Paper 3, Section II, D

Fluid Dynamics
Part IB, 2017

Use Euler's equations to derive the vorticity equation

DωDt=ωu\frac{D \boldsymbol{\omega}}{D t}=\boldsymbol{\omega} \cdot \nabla \mathbf{u}

where u\mathbf{u} is the fluid velocity and ω\boldsymbol{\omega} is the vorticity.

Consider axisymmetric, incompressible, inviscid flow between two rigid plates at z=h(t)z=h(t) and z=h(t)z=-h(t) in cylindrical polar coordinates (r,θ,z)(r, \theta, z), where tt is time. Using mass conservation, or otherwise, find the complete flow field whose radial component is independent of zz.

Now suppose that the flow has angular velocity Ω=Ω(t)ez\boldsymbol{\Omega}=\Omega(t) \mathbf{e}_{z} and that Ω=Ω0\Omega=\Omega_{0} when h=h0h=h_{0}. Use the vorticity equation to determine the angular velocity for subsequent times as a function of hh. What physical principle does your result illustrate?