line vortex contributesAny loop winding once around the axis has the same circulation, by Stokes theorem in the nonsingular intervening region.
On , , , and . ThusIn fact this equality holds for every for the stated field, since the remaining vector integral is .
This is the advective part of the momentum flux. To obtain the force, include pressure. For steady irrotational flow, the Bernoulli equation givesThe constant terms integrate to zero against ; the remaining pressure contribution is . The total outward momentum flux plus pressure term is therefore , the force of the obstacle on the fluid. The opposite force, of fluid on the obstacle per unit span, isThis is the Kutta–Joukowski theorem, with positive defined counterclockwise: positive and give force in the negative direction. For an actual two-dimensional aerofoil, faster-decaying far-field terms do not change this limit. The displayed advective integral supplies half the lift; pressure supplies the other half.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 ib Paper 4 7C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For steady inviscid flow at atmospheric pressure, Bernoulli's equation along a freely falling streamline gives . The downward speed is thereforeFor the incompressible jet, mass conservation fixes its volume flux: . ConsequentlyFar from impact, the inviscid falling jet and radial impact film is thin and nearly horizontal. Let be its radial speed and its thickness. The same volume flux now crosses a cylindrical surface of area , giving . At the free surface, atmospheric pressure and Bernoulli's equation give . Eliminate to obtainThis description assumes a steady incompressible jet, negligible surface tension, and negligible dissipation between the tube and the thin far-field film. It is a free-surface relation, not an assertion that pressure is atmospheric throughout the film or that the impact region itself is thin.
