Laplacian of a Scalar Function in Curvilinear Coordinates
Theorem
In the curvilinear coordinate system, the Laplacian of a scalar function $f=f(q_{1},q_{2},q_{3})$ is as follows.
$$ \nabla ^{2}f= \frac{1}{h_{1}h_{2}h_{3}}\left[\frac{ \partial }{ \partial q_{1} } \left( \frac{h_{2}h_{3}}{h_{1}} \frac{ \partial f}{ \partial q_{1}}\right)+\frac{ \partial }{ \partial q_{2} } \left( \frac{h_{1}h_{3}}{h_{2}} \frac{ \partial f}{ \partial q_{2}}\right)+\frac{ \partial }{ \partial q_{3} } \left( \frac{h_{1}h_{2}}{h_{3}} \frac{ \partial f}{ \partial q_{3}}\right) \right] $$
Formulas
Cartesian coordinates:
$$ h_{1}=h_{2}=h_{3}=1 $$
$$ \nabla ^2 f= \frac{ \partial^2 f}{ \partial x^2 }+\frac{ \partial^2 f}{ \partial y^2}+\frac{ \partial^2 f}{ \partial z^2} $$
Cylindrical coordinates:
$$ h_{1}=1,\quad h_{2}=\rho,\quad h_{3}=1 $$
$$ \nabla ^{2}f= \frac{1}{\rho} \frac{ \partial }{ \partial \rho }\left( \rho\frac{ \partial f}{ \partial \rho} \right) + \frac{1}{\rho^{2}} \frac{\partial ^{2} f}{\partial \phi^{2} }+ \frac{\partial ^{2} f}{\partial z^{2} } $$
Spherical coordinates:
$$ h_{1}=1,\quad h_{2}=r\quad, h_{3}=r\sin\theta $$
$$ \nabla ^{2}f= \frac{1}{r^{2}} \frac{ \partial }{ \partial r }\left(r^{2} \frac{ \partial f}{ \partial r} \right) + \frac{1}{r^{2}\sin\theta}\frac{ \partial }{ \partial \theta }\left( \sin \theta \frac{ \partial f}{ \partial \theta} \right)+\frac{1}{r^{2}\sin^{2}\theta} \frac{\partial ^{2} f}{\partial \phi^{2} } $$
Derivation
By applying the gradient and divergence in the curvilinear coordinate system in sequence, it can be obtained. The gradient of a certain scalar function $f$ is as follows
$$ \nabla f= \frac{1}{h_{1}}\frac{ \partial f }{ \partial q_{1} } \hat{\mathbf{q}}_{1} + \frac{1}{h_{2}}\frac{ \partial f }{ \partial q }_{2} \hat{\mathbf{q}_{2}}+\frac{1}{h_{3}}\frac{ \partial f }{ \partial q_{3} } \hat{\mathbf{q}}_{3} $$
and the divergence of a certain vector function $\mathbf{F}$ is as follows.
$$ \nabla \cdot \mathbf{F}=\frac{1}{h_{1}h_{2}h_{3}}\left[ \frac{ \partial }{ \partial q_{1} }(h_{2}h_{3}F_{1})+\frac{ \partial }{ \partial q_{2} }(h_{1}h_{3}F_{2})+\frac{ \partial }{ \partial q_{3} }(h_{1}h_{2}F_{3}) \right] $$
Therefore, the Laplacian of $f$ is as follows.
$$ \begin{align*} \nabla \cdot (\nabla f) &=\nabla \cdot \left( \frac{1}{h_{1}}\frac{ \partial f }{ \partial q_{1} } \hat{\mathbf{q}}_{1} + \frac{1}{h_{2}}\frac{ \partial f }{ \partial q }_{2} \hat{\mathbf{q}_{2}}+\frac{1}{h_{3}}\frac{ \partial f }{ \partial q_{3} } \hat{\mathbf{q}}_{3} \right) \\ &=\frac{1}{h_{1}h_{2}h_{3}}\left[\frac{ \partial }{ \partial q_{1} } \left( \frac{h_{2}h_{3}}{h_{1}} \frac{ \partial f}{ \partial q_{1}}\right)+\frac{ \partial }{ \partial q_{2} } \left( \frac{h_{1}h_{3}}{h_{2}} \frac{ \partial f}{ \partial q_{2}}\right)+\frac{ \partial }{ \partial q_{3} } \left( \frac{h_{1}h_{2}}{h_{3}} \frac{ \partial f}{ \partial q_{3}}\right) \right] \end{align*} $$
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