Paper 4, Section II, D

Fluid Dynamics | Part IB, 2011

Show that an irrotational incompressible flow can be determined from a velocity potential ϕ\phi that satisfies 2ϕ=0\nabla^{2} \phi=0.

Given that the general solution of 2ϕ=0\nabla^{2} \phi=0 in plane polar coordinates is

ϕ=n=(ancosnθ+bnsinnθ)rn+clogr+bθ\phi=\sum_{n=-\infty}^{\infty}\left(a_{n} \cos n \theta+b_{n} \sin n \theta\right) r^{n}+c \log r+b \theta

obtain the corresponding fluid velocity.

A two-dimensional irrotational incompressible fluid flows past the circular disc with boundary r=ar=a. For large rr, the flow is uniform and parallel to the xx-axis (x=rcosθ)(x=r \cos \theta). Write down the boundary conditions for large rr and on r=ar=a, and hence derive the velocity potential in the form

ϕ=U(r+a2r)cosθ+κθ2π\phi=U\left(r+\frac{a^{2}}{r}\right) \cos \theta+\frac{\kappa \theta}{2 \pi}

where κ\kappa is the circulation.

Show that the acceleration of the fluid at r=ar=a and θ=0\theta=0 is

κ2πa2(κ2πaer2Ueθ)\frac{\kappa}{2 \pi a^{2}}\left(-\frac{\kappa}{2 \pi a} \mathbf{e}_{r}-2 U \mathbf{e}_{\theta}\right)

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