External Flows — Lesson 1

We encounter external fluid flows on an everyday basis — from the flow of air around a hooked golf ball, to the flow of air around your car as you drive.

Here is a cool video that shows the air flow over a car and over an aircraft wing inside a wind tunnel.

In this lesson, we will introduce the idea of external flows, discuss the key phenomena of lift and drag forces, and finally develop the analytical solution for flow over a sphere at very low speeds.

Alternate video link.