Source and Sink

A line source and sink is the building block to represent profile thickness as will be seen later. If a source or a sink is placed in the plane, it is convenient to define a polar coordinate system with origin at the source or sink location. Let (r, в) represent the distance and polar angle of a point to the source/sink.

The velocity components are

Q 1

Vr = , ve = 0 (2.19)

2n r

Note that the perturbation velocity vanishes in the far field, which is consistent with the asymptotic condition. The potential and stream functions are given by

QQ

ф = ln r, f = в (2.20)

2n 2n

Q represents the source/sink intensity and has unit of volume flow rate per unit span (m2/s). Q > 0 is a source, Q < 0 a sink. The equipotential lines are circles and the streamlines are rays through the origin. See Fig.2.5.