Example Problems: Streamlines and Pathlines

Problem 1. A 2D velocity field is prescribed by the following equation: u = ( a t x, a t y ,0).

a) Derive expressions for streamlines and pathlines associated with this velocity field.
b) What shapes do these lines have?
Solution. Given a 2D velocity field: u = ( a t x, a t y, 0 ) .
a)

To derive expressions for streamlines and pathlines associated with the

velocity field.
Streamlines are expressed by:

dx dy
dx
dy
dx
dy
=

= ydx + xdy = 0 = d ( xy ) xy = C.
u
v
atx
aty
x
y
Pathlines are expressed by two equations:

dx
dx
a
= u = atx
= at dt x = x0 exp t 2
dt
x
2
dy
dy
a
= v = aty
= at dt y = y0 exp t 2 .
dt
y
2
Note here that if we multiply x and y, we also get a constant x0 y0, which is the same
as the starting point for a streamline. Despite the fact that the flow is unsteady,
streamlines and pathlines yield here the same x-y curve.
b)

Both curves are hyperbolae.

Problem 2. Consider a 2D velocity field that is expressed in Cartesian coordinates as follows:

u = ( k x1 , k x2 ,0 ) , where k>0.
a) Derive an expression for

dy
in terms of x, y and other constants. Here, x corresponds to x1
dx

and y corresponds to x2.

b) Derive an expression for y(x) by integration of

dy
.
dx

c) Plot streamlines based on inlet conditions at y0 = 1, and x0 ranging from -0.5 to 0.5 at
increments of 0.1. These pairs (x0, y0) of inlet values can be used to pin down the values of
any arbitrary constants of integration. The resulting x-y plot is a set of curves corresponding
to streamlines. Also, indicate arrows showing the direction of the flow.
Solution:

a) Along a streamline, the following expression stands for a Cartesian coordinate system:

dx1 dx2 dx3

. In this problem, we drop the third dimension, because the velocity is zero.
=
=
u1
u2
u3
dx dx
dx
dy
dy
y
=

= .
Applied to the present problem, this yields: 1 = 2
u1
u2
kx
ky
dx
x

dy
y
dy
dx
=
= . If x and y are
dx
x
y
x
positive, then integration yields: ln y = ln x + Const x y = C. If any one of the two

b) Now, we attempt to integrate the expression:

variables is negative, then we can substitute a new variable that has a negative sign of the
negative variable, and integrate a gain to get a function of the natural logarithms of x or y.
The different scenarios can be expressed in terms of a simple relation: y =

C
, which is
x

valid in the different quadrants of the x-y plane with respect to the origin. The value of the
constant, C, can be determined by the origin, (x0,y0), of the streamline such that:

y
x
= 0.
y0
x

Also, note the symmetry with respect to the x and y axis. So, it is sufficient to plot y vs. x in
the positive x and y quadrant, and mirror it across the x and y axes.
c) The figure below shows the streamlines for the positive x and y quadrant for the range
specified in the problem statement.

1
0.9
0.8
0.7

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8