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MATH45111: Compressible and Incompressible Fluid Dynamics 1

Lecture 14
Potential Flows
Suppose that a ow in question is irrotational, i.e.
= curlV = 0. (14.1)
Then the potential (t, r) of the velocity eld can be introduced. It is dened as follows.
We, rst, choose an arbitrary point M
0
in the ow eld and use it as a reference point
from which the potential is to be calculated. The position vector of point M
0
we denote
by r
0
. Then for any other point M whose position vector is r we dene function (r) by
the integral
(t, r) =
_
C
_
V dr
_
, (14.2)
where C is a contour connecting points M
0
and M (see Figure 14.1).
M
r
0
r
C
C

M
0
x
y
z
Figure 14.1: Arbitrary contours C and C

connecting points M
0
and M.
It may easily be shown that (r) is a scalar function, not a functional; it depends on
the position r of point M but does not depend on a choice of contour C. Indeed, if we
choose another contour C

connecting M
0
and M we will have

(t, r) =
_
C

_
V dr
_
.
The dierence between (t, r) and

(t, r) is written as
(t, r)

(t, r) =
_
C
_
V dr
_

_
C

_
V dr
_
=
=
_

C
_
V dr
_
. (14.3)
MATH45111: Compressible and Incompressible Fluid Dynamics 2
Here

C is a closed contour composed of C and C

; the latter being traced in the negative


direction, i.e. from M to M
0
.
If an open surface lying entirely in the ow eld has the bounding contour

C, then
using Stokes theorem we can express integral (14.3) in the form
_

C
_
V dr
_
=
__

_
curlV n
_
ds, (14.4)
and it follows from (14.1) that (t, r) =

(t, r).
Let us now write formula (14.2) in the form
(t, r) =
r
_
r
0
_
V dr
_
. (14.5)
A small variation r of the position vector r leads to
(t, r + r) =
r+r
_
r
0
_
V dr
_
,
whence
(t, r + r) (t, r) =
r+r
_
r
_
V dr
_
. (14.6)
If V is a continuous function of the position vector r then due to the vanishing magnitude
of r we can write (14.6) as
(t, r + r) (t, r) =
_
V(t, r) r
_
,
which proves that V(t, r) equals to the gradient of (t, r):
V = . (14.7)
Notice that at each instant t, the velocity potential is dened to within an arbitrary
constant which does not aect the velocity eld (14.7). Hence the position r
0
in (14.5)
may be left unspecied. The dierence between the values of (t, r) corresponding to two
dierent choices of r
0
is independent of r and so has no eect on .
Substitution of (14.7) into the continuity equation (13.2) results in Laplaces equation

2
= 0. (14.8)
The boundary conditions for this equation depend on the particular problem considered. If,
for example, ow past a rigid body has to be analysed then the so called impermeability
condition is used on the body surface. For inviscid ow, the particles at the surface
of a rigid boundary move tangentially to the surface; the no-slip condition does not hold
anymore! Therefore, if the body surface is represented by the equation
(t, r) = const,
MATH45111: Compressible and Incompressible Fluid Dynamics 3
then using the Lagrangian position
r = r(t, r
0
)
we can write, for all uid particles on this surface,

_
t, r(t, r
0
)

= const. (14.9)
Dierentiation of (14.9) with respect to time yields

t
+
_

r
t
_
= 0
which may also be written as
_
1
||

t
+
_
V n
_
_

S
= 0. (14.10)
Here S is the body surface and n the unit vector normal to S
n =
1
||
.
If the body is motionless then (14.10) reduces to
_
V n
_

S
= 0 (14.11)
which means that the velocity vector must be tangent to the body surface

. Using (14.7)
the impermeability condition (14.11) may be also written as

S
= 0. (14.12)
It is reasonable to expect that the ow past a rigid body depends on the body shape
and on the characteristics of the oncoming ow. Information about the body shape is
given by the impermeability condition. A boundary condition is also needed to specify
the oncoming ow. If far from the body the ow is uniform with the velocity vector being
V

, then we can write


V V

as |r| , (14.13)
which may be reformulated for the potential function (by integration) as
=
_
V

r
_
+ as |r| . (14.14)
Hence, to describe a potential ow (i.e. inviscid, incompressible, irrotational ow) past
a motionless body one needs to solve the following problem

2
= 0, (14.15a)

S
= 0, (14.15b)
=
_
V

r
_
+ as |r| . (14.15c)
As soon as the solution to (14.15) is found, one can determine the velocity eld using
(14.7), and then the pressure distribution may be determined from Bernoullis equation
(13.7) or the unsteady Bernoulli equation (i.e. the Cauchy-Lagrange integral) (13.18).

