Explicit solution for the potential flow due to an assembly of stirrers in an inviscid fluid

Abstract

The motion of an irrotational incompressible fluid driven by an assembly of stirrers, of arbitrary shape, moving at specified velocities in the fluid is considered. The problem is shown to be equivalent to a standard mathematical problem in potential theory known as the modified Schwarz problem. It turns out that the solution to this problem can be written down, in closed form, as an explicit integral depending on the conformal mapping to the fluid region from a canonical pre-image region and a kernel function expressed in terms of a transcendental function called the Schottky–Klein prime function. In this way, an explicit integral solution, up to conformal mapping, for the complex potential of the flow generated by an arbitrary assembly of stirrers can be written down.