Potential flow and forces for incompressible viscous flow

Abstract Forces on a finite body in an incompressible viscous flow are shown to be contributed by a potential flow and fluid elements of non-zero vorticity in a revealing formulation. The present study indicates that the potential flow play also a geometric role in determining the contribution of the fluid elements. Consideration is given to a solid body moving through a fluid, fluid accelerating past a solid body and a solid body which oscillates in a uniform stream. The effects of induced-mass and inertial forces appear naturally in the formulation and are separated from the contribution due to the surface vorticity and that due to the vorticity within the flow. Physical significance of the present analysis for vortical flows about a finite body is illustrated by examples, e.g. flow past a circular cylinder or an ellipsoid of revolution.