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Here both the divergence and vorticity vanish:The flow is incompressible and irrotational. With $\mathbf{u}=\nabla \varphi$ and $(u_x,u_y)=({\psi }_y,-{\psi }_x)$,The streamlines are the level sets $x^2-y^2=\text{constant}$. To determine the arrows, put $r=x+y$ and $s=x-y$. A particle satisfies $\dot{r}=-2r$, $\dot{s}=2s$. Thus the separatrix $y=x$ approaches the stagnation point at the origin, whereas $y=-x$ leaves it; the other streamlines are hyperbolas following those asymptotes. The origin itself is a stationary particle.

For constant fluid density $\rho$, steady Euler equations for an inviscid fluid under a conservative force per unit mass $-\nabla \Phi$ read $(\mathbf{u}\cdot \nabla )\mathbf{u}=-\nabla p/\rho -\nabla \Phi$. Here $\mathbf{u}$ is velocity, $p$ pressure and $\Phi$ potential per unit mass. Dotting with $\mathbf{u}$ givesThis is the Bernoulli equation. The constants can differ between streamlines. If density varies, the same derivation for a barotropic fluid replaces $p/\rho$ by ${\int }^{p}d{p}^{\prime }/\rho (p^{\prime })$; constant density is the appropriate water approximation here.

For the draining cone, the radius at height $h$ is $h$ and the horizontal area is $\pi h^2$. Both the free surface and the jet are at atmospheric pressure; their gravitational potential difference is approximately $gh$. The speed of the descending surface is smaller than the jet speed by the area ratio ${ϵ}^2/h^2$, so it can be neglected when $h\gg ϵ$. The Bernoulli equation then gives Torricelli's law, $U\simeq \sqrt{2gh}$. Conservation of mass givesHence the leading drainage time of a conical tank isRemoving the tip places the aperture at height of order $ϵ$, and the quasi-steady calculation fails in the last layer of that depth. Integrating down only to $h=O(ϵ)$ changes the displayed leading time by relative order $(ϵ/h_0{)}^{5/2}$; replacing the actual head $h-ϵ$ by $h$ introduces a larger, but still vanishing, relative correction of order $ϵ/h_0$. The formula is the ideal inviscid estimate under the question's stated approximation, not an exact law for the final transient or a real contracted jet.

Write $\mathbf{g}=-g{\mathbf{e}}_z$. The vertical component of the balance gives hydrostatic pressure,Its horizontal gradient is ${\nabla }_{h}p=\rho g{\nabla }_{h}h$. The horizontal balance is consequentlyThus $\mathbf{u}\cdot {\nabla }_{h}h=0$: the velocity is tangent to every level set of $h$, so those contours are streamlines of the geostrophic flow.

Across a vertical section joining the contours $h_0$ and $h_0+\Delta h$, an element of horizontal distance normal to the contours is $dn=dh/|{\nabla }_{h}h|$, while $|\mathbf{u}|=(g/f)|{\nabla }_{h}h|$. The volumetric flow rate is thereforeFor dimensional analysis, $[g]=L{T}^{-2}$, $[f]=T^{-1}$ and $[h_0]=[\Delta h]=L$, so the result has dimension $L^3{T}^{-1}$, exactly that of a volume flux.

Adopt the Boussinesq approximation, hydrostatic approximation, traditional approximation, and inviscid quasi-geostrophic approximation. Assume stable constant $N_0^2>0$, nonzero Coriolis parameter $f_0$, a beta plane, small Rossby number, $\beta L/|f_0|$ of that small order, and small displacement of the background stratification. Vertical advection of the buoyancy perturbation is then higher order. Define the quasi-geostrophic streamfunction byThe buoyancy and vertical vorticity equations at the retained order areDifferentiate the first in $z$. Since $J({\psi }_z,{\psi }_z)=0$, its material-derivative term becomes $f_0{D}_g{\psi }_{zz}$. Elimination of $w_z$ gives diabatically forced quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity:Thus it is the height gradient of heating, rather than heating alone, that produces potential vorticity at this order.

For the steady response linearized about rest, assume $\beta \ne 0$. The quasi-geostrophic potential-vorticity equation reduces to $\beta {\psi }_x=f_0{R}_z/N_0^2$. Choosing the horizontally uniform pressure gauge so that $\psi \to 0$ in the east gives the steady quasi-geostrophic response to localized heatingSetUsing the error function to integrate the Gaussian function givesThese velocities vanish as $x\to +\infty$. A depth-dependent but horizontally uniform addition to $\psi$ is dynamically irrelevant for the requested horizontal velocity. At $z=0$, streamlines are contours of $e^{-y^2/L^2}I(x)$. For $f_0,\beta ,R_0>0$, flow approaches the heating region from the west on its northern side, turns southward, and returns westward on its southern side. The contours are open, not closed gyres: $I$ tends to a nonzero constant in the west.

