The slow flow of a rotating fluid past a split plate (Q1836576)

The author has studied the flow of a rotating fluid when the fluid is contained between two parallel plates perpendicular to the rotation axis. The Rossby number is small, and the flow at infinity is uniform. The obstacle in the flow is a split plate, consisting of two aligned semi-infinite plates separated by a gap of finite width. The speeds on either side are different. The object of this study is to find the interaction between the Stewartson layers and viscosity on the flow between them for various gap widths. When the distance between the plates is of the same order as the depth of the fluid the potential flow, which occupies most of the fluid, is modified by the presence of the gap and an exact solution can be calculated in terms of elliptic coordinates.