Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T04:23:46.338Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Vorticity and curvature at a free surface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 1998

MICHAEL S. LONGUET-HIGGINS
Affiliation:
Institute for Nonlinear Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0402, USA

Abstract

For two-dimensional flow there is a simple relation between the vorticity at a stress-free surface and the surface curvature. In this note the relation is generalized to flow in three dimensions. It is shown that in addition to a component of vorticity perpendicular to the flow there is also a component parallel to the direction of flow. The latter vanishes only at an umbilical point or when the flow is in one of the two principal directions of curvature.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)