Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/ib/paper-3/16d/solution

The initially irrotational inviscid flow remains irrotational, so ; incompressibility gives . At the plates, normal velocity matches their motion:
With , Laplace's equation gives . The symmetric solution is
Hence
A streamfunction is
so streamlines are and fluid is expelled radially as the plates close. The outward flux through is

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