Reconnection of colliding vortex rings

P. Chatelain, D. Kivotides, A. Leonard

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A study was conducted on three generic vortex ring configurations and found that in all cases the rings reconnect. In addition, an intensification of dissipation which was local in time and could be a mechanism contributing to turbulence intermittency was observed. Thus, a by-product of reconnection was the formation of stretched structures with antiparallel vorticity which transfer energy to the smallest scales where it was rapidly dissipated. Without this energy redistribution in wave number space the decay of global kinetic energy would be slower.

Original languageEnglish
Article number054501
Pages (from-to)1-4
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume90
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - 7 Feb 2003

Keywords

  • algorithms
  • computational fluid dynamics
  • graph theory
  • incompressible flow
  • integral equations
  • Navier-Stokes equations
  • Reynolds number
  • three dimensional
  • turbulence
  • viscosity of liquids
  • viscous flow
  • Kelvin waves
  • stretched antiparallel vorticity
  • three dimensional incompressible viscous flow
  • vortex rings
  • vortex flow

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