Variational Methods in Cavitational Flow
Abstract
The study of cavitational flow is formulated as a free boundary problem for the Laplace equation in three dimensions. Constant pressure free streamlines are determined by a variational principle for the virtual mass. Steepest descent applied to minimization of the potential energy suggests a natural iteration scheme to calculate the shape of the cavity bounded by the free streamlines. Numerical methods enable one to estimate the drag and the geometry of the flow. Another version of the variational principle plays an important role in plasma physics and the theory of magnetic fusion. Novel stellarator configurations for a thermonuclear reactor have been designed by running large computer codes based on these mathematical ideas.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADP012076
Entities
People
- P. R. Garabedian
Organizations
- New York University