The Navier–Stokes equations (/nævˈjeɪ ˈstoʊks/ nav-YAY STOHKS) are partial differential equations which describe the motion of viscous fluid substances. They were named after French engineer and physicist Claude-Louis Navier and the Irish physicist and mathematician Sir George Gabriel Stokes, Bt. They were developed over several decades of progressively building the theories, from 1822 (Navier) to 1842–1850 (Stokes).
The Navier–Stokes equations mathematically express momentum balance for Newtonian fluids and make use of conservation of mass. They are sometimes accompanied by an equation of state relating pressure, temperature and density. They arise from applying Isaac Newton's second law to fluid motion, together with the assumption that the stress in the fluid is the sum of a diffusing viscous term (proportional to the gradient of velocity) and a pressure term—hence describing viscous flow. The difference between them and the closely related Euler equations is that Navier–Stokes equations take viscosity into account while the Euler equations model only inviscid flow. As a result, the Navier–Stokes are an elliptic equation and therefore have better analytic properties, at the expense of having less mathematical structure (e.g. they are never completely integrable).