If the body surface is equipped with holes to allow for suction or blowing, boundary conditions (14.10),
(14.11) should be modied appropriately.
MATH45111: Compressible and Incompressible Fluid Dynamics 4
The ow from a source
Consider ow from a point source of uid in an otherwise stagnant medium. For simplicity
we place the source at the coordinate origin. The intensity or magnitude of the source
is denoted by q, which multiplied by the uid density gives the mass ux, i.e. the uid
produced by the source per unit time. Taking into account the spherical symmetry of the
problem we expect that at each point r the velocity is directed away from the source, i.e.
has only a radial component V
r
which depends on the distance from the source r = |r|. If
we consider a sphere whose centre coincides with the source then using mass conservation
we can write
4r
2
V
r
= q, (14.16)
where 4r
2
is the surface area of the sphere of radius r. Solving (14.16) for V
r
we have
V
r
=
q
4r
2
. (14.17)
M

x
y
z
O
V
r
V

C
S
Figure 14.2: Spherical polar coordinates.
To nd the velocity potential for this ow it is convenient to introduce spherical
polar coordinates (see Figure 14.2) with r being the distance from the point of interest M
to the coordinate origin O, the angle made by the position vector r with the x-axis and
the angle between xy-plane and the plane drawn through the point of interest M and
the x-axis.
The velocity vector can be written in these coordinates as
V
r
=

r
, V

=
1
r

, V

=
1
r sin

. (14.18)
where V
r
, V

and V

are termed radial, meridional and azimuthal velocity components


respectively. Combining the rst of equations (14.18) with (14.17) yields

r
=
q
4r
2
, (14.19)
MATH45111: Compressible and Incompressible Fluid Dynamics 5
while from the second and third it follows that is independent of and , i.e.

= 0.
Integration of (14.19) results in

=
q
4r
, (14.20)
which is the required potential of a source (sink for q < 0) situated at the origin. If a
source is placed at point r
0
then (14.20) should obviously be modied as
=
q
4|r r
0
|
.
Dipole
Let us now consider a source and a sink placed close to one another. Since equation (14.8)
is linear, a superposition of two (or more) solutions of this equation is also a solution. We
shall place the source at the coordinate origin and the sink, of the same intensity, at a
point with position vector r
0
. Thus,
=
q
4|r|
. .
Source
+
q
4|r r
0
|
. .
Sink
. (14.21)
If |r
0
| is small we can expand about r and then neglect squares of the perturbations. We
nd
|r r
0
| =
_
(x x
0
)
2
+ (y y
0
)
2
+ (z z
0
)
2
=
_
x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
2xx
0
2yy
0
+ 2zz
0
+ ,
which may also be written as
|r r
0
| =
_
r
2
2
_
r r
0
_
+ = r
_
1 2
_
r r
0
_
r
2
+
_
1/2
.
Using the Taylor expansion of the square root yields

|r r
0
| = r
_
1
_
r r
0
_
r
2
_
+ O
_
|r
0
|
2
_
. (14.22)
and so substituting this into (14.21) gives
=
q
4r
+
q
4r
_
1 +
_
r r
0
_
r
2
_
+ O
_
|r
0
|
2
_
=
=
q
4
_
r r
0
_
r
3
+ O
_
|r
0
|
2
_
. (14.23)

Remember that the potential is dened to within an arbitrary constant.

It is known that for small


(1 +)

= 1 + +O(
2
).
MATH45111: Compressible and Incompressible Fluid Dynamics 6
Finally, we must take the limit of (14.23) in which |r
0
| tends to zero and q tends to innity
in such a way that their product remains nite. As a result we arrive at the following
expression for the dipole potential
=
_
m r
_
4r
3
, m = lim
|r
0
|0
q r
0
, (14.24)
where m is referred to as the dipole strength or dipole moment.
The ow past a sphere
We shall now show that the superposition of a uniform ow and a dipole gives the solution
to problem (14.15) for a spherical body. It is obvious that one can always rotate the
coordinate system is such a way that the x-axis is parallel to the oncoming ow. Then
the potential of the uniform ow may be written as
= V

x. (14.25)
We shall also choose the dipole to have only an x-component only, i.e. m = (m, 0, 0), and
write (14.24) as
=
mx
4r
3
. (14.26)
Superposition of (14.25) and (14.26) yields
= V

x +
mx
4r
3
. (14.27)
Now, we have to see if the governing equation (14.15a) and boundary conditions
(14.15b), (14.15c) are satised. The rst is left to the reader to determine (you need to
substitute (14.27) into Laplaces equation in spherical polar coordinate form). As r
the second term in (14.27) tends to zero reducing (14.27) to (14.25) as required (i.e. the
free-stream boundary condition (14.15b) holds at innity). Turning to the impermeability
condition (14.15c) we note (see Figure 14.2) that x = r cos which allows us to write
(14.27) as
= V

r cos +
mcos
4r
2
. (14.28)
On the sphere surface

S
=

r

r=a
=
_
V

m
2a
3
_
cos .
Thus by choosing
m = 2a
3
V

(14.29)
we can satisfy the impermeability condition for all values of . This proves that formula
(14.28) gives the solution for ow past a rigid sphere.
Substituting (14.29) back into (14.28) we have
= V

_
r +
a
3
2r
2
_
cos .
MATH45111: Compressible and Incompressible Fluid Dynamics 7
In order to nd the tangential velocity on the sphere surface we need to use the second
formula in (14.18):
V

r=a
=
_
1
r

_
r=a
=
_
V

r
_
r +
a
3
2r
2
_
sin
_
r=a
=
3
2
V

sin .
We see that the velocity is directed downstream (in the opposite direction to increasing
, see Figure 14.2). It vanishes at the front ( = ) and rear ( = 0) stagnation points,
and reaches a maximum at the equator ( = /2) where |V

| =
3
2
V

.
(a) Theoretical streamlines.
(b) Visualization by Werle (1980).
Figure 14.3: Something.
It is interesting to note that the velocity eld is symmetric with respect to the equator.
According to Bernoullis equation (13.7) the pressure is also symmetrical which means
that the sphere does not experiences any drag when placed into steady inviscid ow. This
result is known as DAlemberts paradox.

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