Flow around a slender body with sharp edges

Abstract

The behavior of harmonic functions near corners of the domain boundary has a universal character that may be applied to the study of the flow around slender bodies with sharp edges. Depending of the energy of the potential function near the tip of the corner, this may yield a fast rotating flow or a vortex in its vicinity. For internal angles, such as occur in grooves of the body, a stagnation region or an eddy may occur. Lateral forces are also affected by the presence of corners, yielding configurations that resemble either a circulation lift or a vortex lift.