Proper velocity Proper velocity In relativity, proper velocity, also known as celerity, is an alternative to velocity for measuring motion. Whereas velocity relative to an observer is distance per unit time where both distance and time are measured by the observer, proper velocity relative to an observer divides observer-measured distance by the time elapsed on the clocks of the traveling object. Proper velocity equals velocity at low speeds. Proper velocity at high speeds, moreover, retains many of the properties that velocity loses in relativity compared with Newtonian theory. For example, proper velocity equals momentum per unit mass at any speed, and therefore
Velocity gradient analysis, the dimensions of velocity gradient can be determined. The dimensions of velocity are formula_4 , and the dimensions of distance are formula_5. Since the velocity gradient can be expressed as formula_6. Therefore, the velocity gradient has the same dimensions as this ratio, i.e. formula_7. In 3 dimensions, the gradient, formula_8 , of the velocity formula_9 is a second-order tensor which can be expressed as the matrix L: formula_11 can be decomposed into the sum of a symmetric matrix formula_12 and a skew-symmetric matrix formula_13 as follows formula_12 is called the strain rate tensor and describes the rate of stretching