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Significance
Fluids in motion are heavily influenced by obstacles in their way. This is much of what makes fluid dynamics so difficult, as even a falling leaf can cause significant disturbances in the flow of air around it. Barrier flow diagrams offer a method with which to conceptualize these currents.
Features
Barrier flow diagrams incorporate a background fluid with a specified direction of movement. Speed might also be known, not to be directly incorporated, but to modulate the size of disturbances caused by the obstacles, or "barriers." There are three main types of barriers depicted in these diagrams: poloidal (or rectangular), axial (or triangular) and vortexial (or elliptical), each with different effects on the local current.
Considerations
It is important to remember that current is an extremely complex phenomenon, and a barrier flow diagram only offers an extremely simplified version of what is going on in a fluid. While it may offer some insight into, for example, the types of currents that are likely to occur in certain locations, it should never be considered an accurate map of the currents in the fluid.