Helmholtz decomposition revisited: Vorticity generation and trailing edge condition

The use of the Helmholtz decomposition for exterior incompressible viscous flows is examined, with special emphasis on the issue of the boundary conditions for the vorticity. The problem is addressed by using the decomposition for the infinite space; that is, by using a representation for the velocity that is valid for both the fluid region and the region inside the boundary surface. The motion of the boundary is described as the limiting case of a sequence of impulsive accelerations. It is shown that at each instant of velocity discontinuity, vorticity is generated by the boundary condition on the normal component of the velocity, for both inviscid and viscous flows. In viscous flows, the vorticity is then diffused into the surroundings: this yields that the no-slip conditions are thus automatically satisfied (since the presence of a vortex layer on the surface is required to obtain a velocity slip at the boundary). This result is then used to show that in order for the solution to the Euler equations to be the limit of the solution to the Navier-Stokes equations, a trailing-edge condition (that the vortices be shed as soon as they are formed) must be satisfied. The use of the results for a computational scheme is also discussed. Finally, Lighthill's transpiration velocity is interpreted in terms of Helmholtz decomposition, and extended to unsteady compressible flows.