Chapter III.

Part IV
Vortex Solution, Flow over a Lifting Cylinder
In the previous we studied flow over a lifting cylinder. We demonstrated that
a) The distances can be non-dimensionalized by some characteristic length (e.g. cylinder Radius R)
b) The velocities may be non-dimensionalized by the freestream velocity
c) The pressure field may be non-dimensionalized as follows!
C
p p
V
p




"
#
#

(")
$ere %p is called the pressure coefficient.
&or the flow over a circular cylinder it was shown that the surface pressure coefficient is given by!
C
p
" '
#
sin
(#)
where is the angle measured from the rear stagnation point (at the intersection of the bac( end of the
cylinder with the )- a)is).
If you plot %p against in the range between * and "+* degrees you will find that it is
symmetric about , -* degrees. .ecause %p e)hibits this fore and aft-symmetry there is no drag according
to the potential flow theory. In real flows the flow separates over the rear side of the cylinder creating a
wa(e. Thus the pressure in the front and the aft are not symmetric and drag is produced. This
inconsistency between the potential flow theory and reality was pointed out by d/lembert and is
commonly called the d/lembert 0arado).
The above pressure distribution is also symmetric about the )- a)is. That is the upper and lower
sides of the cylinder have the same pressure distribution. 1s a conse2uence there is no net pressure force
pushing the cylinder up or down. There is no lift.
.uilding .loc(! 3elocity &ield and 4tream &unction 1ssociated with a 0oint 3orte)!
We ne)t turn our attention to the ne)t and the last building bloc( of potential flow called the
50oint 3orte)6. It may be thought of a finite amount of vorticity concentrated at a single point in space
producing a concentric streamlines shown as below. The vorticity is stored at the center of the circles.
%onsider one of the circular streamlines of radius r. 7et v

be the tangential velocity at any point

on this circle. .ecause of the inherent symmetry of this flow v

will not change with 2. The circulation

associated with this closed contour is!
Circlulation V ds rv

. #

(8)
1ccording to 4to(es9theorem this circulation must e2ual all the vorticity contained in the area enclosed by
this circular streamline. In our case the vorticity is concentrated at :ust the origin. 7et this vorticity be
given the symbol called the strength of the vorte). Then
#

rv
(')
or
v
r

#
(;)
<sing the fact that
v
r r

"
we get!

#
logr
(=)
7ifting &low over a %ircular %ylinder!
7et us now superpose the flow over a circular cylinder that we studied in the previous handout
and the vorte) solution studied here We assume that the vorte) is placed at the origin (the center of the
cylinder). When we superpose such basic building bloc(s we can add or subtract a constant because all the
basic building bloc(s that we have derived to date are true to within a constant. 1dding or subtracting the
constant will not affect the ability of these basic bu>lding bloc( solutions from satisfying the 7aplace9s
e2uation. To the point vorte) stream function we have shown above we will add the constant (?#)logR.
Thus the stream function associated with the flow over a circular cylinder with a point vorte) of strength
placed at the cylinder center is!

_
,

u
R
r
r
r
R
"
#
#
#
sin log

(@)
We can ma(e several observations about this stream function!
i) 1t r,R i.e. on the cylinder surface the stream function is zero.
ii) The radial velocity is given by!
v
r
u
R
r
r
r

_
,

"
" *
#
#

cos
(+)
This 2uantity is also zero at r,R meaning that the flow field is tangential to the cylinder.
In other words the circular cylinder surface is a streamline for the flow with a vorte) as was the case for
the non-lifting cylinder.
iii) We can determine the stagnation points on the cylinder surface by determining the radial and
tangential components of velocity to zero. The radial component is zero all over the cylinder. 7et
us set the tangential component to zero.
v
r
u
R
r r
u
R
r R
r R

_
,

_
,
+

"
#
#
#
#
#
sin sin

(-)
We find that v

is zero if
sin

' u R
("*)
If the absolute value of the e)pression on the right side is less than unity then two solutions for 2 e)ist and
there will be two stagnation points on the cylinder. Aote that is positive for countercloc(wise vortices and
is a negative number for cloc(wise vortices. (1nderson uses the opposite convention.)

4ee figure 8-#@ in the te)t for a view of the streamlines around the cylinder for various values of and
how the stagnation point locations change with .
iv) 4ince we (now the tangential component of velocity at any point on the cylinder (and the radial
component of velocity is zero) we can find the pressure field over the surface of the cylinder from
.ernoulli9s e2uation!
p v v p u
r

+ + +

# # #
# # #
("")
<sing (+) and (-) in ("") we get!
#
# #
#
#
#
# #
# #
#
#
#
#
#
# #
"

sin sin
sin sin #
# #
"
#
sin #
#
"

,
_

+
+ +

,
_

+
1
1
]
1

'

+
u C
R
u
B
R
u p A
where
C B A
R
u
u
R
u p
R
u u p p

("#)
%alculation of 7ift! 7et us first consider lift. 7ift per unit span 7 (i.e. per unit distance normal to the plane
of the paper) is given by!


Lower upper
pdx pdx L
("8)
Bn the surface of the cylinder ) , Rcos. Thus d) , -Rsind and the above integrals may be thought of
as integrals with respect to . &or the lower surface varies between and #. &or the upper surface
varies between and *. Thus
( ) ( )

+ + + + +

# *
# #
sin sin sin sin sin sin d C B A R d C B A R L
("8)
Reversing the upper and lower limits of the second integral we get!
( ) ( )

+ + + +


#
*
8 #
#
*
#
sin sin sin sin sin sin BR d C B A R d C B A R L
("')
4ubstituting for . from e2uation ("#) we get!


u L
(";)
This is an important result. It says that cloc(wise vortices (negative numerical values of ) will produce
positive lift that is proportional to and the freestream speed. Cutta and Dou(ows(i generalized this result
to lifting flow over airfoils. E2uation (";) is (nown as the Cutta-Dou(ows(i theorem.
1nderson assumes that cloc(wise vortices are positive while we have assumed that countercloc(wise
vortices are positive. This e)plains the difference of a negative sign in e2uation for lift between us and
1nderson.
Frag! We can li(ewise integrate drag forces. The drag per unit span F is given by!


Front rear
pdy pdy D
4ince y,Rsin on the cylinder dy,Rcosd. Thus as in the case of lift we can convert these two integrals
over y into integrals over . Bn the front side varies from 8?# to ?#. Bn the rear side varies between
8?# and ?#. 0erforming the integration we can show that
* D
("=)
This result is in contrast to reality where drag is high due to viscous separation. This contrast between
potential flow theory and drag is the d/lembert 0arado).
E)ercise! %omplete the integration for drag and verify that F is indeed zero.