A new class of exact solutions in the planar nonstationary problem of motion of a fluid with a free boundary

Abstract

We consider the classical problem of potential unsteady flow of an ideal incompressible fluid with a free boundary. It was previously discovered that in the absence of external forces and capillarity, a wide class of exact solutions of the problem can be described by the Hopf equation for a complex velocity. We here obtain a new class of solutions described by the Hopf equation for a quantity that is the inverse of the complex velocity. These solutions describe the evolution of two-dimensional perturbations of the free boundary in compression or expansion of a circular cavity (in the unperturbed state) in the fluid.