Question

Is flow over a circular cylinder can produce a finite lift?

(a) True

(b) False

This question was posed to me during an interview.

Enquiry is from Lifting Flow over Cylinder topic in portion Inviscid & Incompressible Flow of Aerodynamics

Answer 1

Correct choice is (a) True

To explain: The pressure imbalance creates a net upward force that is a finite lift. Therefore flow over a circular cylinder can produce a finite lift, from Bernoulli’s equation that as the velocity increases, and the pressure decreases and hence the pressure on the top of the cylinder is lower than on the bottom. This pressure imbalance will create a net upward force, i.e. a finite lift.