Alexandria University 2nd Year - Semester (1)

Faculty of Engineering Academic Year 2010/2011

Dept. of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering

Fluid Mechanics (MR 231)

Lecture Notes (10)

Fluid Kinematics

Vorticity and Rotationality

We have already defined the rate of rotation vector of a fluid element; see Eq. (4) in the
previous lecture. A closely related kinematic property is of great importance to the
analysis of fluid flows. Namely, the vorticity vector is defined mathematically as the

curl of the velocity vector V ,

Vorticity vector:
(1)

Physically, the direction of the vorticity vector can be determined by using the right-hand
rule for cross product, fig. (1). The rate of rotation vector is equal to half of the vorticity
vector,

Rate of rotation vector:

(2)

Thus, vorticity is a measure of rotation of a fluid particle. Specifically,

Vorticity is equal to twice the angular velocity of a fluid particle.

Fig. (1) The direction of a vector cross product is determined by the right-hand rule
If the vorticity at a point in a flow field is nonzero, the fluid particle that happens to
occupy that point in space is rotating; the flow in that region is called rotational.
Likewise, if the vorticity in a region of the flow is zero (or negligibly small), fluid
particles there are not rotating; the flow in that region is called irrotational. Physically,
fluid particles in a rotational region of flow rotate end over end as they move along in the
flow. For example, fluid particles within the viscous boundary layer near a solid wall are
rotational (and thus have nonzero vorticity), while fluid particles outside the boundary
layer are irrotational (and their vorticity is zero). Both of these cases are illustrated in fig.
(2).

Fig. (2) The difference between rotational and irrotational flow: fluid elements in a rotational
region of the flow rotate, but those in an irrotational region of the flow do not

Rotation of fluid elements is associated with wakes, boundary layers, flow through
turbomachinery (fans, turbines, compressors, etc.), and flow with heat transfer. The
vorticity of a fluid element cannot change except through the action of viscosity,
nonuniform heating (temperature gradients), or other nonuniform phenomena. Thus if a
flow originates in an irrotational region, it remains irrotational until some nonuniform
process alters it.

If a region of flow can be approximated as irrotational, the equations of motion are

greatly simplified, as will be seen later on in the course.
  
In Cartesian coordinates, ( i , j , k ), (x, y, z), and (u, v, w), Eq. (1) can be expanded as
follows:

Vorticity vector in Cartesian coordinates:

(3)

If the flow is two-dimensional in the xy-plane, the z-component of velocity (w) is zero
and neither u nor v varies with z. Thus the first two components of Eq. (3) are identically
zero and the vorticity reduces to:
Two-dimensional flow in Cartesian coordinates:

(4)

Note that if a flow is two-dimensional in the xy-plane, the vorticity vector must point in
either the z- or (-) z-direction, fig. (3).

Fig. (3) For a two-dimensional flow in the xy-plane, the vorticity vector always points in the z- or
(-) z-direction. In this illustration, the flag-shaped fluid particle rotates in the counterclockwise
direction as it moves in the xy-plane; its vorticity points in the positive z-direction as shown