Of or pert. to a stream line; designating a motion or flow that is free from turbulence, like that of a particle in a streamline; hence, designating a surface, body, etc., that is designed so as to afford an unbroken flow of a fluid about it, esp. when the resistance to flow is the least possible; as, a streamline body for an automobile or airship; -- the current usuage prefers the term streamlined.
to design or modify so as to present the least possible resistance to fluid flow; -- used mostly of vehicles, such as automobiles, airplanes, or ships.
a type of fluid flow in which each layer of fluid follows a smooth path past other layers without crossing over or becoming tangled (also called laminar flow)
A line on a weather map showing the path a parcel of air would follow as it moves through the atmosphere.
Streamlines of flow about a streamline body follow the contours of the body. In streamline bodies the flow remains attached, whilst keeping wake behind it to a minimum.
a curve that is at all times and in all locations tangent to the velocity vector
a curve whose tangent always lies along the direction of motion of fluid at that point
a field line in the velocity field of a fluid at some instant, ie
a line showing the direction all air parcels are moving at any instant in time
a line that is tangential to the instantaneous velocity direction (velocity is a vector, and it has a magnitude and a direction)
an imaginary line that is tangent to the direction of flow of the air
a path traced out by a massless particle as it moves with the flow
A curve which is parallel to the instantaneous direction of the wind vector at all points along it. Isobars are streamlines only in strict geostrophic flow.
The path followed by a particular portion of a flowing fluid.
The path followed by an imaginary particle of water.
The path an idealized particle would follow if introduced into a wind or fluid flow. For example (as an approximation to the ideal), the path a speck of dust would take in a wind.
A path in a steady flow field along which a given fluid particle travels.
A line used on some weather maps to indicate wind flow.
A line with its tangent at any point in a fluid parallel to the instantaneous velocity of the fluid at that point. The differential equations of the streamline may be written × = 0, where is an element of the streamline and the velocity vector; or in Cartesian coordinates, dx dy/ = dz/ , where , , and are the fluid velocities along the orthogonal , , and axes, respectively. In steady-state flow the streamlines coincide with the trajectories of the fluid particles; otherwise, the streamline pattern changes with time. A two-dimensional wind-vector field may be completely specified by streamlines and isotachs. See free streamline; compare trajectory.