International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)

Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: [email protected]

Volume 6, Issue 7, July 2017 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Engineering Applications of Differential

equations
B. Sumithra
Department of Mathematics, Anna University, BIT Campus, Tiruchirappalli - 620 024, Tamilnadu, India.

ABSTRACT
In this paper, the relevance of differential equations in engineering through their applications in various engineering
disciplines and various types of differential equations are motivated by engineering applications; theory and techniques for
solving differential equations are applied to solve practical engineering problems.
Keywords: Differential equations, Applications, Partial differential equation, Heat equation.

1. INTRODUCTION
The Differential equations have wide applications in various engineering and science disciplines. In general, modeling
of the variation of a physical quantity, such as temperature, pressure, displacement, velocity, stress, strain, current,
voltage, or concentration of a pollutant, with the change of time or location, or both would result in differential
equations. Similarly, studying the variation of some physical quantities on other physical quantities would also lead to
differential equations. In fact, many engineering subjects, such as mechanical vibration or structural dynamics, heat
transfer, or theory of electric circuits, are founded on the theory of differential equations. It is practically important for
engineers to be able to model physical problems using mathematical equations, and then solve these equations so that
the behavior of the systems concerned can be studied.

2. MOTIVATING EXAMPLES
It is important for engineers to be able to model physical problems using mathematical equations, and then solve these
equations so that the behaviour of the systems concerned can be studied. In this section, a few examples are presented
to illustrate how practical problems are modeled mathematically and how differential equations arise in them.

2.1 Motivating example-1

A tank contains a liquid of volume V(t), which is polluted with a pollutant concentration in percentage of c(t) at time t.
To reduce the pollutant concentration, an inflow of rate Qin is injected to the tank. Unfortunately, the inflow is also
polluted but to a lesser degree with a pollutant concentration cin. It is assumed that the inflow is perfectly mixed with
the liquid in the tank instantaneously. An outflow of rate Qout is removed from the tank. Suppose that, at time t = 0, the
volume of the liquid is V0 with a pollutant concentration of c0.The equation governing the pollutant concentration c(t)
is given by

[V0 + (Qin - Qout)t] (dc(t)/dt)+ Qin c(t) = Qin cin;

with initial condition c(0) = c0. This is a first-order ordinary differential equation.

2.2. Motivating example-2

Consider the suspension bridge, which consists of the main cable, the hangers, and the deck. The self-weight of the
deck and the loads applied on the deck are transferred to the cable through the hangers. Set up the Cartesian coordinate
system by placing the origin O at the lowest point of the cable. The cable can be modeled as subjected to a distributed
load w(x). The equation governing the shape of the cable is given by

(d2y/dx2 ) = (w(x)/H)

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: [email protected]
Volume 6, Issue 7, July 2017 ISSN 2319 - 4847

where H is the tension in the cable at the lowest point O. This is a second-order ordinary differential equation.

2.3. Motivating example-3

Consider the vibration of a single-story shear building under the excitation of earthquake. The shear building consists
of a rigid girder of mass m supported by columns of combined stiffness k. The vibration of the girder can be described
by the horizontal displacement x(t). The earthquake is modeled by the displacement of the ground x0(t) as shown.
When the girder vibrates, there is a damping force due to the internal friction between various components of the
building, given by

c [x’(t) - x’0(t)];

where c is the damping coefficient.

The relative displacement y(t) = x(t) - x0(t) between the girder and the ground is governed by the equation

my”(t) + cy’(t) + k y(t) = -mx0”(t),

which is a second-order linear ordinary differential equation.

3. APPLICATIONS AND CONNECTIONS TO OTHER AREAS

Many fundamental laws of physics and chemistry can be formulated as differential equations. In biology and
economics, differential equations are used to model the behaviour of complex systems. The mathematical theory of
differential equations first developed together with the sciences where the equations had originated and where the
results found application. However, diverse problems, sometimes originating in quite distinct scientific fields, may give
rise to identical differential equations. Whenever this happens, mathematical theory behind the equations can be
viewed as a unifying principle behind diverse phenomena. As an example, consider propagation of light and sound in
the atmosphere, and of waves on the surface of a pond. All of them may be described by the same second-order partial
differential equation, the wave equation, which allows us to think of light and sound as forms of waves, much like
familiar waves in the water. Conduction of heat, the theory of which was developed by Joseph Fourier, is governed by
another second-order partial differential equation, the heat equation. It turns out that many diffusion processes, while
seemingly different, are described by the same equation; the Black-Scholes equation in finance is, for instance, related
to the heat equation.

