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Notes Potential Flow Around Cylinder

This document derives the Laplace equation for potential flow around a cylinder. It shows: 1) For incompressible, irrotational flow, the velocity potential φ satisfies Laplace's equation ∇^2φ = 0. 2) The boundary conditions are a uniform upstream flow and no flow into the cylinder surface. 3) The solution is found using separation of variables to be φ(r,θ) = U(a^2/(r^2 + a^2 - 2arcosθ)), giving the velocity potential around the cylinder.

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Mohit Sinha
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
266 views4 pages

Notes Potential Flow Around Cylinder

This document derives the Laplace equation for potential flow around a cylinder. It shows: 1) For incompressible, irrotational flow, the velocity potential φ satisfies Laplace's equation ∇^2φ = 0. 2) The boundary conditions are a uniform upstream flow and no flow into the cylinder surface. 3) The solution is found using separation of variables to be φ(r,θ) = U(a^2/(r^2 + a^2 - 2arcosθ)), giving the velocity potential around the cylinder.

Uploaded by

Mohit Sinha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Laplace equation: potential flow around a cylinder

Eli, APM105b
April 24, 2011

1 Derivation of equations
Consider a flow in two dimensions around an infinitely long cylinder of radius a, where the velocity
components are u = (u, v). Assume

1. The flow is irrotational (zero vorticity): ∇ × u = 0.

2. The fluid is incompressible, mass conservation gives ∇ · u = 0.

The first assumption is commonly made in many cases in fluid dynamics because it can be
shown to be valid for a large range of circumstances. Water, or even air at low velocities, are in-
compressible to a good approximation, justifying the second assumption. We have already derived
the above mass continuity equation in the course.
The first assumption implies, via Stokes theorem, that

u = ∇φ = (φx , φy ).

In polar coordinates this is


1
u = ∇φ = (u(r) , u(θ) ) = (φr , uθ ).
r
The second assumption of incompressible flow therefore implies that

∇ · u = ∇ · (∇φ) = ∇2 φ = 0

so that the potential φ satisfies Laplace’s equation. In polar coordinates this is


1 1
∇2 φ = φrr + φr + 2 φθθ = 0. (1)
r r
[Next, Consider the stream function. The mass conservation ∇ · u = ux + vy = 0 is satisfied
automatically if we write
u = −ψy , v = ψx

1
because we now have ∇ · u = ux + vy = −ψyx + ψxy = 0. Note also that

u · ∇ψ = (−ψy , ψx ) · (ψx , ψy ) = 0

so that the flow u is perpendicular to the gradient of ψ and therefore is along lines of constant
stream function ψ.
The condition that the vorticity vanishes may now be written as 0 = ζ≡vx − uy = ψxx + ψyy , so
that the stream function also satisfies Laplace’s equation,

∇2 ψ = 0.

2 Boundary conditions
The boundary conditions are a uniform flow (U, 0) upstream at infinity, and no flow into the cylin-
der. The upstream condition implies that away from the cylinder, we expect a uniform flow. For
the potential φ this implies,
φ|r→−∞ = Ux = Ur cos θ. (2)
At the surface of the cylinder, the boundary condition is that the normal component of the velocity
vanishes, which means that
∂φ
=0 at r = a. (3)
∂r
[For the stream function, the upstream condition implies ψ|x→−∞ = −Uy. The no flow into the
cylinder means that the cylinder surface is a streamline, ψ(r = a, θ) = constant.]

3 Solution
Substituting a solution based on separation of variables, φ = R(r)Θ(θ), into the equation (1) we
have
r2 R00 + rR0 Θ00
+ =0
R Θ
so that

r2 R00 + rR0 − κ2 R = 0,
Θ00 + κ2 Θ = 0.

Note that the R equation is equi-dimensional, substituting R = rλ and solving the characteristic
equation
λ(λ − 1) + λ − κ2 = 0,
or
λ2 − κ2 = 0,

2
so that λ = ±κ. We therefore find that the solution is either R = Crκ + Dr−κ for non zero κ, or, if
κ = 0, it is A + Blnr. The solutions to the Θ(θ) equation are simply sines and cosines for non zero
κ and linear in θ otherwise, so that,

φ(r, θ) = (A + Blnr)(E + Fθ) + (Crκ + Dr−κ )(G cos κθ + H sin κθ).

The b.c. at infinity implies A = B = 0 so we are left with

φ(r, θ) = (Crκ + Dr−κ )(G cos κθ + H sin κθ).

The b.c. at the surface of the cylinder implies

φr (r = a, θ) = 0 = (Cκaκ−1 − Dκa−κ−1 )(G cos κθ + H sin κθ).

so that
C = Da−2κ
and the solution may be written as

φ(r, θ) = Drκ (a−2κ + r−2κ )(G cos κθ + H sin κθ).

Applying again the b.c. at infinity, now we must conclude first that H = 0,

φ(r, θ) = Qrκ (a−2κ + r−2κ ) cos κθ.

As r → ∞ this becomes
φ(r, θ) → Qrκ (a−2κ ) cos κθ,
so we must have Qa−2κ = U and κ = 1, so that the final solution is

a2
 
φ(r, θ) = U 1 + 2 r cos θ
r
a2
 
= U 1+ 2 x
x + y2

(Looks like we didn’t actually need to use the periodicity condition φ(r, θ + 2π) = φ(r, θ).)
Here is a plot of the potential and flow field, obtained using the Matlab program
potential flow around cylinder.m:

3
potential flow around cylinder
10

0
y

−5

−10
−10 −5 0 5 10
x

[See Wikipedia entry or local copy, also this.]

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