Two-vortex equilibrium in the flow past a flat plate at incidence

The two-dimensional inviscid incompressible steady flow past an inclined flat plate is considered. A locus of asymmetric equilibrium configurations for vortex pairs is detected. It is shown that the flat geometry has peculiar properties compared to other geometries: (i) in order to satisfy the Kutta condition at both edges, which ensures flow regularity, the total circulation and the force acting on the plate must be zero; and (ii) the Kutta condition and the free vortex equilibrium conditions are not independent of each other. The non-existence of symmetric equilibrium configurations for an orthogonal plate is extended to more general asymmetric flows.