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Stream function
Function for incompressible divergence-free flows in two dimensions / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For three-dimensional flows with axisymmetry, see Stokes stream function.
In fluid dynamics, two types of stream function are defined:
- The two-dimensional (or Lagrange) stream function, introduced by Joseph Louis Lagrange in 1781,[1] is defined for incompressible (divergence-free), two-dimensional flows.
- The Stokes stream function, named after George Gabriel Stokes,[2] is defined for incompressible, three-dimensional flows with axisymmetry.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Potential_cylinder.svg/320px-Potential_cylinder.svg.png)
The properties of stream functions make them useful for analyzing and graphically illustrating flows.
The remainder of this article describes the two-dimensional stream function.