8/18/2016

KuttaJoukowskitheoremWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

KuttaJoukowskitheorem
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

TheKuttaJoukowskitheoremisafundamentaltheoremofaerodynamics,thatcanbeusedforthecalculationoftheliftofanairfoil,or
ofanytwodimensionalbodiesincludingcircularcylinders,translatinginauniformfluidataconstantspeedlargeenoughsothattheflow
seeninthebodyfixedframeissteadyandunseparated.Thetheoremrelatestheliftgeneratedbyanairfoiltothespeedoftheairfoil
throughthefluid,thedensityofthefluid,andthecirculation.Thecirculationisdefinedasthelineintegral,aroundaclosedloopenclosing
theairfoil,ofthecomponentofthevelocityofthefluidtangenttotheloop.[1]ItisnamedaftertheGermanMartinWilhelmKuttaandthe
RussianNikolaiZhukovsky(orJoukowski)whofirstdevelopeditskeyideasintheearly20thcentury.KuttaJoukowskitheoremisan
inviscidtheorywhichforpressureandliftishoweveragoodapproximationtorealviscousflowfortypicalaerodynamicapplications.
KuttaJoukowskitheoremrelateslifttocirculationmuchliketheMagnuseffectrelatessideforce(calledMagnusforce)torotation.[2]
However,circulationhereisnotinducedbyrotationoftheairfoilbutbysomeintrinsicmechanismdescribedbelow.Duetothiscirculation,
theflowofairinresponsetothepresenceoftheairfoilcanbetreatedasthesuperpositionofatranslationalflowandarotatingflow.This
rotatingflowisinducedbyjointeffectofcamber,angleofattackandsharptrailingedgeoftheairfoilandshouldnotbeconfusedwitha
vortexlikeatornadoencirclingthecylinderorthewingofanairplaneinflight.Seenfromadistancelargeenoughtotheairfoil,this
rotatingflowmayberegardedasinducedbyalinevortex(withtherotatinglineperpendiculartothetwodimensionalplane).Inthe
derivationoftheKuttaJoukowskitheoremtheairfoilisusuallymappedintoacircularcylinder.Thistheoremisprovedinmanytextbooks
onlyforcircularcylinderandJoukowskiairfoil,butitholdstrueforgeneralairfoils.

Contents
1 Liftforceformula
2 CirculationandKuttacondition
3 Derivation
3.1 Heuristicargument
3.2 Formalderivation
4 Liftforcesformorecomplexsituations
5 Seealso
6 Notes
7 References

Liftforceformula
Thetheoremreferstotwodimensionalflowaroundanairfoil(oracylinderofinfinitespan)anddeterminestheliftgeneratedbyoneunit
ofspan.Whenthecirculation isknown,thelift perunitspan(or )oftheairfoilcanbecalculatedusingthefollowingequation:[3]

(1)

where
and
arethefluiddensityandthefluidvelocityfarupstreamoftheairfoilwhichisnowregardedfixonabodyfixedframe,
and isthe(anticlockwisepositive)circulationdefinedasthelineintegral,

aroundaclosedcontour enclosingthecylinderorairfoilandfollowedinthepositive(anticlockwise)direction.Thispathmustbeina
regionofpotentialflowandnotintheboundarylayerofthecylinder.Theintegrand
isthecomponentofthelocalfluidvelocityin
thedirectiontangenttothecurve and isaninfinitesimallengthonthecurve, .Equation(1)isaformoftheKuttaJoukowski
theorem.
KuetheandSchetzerstatetheKuttaJoukowskitheoremasfollows:[4]
Theforceperunitlengthactingonarightcylinderofanycrosssectionwhatsoeverisequalto
thedirectionof

,andisperpendicularto

InusingtheKuttaJoukowskitheorem,cautionshouldbepaidoncirculation .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutta%E2%80%93Joukowski_theorem