For $-H<z<0$, $R_z<0$ and the forcing decreases potential vorticity; steady balance requires $\beta v_g=f_0{R}_z/N_0^2<0$, giving southward flow. Below $z=-H$, $R_z>0$ and the meridional flow reverses. A constant heating rate independent of $z$ would have no such interior potential vorticity source.

For the nonlinear diagnostic quasi-geostrophic omega equation, write $\zeta ={\nabla }_h^2\psi$. Apply ${\nabla }_h^2$ to buoyancy evolution and $f_0{\partial }_z$ to vorticity evolution:Subtracting eliminates the pressure tendency and yieldsThe beta term is linear and must remain when the nonlinear terms are neglected. For the steady weak-forcing solution, $f_0\beta {\psi }_{xz}=f_0^2{R}_{zz}/N_0^2$, soThis also follows immediately from the steady linear buoyancy equation. It satisfies $w=0$ at $z=0$, decay at depth and horizontal infinity, and the linear quasi-geostrophic omega equation; with these homogeneous conditions the elliptic problem has no extra decaying homogeneous solution. The rigid-lid interpretation is an additional boundary approximation for this diagnostic response.

At $x=0$, the displayed $v_g$ and $w$ provide the requested meridional/vertical arrows. For positive heating there is upwelling concentrated near $y=0$, maximal in depth at $z=-H$, with northward flow below that depth and southward flow above. The vertical circulation tends to zero far from the forcing. A western zonal wake persists, but its meridional and vertical components vanish as $x\to -\infty$. Horizontal ageostrophic flow supplies the divergence associated with the upwelling; the projected $(v_g,w)$ slice is not itself a two-dimensional incompressible flow and need not have closed streamlines.

The steady calculation fixes an interior circulation, not its attainability from every possible initial and boundary state. For example, a rigid lid with initially uniform boundary buoyancy conserves that buoyancy at linear order because $R(0)=w(0)=0$. The formal steady profile instead generally has nonuniform $b^{\prime }(0)=f_0{\psi }_z(0)$. Such additional initial boundary data require a time-dependent adjustment and cannot simply be imposed on this particular steady solution. No boundary buoyancy data are supplied for the requested steady problem.

The velocity field is incompressible becauseWith the convention $u_x={\psi }_y$ and $u_y=-{\psi }_x$, a stream function isThe vorticity is vertical:For a steady inviscid incompressible flow, the vorticity equation is $(\mathbf{u}\cdot \nabla )\mathbf{\omega }=(\mathbf{\omega }\cdot \nabla )\mathbf{u}$. Here the right side is zero because the flow is independent of $z$, while the left side is $2(\mathbf{u}\cdot \nabla \psi ){\mathbf{e}}_z=0$ because velocity is tangent to the level sets of $\psi$. Thus the equation is satisfied.

The streamlines are the level curves $\sin x\sin y=\text{constant}$. The lines $x=\pi$ and $y=\pi$, together with the boundary, are separatrices; each of the four cells contains closed nested curves around a centre at $(\pi /2,\pi /2)$, $(3\pi /2,\pi /2)$, $(\pi /2,3\pi /2)$, or $(3\pi /2,3\pi /2)$.

A streamline satisfiesIntegration givesThe radius is smallest on the wedge bisector $\theta =\alpha /2$, where $\sin (\gamma \theta )=1$. Labelling that radius by $r_{\min }$ therefore givesEvery streamline arrives from infinity along one wall, reaches its closest point on the bisector, and returns to infinity along the other wall:

At an interior stagnation point, ${\psi }_r={\psi }_{\theta }=0$. The first equation isSince $\sin \theta >0$ inside the fluid, $r=2\sqrt{2}a\sin \theta$. AlsoOn the preceding locus the bracket is nonzero, so $\cos \theta =0$. ThereforeFor $\Omega >0$, $\psi <0$ in the interior, and its nested nonzero level curves are closed recirculating streamlines around this unique stagnation point.

A streamline $x(s)=(x(s),y(s),z(s))$ satisfieswith $(x(0),y(0),z(0))=(1,0,0)$. ThereforeFor $\beta \ne 0$ this is a helix, with $x=\cos (\alpha z/\beta )$ and $y=-\sin (\alpha z/\beta )$; for $\beta =0$ it is the unit circle in the plane $z=0$.

Writing the velocity as $(u,v)=(y,ax)$ givesso the flow is incompressible. With the conventiona stream function isThe streamlines are its level sets. For $a>0$, they are the hyperbolaswith separatrices $y=\pm \sqrt{a}x$ and a saddle at the origin. For $a<0$, they are concentric ellipsestraversed clockwise. This is the streamline classification of a planar linear saddle or centre.

