## Encyclopedia > Potential flow

Article Content

# Potential flow

Potential flow, also know as incompressible flow or irrotational flow in fluid mechanics is flow defined by the equations

$\nabla \times \mathbf{v} = 0$ (zero rotation = no shear)

$\nabla \cdot \mathbf{v} = 0$ (zero divergence = continuity)

Equivalently,

$\mathbf{v} = \nabla \Phi \; ,$

where:

• v is the vector fluid velocity
• Φ is the fluid flow potential, scalar
• " ×" is curl
• " ·" is divergence

Together with the Navier-Stokes equations, these equations can be used to calculate solutions to many practical flow situations.

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Search Encyclopedia
 Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!

Featured Article
 List of closed London Underground stations ... Road tube station[?] Wescott tube station[?] Wotton tube station[?] Church Siding tube station[?] Wood Siding tube station[?] Brill tube station[?] These ...