1/6

8/18/2016

KuttaJoukowskitheoremWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

CirculationandKuttacondition
Aliftproducingairfoileitherhascamberoristranslatinginauniformfluidatanangleofattack
(anglebetweenthechordlineand
thedirectionoftranslation).Moreover,itmusthaveasharptrailingedge.Todesignaliftproducingairfoilwecertainlyhaveborrowed
muchfrombirdwingssincebirdwingshavesectionorairfoilswithsharptrailingedge,withcamberandmovinginairatsomeangleof
attack.
Anyrealflowisviscousandthefluidvelocityvanishesontheairfoilsoweshouldhaveavanishingcirculationifwetreatthefluidas
viscousandiftheloopischosenasthecontouroftheairfoil.Moreover,fluidsmovingalongtheloweranduppersurfacesoftheairfoil
shouldmeetatthesharptrailingedgesinceviscousdissipationpreventsthefluidtoturnroundthesharpedge.ThisisknownastheKutta
conditionforrealflow.PrandtldiscoveredthatwhentheReynoldsnumber,definedas

,islargeenoughandtheangleof

attackissmallenough,thentheflowaroundathinenoughairfoiliscomposedofanarrowviscousregioncalledboundarylayernearthe
bodyandaninviscidflowregionoutside.
KuttaandJoukowskidiscoveredthatforcomputingthepressureandliftofathinenoughairfoilforflowwithlargeenoughReynolds
numberandatsmallenoughangleofattack,theflowcanbeassumedinviscidintheentireregion,providedtheKuttaconditionisimposed.
Thisisknownasthepotentialflowtheorythatworksremarkablywellinpractice.ImposingtheKuttaconditionattheinviscidcaseis
equivalenttogivingacirculation.
Insummary,abirdwinglikeairfoilnaturallyproducesliftandtheflowinflightconditionmeetstheKuttacondition.Whenusingthe
potentialflowtheory(assumedinviscidandirrotationalforcalculatingthepressureandlift,andthePrandtlboundarylayerapproximation
maybethenusedtocomputethefrictionaldrag),requiringKuttaconditiontobesatisfiedatflightconditionyieldsacirculationrequired
byapplyingtheKuttaJoukowskitheoremthatgivesaliftforceveryclosetothatoftherealflight.

Derivation
Twoderivationsarepresentedbelow.Thefirstisaheuristicargument,basedonphysicalinsight.Thesecondisaformalandtechnicalone,
requiringbasicvectoranalysisandcomplexanalysis.

Heuristicargument
Foraratherheuristicargument,considerathinairfoilofchord andinfinitespan,movingthroughairofdensity .Lettheairfoilbe
inclinedtotheoncomingflowtoproduceanairspeed ononesideoftheairfoil,andanairspeed
ontheotherside.The
circulationisthen

Thedifferenceinpressure

betweenthetwosidesoftheairfoilcanbefoundbyapplyingBernoulli'sequation:

sotheliftforceperunitspanis

Adifferentialversionofthistheoremappliesoneachelementoftheplateandisthebasisofthinairfoiltheory.

Formalderivation
FormalderivationofKuttaJoukowskitheorem
Firstofall,theforceexertedoneachunitlengthofacylinderofarbitrarycrosssectioniscalculated.[5]Letthisforceperunitlength
(fromnowonreferredtosimplyasforce)be .Sothenthetotalforceis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutta%E2%80%93Joukowski_theorem

2/6

8/18/2016

KuttaJoukowskitheoremWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

whereCdenotestheborderlineofthecylinder, isthestaticpressureofthefluid, istheunitvectornormaltothecylinder,andds

isthearcelementoftheborderlineofthecrosssection.Nowlet betheanglebetweenthenormalvectorandthevertical.Thenthe
componentsoftheaboveforceare:

Nowcomesacrucialstep:considertheusedtwodimensionalspaceasacomplexplane.Soeveryvectorcanberepresentedasa
complexnumber,withitsfirstcomponentequaltotherealpartanditssecondcomponentequaltotheimaginarypartofthe
complexnumber.Then,theforcecanberepresentedas:

Thenextstepistotakethecomplexconjugateoftheforce anddosomemanipulation:

Surfacesegmentsdsarerelatedtochangesdzalongthemby:

Pluggingthisbackintotheintegral,theresultis:

NowtheBernoulliequationisused,inordertoremovethepressurefromtheintegral.Throughouttheanalysisitisassumedthat
thereisnoouterforcefieldpresent.Themassdensityoftheflowis Thenpressure isrelatedtovelocity
by:

Withthistheforce becomes:

Onlyonestepislefttodo:introduce
thecomplexpotentialoftheflow.Thisisrelatedtothevelocitycomponentsas
wheretheapostrophedenotesdifferentiationwithrespecttothecomplexvariablez.Thevelocityistangentto
theborderlineC,sothismeansthat

Therefore,

andthedesiredexpressionfortheforceisobtained:

whichiscalledtheBlasiusChaplyginformula.
ToarriveattheJoukowskiformula,thisintegralhastobeevaluated.Fromcomplexanalysisitisknownthataholomorphicfunction
canbepresentedasaLaurentseries.Fromthephysicsoftheproblemitisdeducedthatthederivativeofthecomplexpotential
willlookthus:

Thefunctiondoesnotcontainhigherorderterms,sincethevelocitystaysfiniteatinfinity.So representsthederivativethe
complexpotentialatinfinity:
.Thenexttaskistofindoutthemeaningof .Usingtheresiduetheoremonthe
aboveseries:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutta%E2%80%93Joukowski_theorem

3/6

8/18/2016

KuttaJoukowskitheoremWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Nowperformtheaboveintegration:

Thefirstintegralisrecognizedasthecirculationdenotedby Thesecondintegralcanbeevalutatedaftersomemanipulation:

Here isthestreamfunction.SincetheCborderofthecylinderisastreamlineitself,thestreamfunctiondoesnotchangeonit,
and
.Hencetheaboveintegraliszero.Asaresult:

Takethesquareoftheseries:

PluggingthisbackintotheBlasiusChaplyginformula,andperformingtheintegrationusingtheresiduetheorem:

AndsotheKuttaJoukowskiformulais:

Liftforcesformorecomplexsituations
TheliftpredictedbyKuttaJoukowskitheoremwithintheframeworkofinviscidpotentialflowtheoryisquiteaccurateevenforreal
viscousflow,providedtheflowissteadyandunseparated.[6]
a)KuttaJoukowskiTheoremforsteadyirrotationalflow.InderivingtheKuttaJoukowskitheorem,theassumptionofirrotationalflow
wasused.Whentherearefreevorticesoutsideofthebody,asmaybethecaseforalargenumberofunsteadyflows,theflowisrotational.
Whentheflowisrotational,morecomplicatedtheoriesshouldbeusedtoderivetheliftforces.Belowareseveralimportantexamples.
b)Impulsivelystartedflowatsmallangleofattack.Foranimpulsivelystartedflowsuchasobtainedbysuddenlyacceleratinganairfoil
orsettinganangleofattack,thereisavortexsheetcontinuouslyshedatthetrailingedgeandtheliftforceisunsteadyortimedependent.
Forsmallangleofattackstartingflow,thevortexsheetfollowsaplanarpath,andthecurveoftheliftcoefficientasfunctionoftimeis
givenbytheWagnerfunction.[7]InthiscasetheinitialliftisonehalfofthefinalliftgivenbytheKuttaJoukowskiformula.[8]Thelift
attains90%ofitssteadystatevaluewhenthewinghastraveledadistanceequaltosevenchordlengths.
c)Impulsivelystartedflowatlargeangleofattack.Whentheangleofattackishighenough,thetrailingedgevortexsheetisinitiallyin
aspiralshapeandtheliftissingular(infinitelylarge)attheinitialtime.[9]Theliftdropsforaveryshorttimeperiodbeforetheusually
assumedmonotonicallyincreasingliftcurveisreached.
d)Startingflowatlargeangleofattackforwingswithsharpleadingedges.If,asforaflatplate,theleadingedgeisalsosharp,then
vorticesalsoshedattheleadingedgeandtheroleofleadingedgevorticesistwofold(1)theyareliftincreasingwhentheyarestillclose
totheleadingedge,sothattheyelevatetheWagnerliftcurve,(2)theyaredetrimentaltoliftwhentheyareconvectedtothetrailingedge,
inducinganewtrailingedgevortexspiralmovingintheliftdecreasingdirection.Forthistypeofflowavortexforceline(VFL)map[10]
canbeusedtounderstandtheeffectofthedifferentvorticesinavarietyofsituations(includingmoresituationsthanstartingflow)andmay
beusedtoimprovevortexcontroltoenhanceorreducethelift.Thevortexforcelinemapisatwodimensionalmaponwhichvortexforce
linesaredisplayed.Foravortexatanypointintheflow,itsliftcontributionisproportionaltoitsspeed,itscirculationandthecosineofthe
anglebetweenthestreamlineandthevortexforceline.Hencethevortexforcelinemapclearlyshowswhetheragivenvortexislift
producingorliftdetrimental.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutta%E2%80%93Joukowski_theorem

4/6

8/18/2016

KuttaJoukowskitheoremWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

e)LagallyTheorem.Whena(mass)sourceisfixedoutsidethebody,aforcecorrectionduetothissourcecanbeexpressedastheproduct
ofthestrengthofoutsidesourceandtheinducedvelocityatthissourcebyallthecausesexceptthissource.ThisisknownastheLagally
theorem.[11]Fortwodimensionalinviscidflow,theclassicalKuttaJoukowskitheorempredictsazerodrag.When,however,thereisvortex
outsidethebody,thereisavortexinduceddrag,inaformsimilartotheinducedlift.
f)GeneralizedLagallyTheorem.Forfreevorticesandotherbodiesoutsideonebodywithoutboundvorticityandwithoutvortex
production,ageneralizedLagallytheoremholds,[12]withwhichtheforcesareexpressedastheproductsofstrengthofinnersingularities
(imagevortices,sourcesanddoubletsinsideeachbody)andtheinducedvelocityatthesesingularitiesbyallcausesexceptthoseinsidethis
body.Thecontributionduetoeachinnersingularitysumsuptogivethetotalforce.Themotionofoutsidesingularitiesalsocontributesto
forces,andtheforcecomponentduetothiscontributionisproportionaltothespeedofthesingularity.
g)IndividualforceofeachbodyforMultiplebodyrotationalflow.Wheninadditiontomultiplefreevorticesandmultiplebodies,there
areboundvorticesandvortexproductiononthebodysurface,thegeneralizedLagallytheoremstillholds,butaforceduetovortex
productionexists.Thisvortexproductionforceisproportionaltothevortexproductionrateandthedistancebetweenthevortexpairin
production.Withthisapproach,anexplicitandalgebraicforceformula,takingintoaccountofallcauses(innersingularities,outside
vorticesandbodies,motionofallsingularitiesandbodies,andvortexproduction)holdsindividuallyforeachbody[13]withtheroleof
otherbodiesrepresentedbyadditionalsingularities.Henceaforcedecompositionaccordingtobodiesispossible.
h)Generalthreedimensionalviscousflow.Forgeneralthreedimensional,viscousandunsteadyflow,forceformulasareexpressedin
integralforms.Thevolumeintegrationofcertainflowquantities,suchasvorticitymoments,isrelatedtoforces.Variousformsofintegral
approacharenowavailableforunboundeddomain[8][14][15]andforartificiallytruncateddomain.[16]TheKuttaJoukowskitheoremcanbe
recoveredfromtheseapproacheswhenappliedtoatwodimensionalairfoilandwhentheflowissteadyandunseparated.
i)Liftinglinetheoryforwings,wingtipvorticesandinduceddrag.Awinghasafinitespan,andthecirculationatanysectionofthe
wingvarieswiththespanwisedirection.Thisvariationiscompensatedbythereleaseofstreamwisevortices(calledtrailingvortices),due
toconservationofvorticityorKelvinTheoremofCirculationConservation.Thesestreamwisevorticesmergetotwocounterrotating
strongspirals,calledwingtipevortices,separatedbydistanceclosetothewingspanandmaybevisibleiftheskyiscloudy.Treatingthe
trailingvorticesasaseriesofsemiinfinitestraightlinevorticesleadstothewellknownliftinglinetheory.Bythistheory,thewinghasa
liftforcesmallerthanthatpredictedbyapurelytwodimensionaltheoryusingtheKuttaJoukowskitheorem.Mostimportantly,thereisan
induceddrag.Thisinduceddragisapressuredragwhichhasnothingtodowithfrictionaldrag.