The scalar vorticity isHence the flow is irrotational exactly whenThen $(u,v)=(y,x)=\nabla \varphi$, and a velocity potential is

The steady Euler equations for an inviscid fluid areTaking the scalar product with $u$ and usinggivesThusThe Bernoulli function $H$ is constant along each streamline: fluid particles in steady flow exchange pressure, kinetic, and potential energy without changing their total mechanical energy density.

Let $y(t)$ be the downward displacement of the free surface from its initial level, and let $U$ be the speed in the tube. Conservation of volume givesThe free surface and the outlet are both at atmospheric pressure, and their vertical separation is $H+h_0-y$. Applying the Bernoulli equation between them, while retaining the small free-surface speed, givesThereforeThe surface reaches the upper tube end when $y=h_0$. Hence the draining time of a uniform tank through a siphon is

The radial equation can be writtenThus the Bernoulli function is constant on each streamline:The boundary conditions $u\to 0$ and $\rho \to {\rho }_0$ as $r\to \infty$ fix $\mathcal{B}=c_s^2\ln {\rho }_0$.

For steady inviscid flow, Bernoulli's equation along a streamline isWriting steady Euler flow in divergence form and integrating over $V$ givesby incompressibility and the divergence theorem.

The initially irrotational inviscid flow remains irrotational, so $u=\nabla \varphi$; incompressibility gives ${\nabla }^2\varphi =0$. At the plates, normal velocity matches their motion:With $\varphi =r^{2}f(\theta )$, Laplace's equation gives $f^{\prime \prime }+4f=0$. The symmetric solution isHenceA streamfunction isso streamlines are $r^2\sin 2\theta =\text{constant}$ and fluid is expelled radially as the plates close. The outward flux through $r=R$ is

In the cylinder frame the wall moves at velocity $-U$. The parabolic lubrication gap and its natural stretched coordinate areThe wall values are $u(0)=-U$ and $u(h)=\Omega a$ to leading order. The Couette-Poiseuille flow in a thin gap is thereforeand its constant flux isThe pressure recovery condition in lubrication flow gives ${\int }_{-\infty }^{\infty }{p}_{x}dx=0$. Sinceit follows that

Differentiating the velocity profile gives the two surface shear stressesUsing $\int h^{-1}dx=2\pi /\sqrt{ϵ}$ and $\int h^{-2}dx=2\pi /(a{ϵ}^{3/2})$, the shear force exerted by the fluid on the wall isand that exerted by the fluid on the cylinder isThey are not equal and opposite because pressure acting on the sloping cylinder surface also transfers tangential momentum. Indeed, integration by parts gives the cylinder's pressure forceso its total leading hydrodynamic force is $-4\pi \mu U/\sqrt{ϵ}$.

The cylinder's excess weight per unit axial length is $\pi a^2\Delta \rho g$ in the falling direction, and it has no gravitational couple about its axis. Force and couple balance therefore giveThe second result follows because the leading viscous couple is $-4\pi \mu \Omega a^2/\sqrt{ϵ}$.

For $\Omega =0$, write $h=(ϵa/2)(1+{\xi }^2)$. ThenThus $p$ is an odd pressure disturbance that vanishes at $x=0$ and at both infinities; its extrema occur at $\xi =\pm 1/\sqrt{3}$. The cylinder shear is positive near the narrowest point, negative in the outer parts of the gap, and vanishes atThe streamlines pass through the gap in the wall's direction overall. Pressure-driven backflow bends the interior streamlines and creates the two shear-reversal locations on the cylinder; the streamline sketch is symmetric under a half-turn combined with reversal of the flow direction.

For the final Couette flow, the lower and upper minimum gaps are $ϵa(1+\lambda )/2$ and $ϵa(1-\lambda )/2$. If the cylinder translates at speed $V$, the two leading lubrication drags are proportional toThe force-free condition givesFor $\lambda =0$, $V=0$ and the streamlines in the two equal gaps are mirror images with opposite directions. The $O(\mu Ua)$ subleading wall-driven couple must balance the leading rotational resistance $O(\mu \Omega a^2/\sqrt{ϵ})$, so

The relative coefficient change is $t/\alpha$, so for $t\ll \alpha$ the flow is approximately steady and its streamlines are $\alpha y^2/2-x=C$.

At fixed $t$, streamlines satisfy $(\alpha +t)y^2/2-x=C$: right-opening parabolas, more tightly curved at $t=1$ than at $t=0$.

Stokes flow obeys $-\nabla p+\mu {\nabla }^{2}u=0$, $\nabla \cdot u=0$. Reversing all applied forces reverses $u$ while leaving streamlines unchanged. Reflection in the vertical plane containing the cylinder axis rules out rotation normal to that plane; reflection combined with reversibility rules out rotation within it and spin about the axis. Thus its orientation remains fixed.