The mingling of the wake and counterwake may be regarded as a phenomenon quite apart from the initial disturbance, and the turbulence or otherwise of the wake does not materially add to or detract from the pressure on the front face of the body, but concerns merely the ultimate disposal of the energy left behind in the fluid.
No distinction is necessary between the frictional wake and the dead-water wake so far as the production of a counterwake current is concerned. The total wake current is the sum of the two, and the total counterwake is equal and opposite to the total wake.
§ 23. Streamline Motion in the Light of the Theory of Discontinuity.— The theory of kinetic discontinuity presents the subject of streamline motion in a new light, and enables us to formulate a true definition of streamline form. Thus—
A streamline body is one that in its motion through a Fluid does not give rise to a surface of discontinuity.
In the previous discussion, § 9 et seq., no attempt has been made to delineate streamline form, that is to say (according to the present definition), the form of body that in its motion through a fluid will not give rise to discontinuity. It has been assumed that such a body is a possibility, and from the physical requirements of the case the general character of the body form has been taken for granted.
Under our definition, if, as in the mathematical (Eulerian) theory, we assume continuity as hypothesis, then all bodies must be streamline, which is the well-known consequence. If, on the other hand, as in the Newtonian medium, we assume discontinuity, then it is evident by our definition that streamline form can have no existence, which, again, is what we know to be the case. It remains for us to demonstrate, on the assumption of the properties of an ordinary fluid, the conditions which govern the existence or otherwise of discontinuity, and so control the form of a streamline body.
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