.. _pitheorem: Buckingham Pi Theorem ===================== `Buckingham π theorem`_ states that an equation involving *n* number of physical variables which are expressible in terms of *k* independent fundamental physical quantities can be expressed in terms of *p = n - k* dimensionless parameters. .. testsetup:: * from pint import UnitRegistry ureg = UnitRegistry() Q_ = ureg.Quantity To start with a very simple case, consider that you want to find a dimensionless quantity involving the magnitudes `V`, `T` and `L` with dimensions `[length]/[time]`, `[time]` and `[length]` respectively. .. doctest:: >>> from pint import pi_theorem >>> pi_theorem({'V': '[length]/[time]', 'T': '[time]', 'L': '[length]'}) [{'V': 1.0, 'T': 1.0, 'L': -1.0}] The result indicates that a dimensionless quantity can be obtained by multiplying `V` by `T` and the inverse of `L`. Which can be pretty printed using the `Pint` formatter: .. doctest:: >>> from pint import formatter >>> result = pi_theorem({'V': '[length]/[time]', 'T': '[time]', 'L': '[length]'}) >>> print(formatter(result[0].items())) T * V / L You can also apply the Buckingham π theorem associated to a Registry. In this case, you can use derived dimensions such as speed: .. doctest:: >>> from pint import UnitRegistry >>> ureg = UnitRegistry() >>> ureg.pi_theorem({'V': '[speed]', 'T': '[time]', 'L': '[length]'}) [{'V': 1.0, 'T': 1.0, 'L': -1.0}] or unit names: .. doctest:: >>> ureg.pi_theorem({'V': 'meter/second', 'T': 'second', 'L': 'meter'}) [{'V': 1.0, 'T': 1.0, 'L': -1.0}] or quantities: >>> Q_ = ureg.Quantity >>> ureg.pi_theorem({'V': Q_(1, 'meter/second'), ... 'T': Q_(1, 'second'), ... 'L': Q_(1, 'meter')}) [{'V': 1.0, 'T': 1.0, 'L': -1.0}] Application to the pendulum --------------------------- There are 3 fundamental physical units in this equation: time, mass, and length, and 4 dimensional variables, T (oscillation period), M (mass), L (the length of the string), and g (earth gravity). Thus we need only 4 − 3 = 1 dimensionless parameter. .. doctest:: >>> ureg.pi_theorem({'T': '[time]', ... 'M': '[mass]', ... 'L': '[length]', ... 'g': '[acceleration]'}) [{'T': 2.0, 'g': 1.0, 'L': -1.0}] which means that the dimensionless quantity is: .. math:: \Pi = \frac{g T^2}{L} and therefore: .. math:: T = constant \sqrt{\frac{L}{g}} (In case you wonder, the constant is equal to 2 π, but this is outside the scope of this help) Pressure loss in a pipe ----------------------- What is the pressure loss `p` in a pipe with length `L` and diameter `D` for a fluid with density `d`, and viscosity `m` travelling with speed `v`? As pressure, mass, volume, viscosity and speed are defined as derived dimensions in the registry, we only need to explicitly write the density dimensions. .. doctest:: >>> ureg.pi_theorem({'p': '[pressure]', ... 'L': '[length]', ... 'D': '[length]', ... 'd': '[mass]/[volume]', ... 'm': '[viscosity]', ... 'v': '[speed]' ... }) # doctest: +SKIP [{'p': 1.0, 'm': -2.0, 'd': 1.0, 'L': 2.0}, {'v': 1.0, 'm': -1.0, 'd': 1.0, 'L': 1.0}, {'L': -1.0, 'D': 1.0}] The second dimensionless quantity is the `Reynolds Number`_ .. _`Buckingham π theorem`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_%CF%80_theorem .. _`Reynolds Number`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_number