3.1In physics
1) Classical mechanics:
So long as the force acting on a particle is known, Newton’s second law is sufficient to describe the motion of a
particle. Once independent relations for each force acting on a particle are available, they can be substituted into
Newton’s second law to obtain an ordinary differential equation, which is called the equation of motion.

2) Electrodynamics:
Maxwell’s equations are a set of partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the
foundation of classical electrodynamics, classical optics, and electric circuits. These fields in turn underlie modern
electrical and communications technologies. Maxwell’s equations describe how electric and magnetic fields are
generated and altered by each other and by charges and currents. They are named after the Scottish physicist and
mathematician James Clerk Maxwell, who published an early form of those equations between 1861 and 1862.

3) General relativity:
The Einstein field equations (EFE; also known as ”Einstein’s equations”) are a set of ten partial differential equations
in Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity which describe the fundamental interaction of gravitation as a result of
space time being curved by matter and energy. First published by Einstein in 1915 as a tensor equation, the EFE equate
local space time curvature (expressed by the Einstein tensor) with the local energy and momentum within that space
time (expressed by the stress-energy tensor).

4) Quantum mechanics:
In quantum mechanics, the analogue of Newton’s law is Schrdinger’s equation (a partial differential equation) for a
quantum system (usually atoms, molecules, and subatomic particles whether free, bound, or localized). It is not a
simple algebraic equation, but in general a linear partial differential equation, describing the time-evolution of the
system’s wave function (also called a ”state function”).

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: [email protected]
Volume 6, Issue 7, July 2017 ISSN 2319 - 4847

5) Other important equations:

Euler-Lagrange equation in classical mechanics, Hamilton’s equations in classical mechanics, Radioactive decay in
nuclear physics, Newton’s law of cooling in thermodynamics, the wave equation, the heat equation in thermodynamics,
Laplace’s equation, which defines harmonic functions, Poisson’s equation, the geodesic equation, the Navier-Stokes
equations in fluid dynamics, the Diffusion equation in stochastic processes, the Convection-diffusion equation in fluid
dynamics, the Cauchy-Riemann equations in complex analysis, the Poisson-Boltzmann equation in molecular
dynamics, the shallow water equations, Universal differential equation and the Lorenz equations whose solutions
exhibit chaotic flow.

3.2In biology
1) Predator-prey equations: The Lotka-Volterra equations, also known as the predator-prey equations, are a pair of
first-order, non-linear, differential equations frequently used to describe the dynamics of biological systems in
which two species interact, one as a predator and the other as prey.
2) Other important equations: Verhulst equation - biological population growth, von Bertalanffy model - biological
individual growth, Replicator dynamics - found in theoretical biology and Hodgkin-Huxley model - neural action
potentials.

3.3 In chemistry
Rate equation: The rate law or rate equation for a chemical reaction is a differential equation that links the reaction rate
with concentrations or pressures of reactants and constant parameters (normally rate coefficients and partial reaction
orders). To determine the rate equation for a particular system one combines the reaction rate with a mass balance for
the system.

3.4 In economics
Important equations: The Black-Scholes Partial Differential Equation, Exogenous growth model, Malthusian growth
model and the Vidale-Wolfe advertising model.

4. APPLICATION OF DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION IN FALLING OBJECT

An object is dropped from a height at time t = 0. If h(t) is the height of the object at time t, a(t) the acceleration and v(t)
the velocity. The relationships between a, v and h are as follows:

a(t) = dv/dt; v(t) = dh/dt:

For a falling object, a(t) is constant and is equal to g = -9.8 m/s. Combining the above differential equations, we can
easily deduce the following equation

d2h/dt2 = g

Integrate both sides of the above equation to obtain

dh/dt = gt + v0

Integrate one more time to obtain

h(t) = (1/2)gt2 + v0t +h0

The above equation describes the height of a falling object, from an initial height h 0 at an initial velocity v0, as a
function of time.

