Self-similarity of trailing vortices

Birch, DM (2012) Self-similarity of trailing vortices Physics of Fluids, 24 (2), 025105.

Preview	Text Birch2012.pdf - Accepted version Manuscript Available under License : See the attached licence file. Download (263kB)
Preview	Text (licence) SRI_deposit_agreement.pdf Download (33kB)

Abstract

Trailing vortices have been repeatedly shown to exhibit a remarkably robust self-similarity independent of the Reynolds number and upstream boundary conditions. The collapse of the inner-scaled circulation profiles of a trailing vortex has even been previously demonstrated for the cases of highly unsteady and turbulent vortex systems, as well as for vortices which were incompletely developed. A number of factors which contribute to and may artificially promote this self-similarity are discussed. It is shown that the amplitude of vortex “wandering” (or the random modulations in the vortex trajectory) observed in some experimental measurements are of sufficient amplitude to cause any arbitrary finite and axisymmetric flow structure to collapse with an idealized trailing vortex when scaled on inner parameters. It is further shown that, for the case of an incompletely developed wing-tip vortex, similarity in the outer core region may be an artefact of the rate of roll-up of the vortex sheet. Great care must, therefore, be taken when interpreting experimental measurements of vortex flows.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions :	Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > Mechanical Engineering Sciences
Authors :	Name Email ORCID Birch, DM
Date :	2012
DOI :	10.1063/1.3689179
Additional Information :	Copyright 2012 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Physics of Fluids, 24 (2) 025105 and may be found at D.M. Birch, Phys. Fl. 24, 025105 (2012)
Depositing User :	Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited :	20 Apr 2012 15:08
Last Modified :	31 Oct 2017 14:32
URI:	http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/id/eprint/425660

Actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads