In fluid dynamics, two types of stream function are defined:
- The two-dimensional (or Lagrange) stream function, introduced by Joseph Louis Lagrange in 1781,[1] is defined for incompressible (divergence-free), two-dimensional flows.
- The Stokes stream function, named after George Gabriel Stokes,[2] is defined for incompressible, three-dimensional flows with axisymmetry.
The properties of stream functions make them useful for analyzing and graphically illustrating flows.
The remainder of this article describes the two-dimensional stream function.
- ^ Lagrange, J.-L. (1868), "Mémoire sur la théorie du mouvement des fluides (in: Nouveaux Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences et Belles-Lettres de Berlin, année 1781)", Oevres de Lagrange, vol. Tome IV, pp. 695–748
- ^ Stokes, G.G. (1842), "On the steady motion of incompressible fluids", Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 7: 439–453, Bibcode:1848TCaPS...7..439S
Reprinted in: Stokes, G.G. (1880), Mathematical and Physical Papers, Volume I, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–16