Note on flow structure near the corner of a wedge

The low-Reynolds-number flow near the sharp corner of a wedge-shaped obstacle is reconsidered. For flow round the corner, the velocity is zero (and the vorticity infinite) at the vertex, yet it is shown that fluid particles accelerate as their distance r r $r$ from the vertex decreases, i.e. as they approach the point of zero velocity. By contrast, for symmetric flow towards the corner, fluid particles decelerate as the corner region is approached. The limiting case in which the wedge collapses to a flat plate is given special consideration. For flow round the edge of the plate (with symmetric streamfunction), the streamlines are parabolic. In this flat-plate limit, a family of asymmetric flows is determined.