MA 2930, April 27, 2011 Worksheet 13 Solutions

1.
Find a PDE together with boundary/initial conditions that each of following sets of functions satises. (a) {cos( 10 x) sin(10t), cos( 3 x) sin(30t)} 10 (b) {e5t cos(x), e20t cos(2x)} (a) Since the functions involve (co)sines of both x and t, they must be solutions of the wave equation: a2 uxx = utt . To nd a note that a times the argument of the x-function is the argument of the t- function, so a = 100. So the PDE is 10000uxx = utt . As to boundary conditions, the x part is a cosine, so ux (0, t) = 0. We can take the other boundary condition to be u(5, t) = 0 or ux (10, t) = 0 - both are satised by both the solutions. Since the t part is a sine, u(x, 0) = 0. (b) Since the functions involve cosine of x and exponential of t, they must be solutions of the heat equation: a2 uxx = ut . To nd a note that a2 times the square of the argument of the x-function is the argument of the tfunction, so a2 = 5. So the PDE is 5uxx = ut . As to boundary conditions, the x part is a cosine, so ux (0, t) = 0. The other boundary condition must be ux (, t) = 0.

2.
Derive the polar form of the 2-dimensional wave equation from its cartesian form a2 (uxx + uyy ) = utt . Use x = r cos , y = r sin and use the chain rule for functions of two variables to express uxx and uyy in terms of partials with respect to r and . It may be a long and somewhat tedious exercise, but its good for you!

3.
How would you solve the wave equation using complex exponential functions? (Hint: what would you assume the form of the solution to be?) Use this method to nd the modes of vibrations of a wire of length 10m which is held xed at one end while the other end is free to vibrate. At 2m

from the xed end the wire is lifted to a height of 2m and let go. The wire is made of a material of linear density 0.01kg/m and kept stretched by a 1N tensile force. We already know that solutions of the wave equation are products of (co)sines of x and t, which are real and imaginary parts of the corresponding complex exponential functions, so we can assume that u(x, t) = eix eit = ei(x+t) Plug this into the equation and you get a2 [2 ei(x+t) ] = 2 ei(x+t) For non-trivial solutions a2 2 = 2 So, = a So, two linearly independent solutions are u,1 (x, t) = ei(x+at) , u,2 (x, t) = ei(xat)

and all of them are u (x, t) = c,1 ei(x+at) + c,2 ei(xat) , where can be any real number and c,1 and c,2 any complex conjugate numbers because u (x, t) needs to be a real function. In other words, u (x, t) = a,1 cos (x + at) + b,2 sin (x at) for any real numbers a,1 and b,1 and we are back on the familiar territory. Note how this neatly captures both forms of solutions (sin/cos and dAlembert) of u(x, t) that youve previously seen. The rest depends upon the the boundary/initial conditions supplied. In the wire problem rst of all a = T / = 1/0.01 = 10m/s. The boundary conditions are u(0, t) = 0 and ux (10, t) = 0. The initial conditions are ut (x, 0) = 0 and u(x, 0) = x if 0 x 2 x/4 + 10/4 if 2 x 10

You can solve it in the usual way.

4.
Show that u(x, t) = (xat)+(x+at) satises the wave equation a2 uxx = utt for any twice-dierentiable functions and . Find these functions for the wire problem above. The rst part is easy: ut = (x at)(a) + (x + at)a by chain rule, and then again, utt = a2 [ (x at) + (x + at)] = a2 uxx . To nd and for the problem above, express the Fourier series in the previous problem as sines and cosines of x 10t and x + 10t using trig identities. The x 10t terms combined give you , the rest give .

5.
If you put y = it where i = 1 in the Laplace equation uxx + uyy = 0, what do you get? Its easy to see by chain rule that uyy = utt , so uxx = utt which is the wave equation! It is as if Laplace and wave equation are the same if time is treated as an imaginary spatial axis! This trick (called Wicks rotation) is used in quantum mechanics, and in a certain sense, in general relativity too.

6.
Find the steady state temperature distribution of a washer whose inner rim (radius 1m) is kept at 100 C and outer rim (radius 2m) at 0 C. We assume that the temperature distribution is described by the Laplace equation (which can be thought of as the steady state version of the twodimensional heat equation.) Since our situation has radial symmetry, its much better to use polar coordinates: put origin of the coordinate system at the center of the washer and = 0 axis anywhere. Then 1 1 urr + ur + 2 u = 0 r r The boundary or other conditions are (1) u(1, ) = 100 for any . (2) u(2, ) = 0 for any . (3) u(r, + 2) = u(r, ) for any r (periodicity condition) After assuming u(r, ) = R(r)() and separating the variables you get the two ODEs r2 R + rR R = 0

and + = 0 The solutions to the second ODE are c1 cos + c2 sin , c1 + c2 , () = c1 e + c2 e , After applying the periodicity condition we get () = c1 cos n + c2 sin n, 0, if = n2 , n = 0, 1, 2, . . . otherwise

if < 0 if = 0 if > 0

So the only non-trivial solutions are obtained when = n2 , n = 0, 1, 2, . . . . The solution of the R-ODE for these values of are R(r) = c1 rn + c2 rn , c1 + c2 ln r, if n = 1, 2, . . . if n = 0

Now u(2, ) = R(2)() = 0 implies R(2) = 0 if () is non-trivial. Applying this condition to our solutions we get R(r) = c(rn 22n rn ), c ln(r/2), if n = 1, 2, . . . if n = 0

We have innitely many fundamental solutions for u now: un (r, ) = (rn 22n rn )(an cos n + bn sin n), c ln(r/2), if n = 1, 2, . . . if n = 0

So, the general solution is

u(r, ) =
n=0

un (r, ) = c ln(r/2) +
n=1

(rn 22n rn )(an cos n + bn sin n)

Now we can apply the remaining non-homogeneous condition u(1, ) = 100.

100 = c ln(1/2) +
n=1

(1 22n )(an cos n + bn sin n)

Interpreting the right hand side as the Fourier series of the 2-periodic function 100 we get 1 100d = 200 2c ln(1/2) = So c = 100/ ln(1/2). Furthermore, 1 (1 2 )an =
2n

100 cos nd = 0

So an = 0 and similarly bn = 0 for all n = 1, 2, . . .. So the solution is u(r, ) = 100 ln(r/2) ln(1/2)