The forces acting on an obstacle in stratified flow (Q1315581)

The three-dimensional steady flow of a heavy incompressible ideal fluid past an obstacle with a rigid boundary with general restrictions on the density and velocity distributions of the incident flow is considered. A set of two nonlinear second-order equations which describe the flow pattern is derived. Formulae for calculating the forces acting on the obstacle are derived. As an example, the flow of an unbounded exponentially stratified fluid around a sphere is considered. Assuming the stratification parameter to be small, the main term in the asymptotic formula which expresses the dependence of the resistance on the sphere radius and the stratification parameters is calculated.