Potential flow

Potential Flow, also know as Incompressible Flow or Irrotational Flow in Fluid mechanics is flow defined by the equations

∇ x v = 0    (zero rotation = no shear)

∇ . v = 0      (zero divergence = continuity)

Equivalently,

 v = ∇ Φ

 v vector fluid velocity
 Φ fluid flow potential, scalar

Together with the Navier-Stokes equations, these equations can be used to calculate solutions to many practical flow situations.

See also

• http://www.mas.ncl.ac.uk/~sbrooks/book/nish.mit.edu/2006/Textbook/
• http://www.idra.unige.it/~irro/lecture_e.html