Seealso
MagnusEffect
Horseshoevortex
Kuttacondition
Liftcoefficient
Wing

Notes
1.Anderson,J.D.Jr.,IntroductiontoFlight,Section5.19,McGrawHill,NY(3rded.1989.)
2."Liftonrotatingcylinders".NASAGlennResearchCenter.20101109.Retrieved20131107.
3.Clancy,L.J.,Aerodynamics,Section4.5
4.A.M.KuetheandJ.D.Schetzer,FoundationsofAerodynamics,Section4.9(2nded.)
5.Batchelor,G.K.,AnIntroductiontoFluidDynamics,p406
6.AndersonJFundamentalsofAerodynamics,McgrawHillSeriesinAeronauticalandAerospaceEngineering,McGrawHillEducation,NewYork
2010
7.WagnerHUberdieEntstehungdesdynamischenAuftriebesvonTragflueln.Z.Angew.Math.Mech.1925,5,17.
8.SaffmanPGVortexdynamics,CambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork,1992.
9.GrahamJMRTheliftonanaerofoilinstartingflow|publisher=JournalofFluidMechanics,1983,vol133,pp413425
10.LiJ,WuZN."UnsteadyliftfortheWagnerprobleminthepresenceofadditionalleadingtrailingedgevortices".JournalofFluidMechanics,2015,
Vol769,pp182217.
11.MilneThomsonLMTheoreticalHydrodynamics[p226],MacmillanEducationLTD,HongKong.1968
12.WuCT,YangFL&YoungDLGeneralizedtwodimensionalLagallytheoremwithfreevorticesanditsapplicationtofluidbodyinteraction
problems,JournalofFluidMechanics,2012,vol698,pp7392.
13.BaiCY,LiJ,WuZN."GeneralizedKuttaJoukowskitheoremformultivortexandmultiairfoilflowwithvortexproductionAgeneralmodel".
ChineseJournalofAeronautics,2014Vol.27(5),pp10371050.
14.WuJC,Theoryforaerodynamicforceandmomentinviscousflows,AIAAJournal,1981,vol.19,pp432441.
15.HoweMS,Ontheforceandmomentonabodyinanincompressiblefluid,withapplicationtorigidbodiesandbubblesathighReynoldsnumbers,
QuartlyJournalofMechanicsandAppliedMathematics,1995,vol.48,pp401425.
16.WuJC,LuXY&ZhuangLX,Integralforceactingonabodyduetolocalflowstructures,JournalofFluidMechanics,2007,vol.576,pp265286.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutta%E2%80%93Joukowski_theorem

5/6

8/18/2016

KuttaJoukowskitheoremWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

References
Batchelor,G.K.(1967)AnIntroductiontoFluidDynamics,CambridgeUniversityPress
Clancy,L.J.(1975),Aerodynamics,PitmanPublishingLimited,LondonISBN0273011200
A.M.KuetheandJ.D.Schetzer(1959),FoundationsofAerodynamics,JohnWiley&Sons,Inc.,NewYorkISBN0471509523
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=KuttaJoukowski_theorem&oldid=723202890"
Categories: Aerodynamics Fluiddynamics Physicstheorems
Thispagewaslastmodifiedon1June2016,at17:05.
TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionShareAlikeLicenseadditionaltermsmayapply.Byusingthissite,you
agreetotheTermsofUseandPrivacyPolicy.WikipediaisaregisteredtrademarkoftheWikimediaFoundation,Inc.,anonprofit
organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutta%E2%80%93Joukowski_theorem

6/6