Paper 1, Section II, C

Fluid Dynamics | Part IB, 2020

Steady two-dimensional potential flow of an incompressible fluid is confined to the wedge 0<θ<α0<\theta<\alpha, where (r,θ)(r, \theta) are polar coordinates centred on the vertex of the wedge and 0<α<π0<\alpha<\pi.

(a) Show that a velocity potential ϕ\phi of the form

ϕ(r,θ)=Arγcos(λθ),\phi(r, \theta)=A r^{\gamma} \cos (\lambda \theta),

where A,γA, \gamma and λ\lambda are positive constants, satisfies the condition of incompressible flow, provided that γ\gamma and λ\lambda satisfy a certain relation to be determined.

Assuming that uθu_{\theta}, the θ\theta-component of velocity, does not change sign within the wedge, determine the values of γ\gamma and λ\lambda by using the boundary conditions.

(b) Calculate the shape of the streamlines of this flow, labelling them by the distance rminr_{\min } of closest approach to the vertex. Sketch the streamlines.

(c) Show that the speed u|\mathbf{u}| and pressure pp are independent of θ\theta. Assuming that at some radius r=r0r=r_{0} the speed and pressure are u0u_{0} and p0p_{0}, respectively, find the pressure difference in the flow between the vertex of the wedge and r0r_{0}.

[Hint: In polar coordinates (r,θ)(r, \theta),

f=(fr,1rfθ) and F=1rr(rFr)+1rFθθ\nabla f=\left(\frac{\partial f}{\partial r}, \frac{1}{r} \frac{\partial f}{\partial \theta}\right) \quad \text { and } \quad \nabla \cdot \mathbf{F}=\frac{1}{r} \frac{\partial}{\partial r}\left(r F_{r}\right)+\frac{1}{r} \frac{\partial F_{\theta}}{\partial \theta}

for a scalar ff and a vector F=(Fr,Fθ)\mathbf{F}=\left(F_{r}, F_{\theta}\right).]

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