Fluid Flow & Aerodynamics
why things fly, and why the usual explanation is wrong
Series

Stokes' paradox — the series

One essay so far on this idea, and more questions about it than one essay answers.
  1. The only candidate the far field allows, and the wall it slips past. The general Stokes solution has four constants; the condition at infinity kills two of them and fixes a third, leaving one to satisfy two conditions at the wall. Setting the stream function to zero there uses it up, and the tangential velocity that remains is exactly twice the free stream — for every radius, every speed, and every fluid.

    The flow with no solution

    Creeping flow past a sphere has a solution and everybody knows it. Creeping flow past a cylinder has none — not a difficult one, not one needing a clever method. The equations, the no-slip condition and the uniform stream at infinity are inconsistent, and the residual is exactly twice the free stream.

    part 1 · viscous

All series