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Boussinesq approximation
nazdineš-e Boussinesq
Fr.: approximation de Boussinesq
A simplification in the equations of → hydrodynamics that treats the density as constant except in the → buoyancy term. This approximation is motivated by the fact that when pressure and temperature differences in a flow are small, then it follows from the thermodynamic → equation of state that a change in the density is also small. See also: Named after Joseph Valentin Boussinesq (1842-1929), a French physicist |