text: The dynamic of fluid parcels is described with the help of Newton's second law. An accelerating parcel of fluid is subject to inertial effects.
  The Reynolds number is a dimensionless quantity which characterises the magnitude of inertial effects compared to the magnitude of viscous effects. A low Reynolds number () indicates that viscous forces are very strong compared to inertial forces. In such cases, inertial forces are sometimes neglected; this flow regime is called Stokes or creeping flow.
  In contrast, high Reynolds numbers () indicate that the inertial effects have more effect on the velocity field than the viscous (friction) effects. In high Reynolds number flows, the flow is often modeled as an inviscid flow, an approximation in which viscosity is completely neglected. Eliminating viscosity allows the Navier–Stokes equations to be simplified into the Euler equations. The integration of the Euler equations along a streamline in an inviscid flow yields Bernoullis equation. When, in addition to being inviscid, the flow is irrotational everywhere, Bernoullis equation can completely describe the flow everywhere. Such flows are called potential flows, because the velocity field may be expressed as the gradient of a potential energy expression.
  This idea can work fairly well when the Reynolds number is high. However, problems such as those involving solid boundaries may require that the viscosity be included. Viscosity cannot be neglected near solid boundaries because the no-slip condition generates a thin region of large strain rate, the boundary layer, in which viscosity effects dominate and which thus generates vorticity. Therefore, to calculate net forces on bodies (such as wings), viscous flow equations must be used: inviscid flow theory fails to predict drag forces, a limitation known as the dAlemberts paradox.
  A commonly used model, especially in computational fluid dynamics, is to use two flow models: the Euler equations away from the body, and boundary layer equations in a region close to the body. The two solutions can then be matched with each other, using the method of matched asymptotic expansions.