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Full-Text Articles in Engineering Science and Materials

Distortion And Evolution Of A Localized Vortex In An Irrotational Flow, Joseph F. Lingevitch, Andrew J. Bernoff May 1995

Distortion And Evolution Of A Localized Vortex In An Irrotational Flow, Joseph F. Lingevitch, Andrew J. Bernoff

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This paper examines the interaction of an axisymmetric vortex monopole, such as a Lamb vortex, with a background irrotational flow. At leading order, the monopole is advected with the background flow velocity at the center of vorticity. However, inhomogeneities of the flow will cause the monopole to distort. It is shown that a shear‐diffusion mechanism, familiar from the study of mixing of passive scalars, plays an important role in the evolution of the vorticity distribution. Through this mechanism, nonaxisymmetric vorticity perturbations which do not shift the center of vorticity are homogenized along streamlines on a Re1/3 time scale, much faster …


Rapid Relaxation Of An Axisymmetric Vortex, Andrew J. Bernoff, Joseph F. Lingevitch Nov 1994

Rapid Relaxation Of An Axisymmetric Vortex, Andrew J. Bernoff, Joseph F. Lingevitch

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In this paper it is argued that a two‐dimensional axisymmetric large Reynolds number (Re) monopole when perturbed will return to an axisymmetric state on a time scale (Re1/3) that is much faster than the viscous evolution time scale (Re). It is shown that an arbitrary perturbation can be broken into three pieces; first, an axisymmetric piece corresponding to a slight radial redistribution of vorticity; second, a translational piece which corresponds to a small displacement of the center of the original vortex; and finally, a nonaxisymmetric perturbation which decays on the Re1/3 time scale due to a shear/diffusion …