No label defined (Q4360802)

The author considers the plane motion of a cylinder in inviscid incompressible fluid. The aim is to reduce the problem of interaction between the body and the fluid to two ordinary differential equations, and then to find a Lagrangian (not derived in a mathematical way but stated ad hoc) that anyhow leads to these equations. The problem is discussed for a circular cylinder moving in a space and in a half-space of fluid. First of all, the resultant hydrodynamical forces acting on the cylinder are calculated using the pressure distribution, and the differential equations for the problem are written out. Then the standard two-dimensional formulation of potential theory in complex variables is used following Lamb. A rigorous formulation is established for the case of external velocity corresponding to a fluid homogeneous in the space and variable in time. The author derives formally the differential equations which describe the effects of a nonhomogeneous velocity field. However, the boundary conditions on the surface of the cylinder are not satisfied, and one can expect discrepancies occurring between the theoretical solutions and experimental values.