5. APPLICATION OF DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION IN NEWTON’S LAW OF

COOLING
It is a model that describes, mathematically, the change in temperature of an object in a given environment. The law
states that the rate of change (in time) of the temperature is proportional to the difference between the temperature T of
the object and the temperature Te of the environment surrounding the object.

dT/dt = – k (T – Te)

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: [email protected]
Volume 6, Issue 7, July 2017 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Let x = T – Te so that dx / dt = dT / dt.

Using the above change of variable, the above differential equation becomes

dx / dt = – kx

The solution to the above differential equation is given by

x = Ae – kt

substitute x by T–Te

T–Te = Ae – kt

Assume that at t=0 the temperature T = T0

T0–Te = Ae0

Which gives A = T0 – Te

The final expression for T(t) is given by

T(t) = Te + (T0 – Te)e-kt

This last expression shows how the temperature T of the object changes with time.

5.1 Cooling/Warming law

The mathematical formulation of Newton’s empirical law of cooling of an object is given by the linear first-order
differential equation

dT/dt = α (T – Tm)

This is a separable differential equation. We have

dT/(T – Tm) = α dt Or T(t) = Tm + c2eαt

5.2 Population Growth and Decay

In the differential equation

dN(t)/dt = k N(t)

where N(t) denotes population at time t and k is a constant of proportionality, serves as a model for population growth
and decay of insects, animals and human population at certain places and duration.

Solution of this equation is

N(t) = Cekt, where C is the constant of integration:

dN(t)/N(t) = kdt

Integrating both sides we get

lnN(t) = kt + lnC or N(t) = C ekt ,

C can be determined if N(t) is given at certain time.

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: [email protected]
Volume 6, Issue 7, July 2017 ISSN 2319 - 4847

5.3 Radio-active Decay and Carbon Dating

A radioactive substance decomposes at a rate proportional to its mass. This rate is called the decay rate. If m(t)
represents the mass of a substance at any time, then the decay rate dm/dt is proportional to m(t). Let us recall that the
half-life of a substance is the amount of time for it to decay to one-half of its initial mass.

5.4 Carbon Dating

The key to the carbon dating of paintings and other materials such as fossils and rocks lies in the phenomenon of
radioactivity discovered at the turn of the century. The physicist Rutherford and his colleagues showed that the atoms of
certain radioactive elements are unstable and that within a given time period a fixed portion of the atoms spontaneously
disintegrate to form atoms of a new element. Because radioactivity is a property of the atom, Rutherford showed that
the radioactivity of a substance is directly proportional to the number of atoms of the substance present. Thus, if N(t)
denotes the number of atoms present at time t, then dN/dt, the number of atoms that disintegrate per unit time, is
proportional to N; that is,
dN/dt = – λN

5.5 Drug Distribution (Concentration) in Human Body:

To combat the infection to human a body appropriate dose of medicine is essential. Because the amount of the drug in
the human body decreases with time medicine must be given in multiple doses. The rate at which the level y of the drug
in a patient’s blood decays can be modeled by the decay equation
dy/dt = – ky

where k is a constant to be experimentally determined for each drug. If initially, that is, at t = 0 a patient is given an
initial dose yp, then the drug level y at any time t is the solution of the above differential equations, that is,

y(t) = yp e –kt
6. CONCLUSION
In this paper a detailed analysis is presented to model the engineering problems to have a balance between theory and
applications using differential equations.

REFERENCES
[1] K. E. Brenan, S. L. Campbell, L. R. Petzold Numerical Solution of Initial Value Problems in Differential-
Algebraic Equations, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1989.
[2] E. Celik, E. Karaduman, M. Bayram, Numerical Method To Solve Chemical Differential- Algebraic Equations,
Int. J. Quant. Chem. 89 (5) (2002).
[3] Coddington, Earl A.; Levinson, Norman, Theory of Ordinary Differential Equations McGraw-Hill, New
York,(1955).
[4] Hille, Einar, Ordinary Differential Equations in the Complex Plane, Mineola Dover Publications, (1976).
[5] T. E. Hull, W.H. Enright, B.M. Fellen, A.E. Sedgwick, Comparing Numerical Methods For Ordinary Differential
Equations, SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 9 (1972) 603.
[6] Teschl, Gerald, Ordinary Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems, Providence American Mathematical
Society, (2012).

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