Inviscid Flow

Abstract

The relationship of inviscid flow theory to actual flow at high Reynolds number has been considered in Section 8.3. We now look at some of its features. Although Euler’s equation is non-linear, we shall see that in many important cases it reduces to a linear equation. Consequently, it yields solutions much more readily than the full Navier — Stokes equation. This is one of the most mathematically developed branches of fluid mechanics in which experimental work plays a more minor role. It is very fully treated in many books e.g. Refs. [7, 10, 179, 262]. Consequently, we shall confine attention here to the important basic ideas, without developing the methods of application of these ideas to particular cases.