General design method for three-dimensional potential flow fields. 1: Theory

Abstract

A general design method was developed for steady, three dimensional, potential, incompressible or subsonic-compressible flow. In this design method, the flow field, including the shape of its boundary, was determined for arbitrarily specified, continuous distributions of velocity as a function of arc length along the boundary streamlines. The method applied to the design of both internal and external flow fields, including, in both cases, fields with planar symmetry. The analytic problems associated with stagnation points, closure of bodies in external flow fields, and prediction of turning angles in three dimensional ducts were reviewed.