The Navier–Stokes equations are partial differential equations which describe the motion of viscous fluid substances. They were named after French engineer and physicist Claude-Louis Navier and the Irish physicist and mathematician George Gabriel Stokes. They were developed over several decades of progressively building the theories, from 1822 (Navier) to 1842–1850 (Stokes).
In fluid dynamics, potential flow or irrotational flow refers to a description of a fluid flow with no vorticity in it. Such a description typically arises in the limit of vanishing viscosity, i.e., for an inviscid fluid and with no vorticity present in the flow.
In physics, angular velocity, also known as angular frequency vector, is a pseudovector representation of how the angular position or orientation of an object changes with time, i.e. how quickly an object rotates around an axis of rotation and how fast the axis itself changes direction.
In mathematics, the winding number or winding index of a closed curve in the plane around a given point is an integer representing the total number of times that the curve travels counterclockwise around the point, i.e., the curve's number of turns. For certain open plane curves, the number of turns may be a non-integer. The winding number depends on the orientation of the curve, and it is negative if the curve travels around the point clockwise.
In geometry, a solid angle is a measure of the amount of the field of view from some particular point that a given object covers. That is, it is a measure of how large the object appears to an observer looking from that point. The point from which the object is viewed is called the apex of the solid angle, and the object is said to subtend its solid angle at that point.
In fluid dynamics, a vortex is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in the wake of a boat, and the winds surrounding a tropical cyclone, tornado or dust devil.
In continuum mechanics, vorticity is a pseudovector field that describes the local spinning motion of a continuum near some point, as would be seen by an observer located at that point and traveling along with the flow. It is an important quantity in the dynamical theory of fluids and provides a convenient framework for understanding a variety of complex flow phenomena, such as the formation and motion of vortex rings.
In mechanics and geometry, the 3D rotation group, often denoted SO(3), is the group of all rotations about the origin of three-dimensional Euclidean space under the operation of composition.
In fluid dynamics, Stokes' law is an empirical law for the frictional force – also called drag force – exerted on spherical objects with very small Reynolds numbers in a viscous fluid. It was derived by George Gabriel Stokes in 1851 by solving the Stokes flow limit for small Reynolds numbers of the Navier–Stokes equations.
In mathematical physics, scalar potential, simply stated, describes the situation where the difference in the potential energies of an object in two different positions depends only on the positions, not upon the path taken by the object in traveling from one position to the other. It is a scalar field in three-space: a directionless value (scalar) that depends only on its location. A familiar example is potential energy due to gravity.
In physics, circular motion is a movement of an object along the circumference of a circle or rotation along a circular arc. It can be uniform, with a constant rate of rotation and constant tangential speed, or non-uniform with a changing rate of rotation. The rotation around a fixed axis of a three-dimensional body involves the circular motion of its parts. The equations of motion describe the movement of the center of mass of a body, which remains at a constant distance from the axis of rotation. In circular motion, the distance between the body and a fixed point on its surface remains the same, i.e., the body is assumed rigid.
In physics, a wave vector is a vector used in describing a wave, with a typical unit being cycle per metre. It has a magnitude and direction. Its magnitude is the wavenumber of the wave, and its direction is perpendicular to the wavefront. In isotropic media, this is also the direction of wave propagation.
In fluid dynamics, the Lamb–Oseen vortex models a line vortex that decays due to viscosity. This vortex is named after Horace Lamb and Carl Wilhelm Oseen.
Hill's spherical vortex is an exact solution of the Euler equations that is commonly used to model a vortex ring. The solution is also used to model the velocity distribution inside a spherical drop of one fluid moving at a constant velocity through another fluid at small Reynolds number. The vortex is named after Micaiah John Muller Hill who discovered the exact solution in 1894. The two-dimensional analogue of this vortex is the Lamb–Chaplygin dipole.
In fluid dynamics, the Oseen equations describe the flow of a viscous and incompressible fluid at small Reynolds numbers, as formulated by Carl Wilhelm Oseen in 1910. Oseen flow is an improved description of these flows, as compared to Stokes flow, with the (partial) inclusion of convective acceleration.
In mathematics, potential flow around a circular cylinder is a classical solution for the flow of an inviscid, incompressible fluid around a cylinder that is transverse to the flow. Far from the cylinder, the flow is unidirectional and uniform. The flow has no vorticity and thus the velocity field is irrotational and can be modeled as a potential flow. Unlike a real fluid, this solution indicates a net zero drag on the body, a result known as d'Alembert's paradox.
In fluid dynamics, the Burgers vortex or Burgers–Rott vortex is an exact solution to the Navier–Stokes equations governing viscous flow, named after Jan Burgers and Nicholas Rott. The Burgers vortex describes a stationary, self-similar flow. An inward, radial flow, tends to concentrate vorticity in a narrow column around the symmetry axis, while an axial stretching causes the vorticity to increase. At the same time, viscous diffusion tends to spread the vorticity. The stationary Burgers vortex arises when the three effects are in balance.
In fluid mechanics, a two-dimensional flow is a form of fluid flow where the flow velocity at every point is parallel to a fixed plane. The velocity at any point on a given normal to that fixed plane should be constant.
Von Kármán swirling flow is a flow created by a uniformly rotating infinitely long plane disk, named after Theodore von Kármán who solved the problem in 1921. The rotating disk acts as a fluid pump and is used as a model for centrifugal fans or compressors. This flow is classified under the category of steady flows in which vorticity generated at a solid surface is prevented from diffusing far away by an opposing convection, the other examples being the Blasius boundary layer with suction, stagnation point flow etc.
In fluid dynamics, Hicks equation, sometimes also referred as Bragg–Hawthorne equation or Squire–Long equation, is a partial differential equation that describes the distribution of stream function for axisymmetric inviscid fluid, named after William Mitchinson Hicks, who derived it first in 1898. The equation was also re-derived by Stephen Bragg and William Hawthorne in 1950 and by Robert R. Long in 1953 and by Herbert Squire in 1956. The Hicks equation without swirl was first introduced by George Gabriel Stokes in 1842. The Grad–Shafranov equation appearing in plasma physics also takes the same form as the Hicks equation.
