Article
Article
Potential flow
Article By:
Raad, Peter E. Mechanical Engineering Department, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.540100
A fluid flow that is isentropic and that, if incompressible, can be mathematically described by Laplace's equation. For an ideal fluid, or a flow in which viscous effects are ignored, vorticity (defined as the curl of the velocity) cannot be produced, and any initial vorticity existing in the flow simply moves unchanged with the fluid. Ideal fluids, of course, do not exist since any actual fluid has some viscosity, and the effects of this viscosity will be important near a solid wall, in the region known as the boundary layer. Nevertheless, the study of potential flow is important in hydrodynamics, where the fluid is considered incompressible, and even in aerodynamics, where the fluid is considered compressible, as long as shock waves are not present. See also: Boundary-layer flow; Compressible flow; Isentropic flow; Viscosity; Vorticity
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