Year: 2017
Communications in Computational Physics, Vol. 22 (2017), Iss. 2 : pp. 441–459
Abstract
Vortex and vorticity are two correlated but fundamentally different concepts which have been the central issues in fluid mechanics research. Vorticity has rigorous mathematical definition (curl of velocity), but no clear physical meaning. Vortex has clear physical meaning (rotation) but no rigorous mathematical definition. For a long time, many people treat them as a same thing. However, based on our high-order direct numerical simulation (DNS), we found that first, "vortex" is not "vorticity tube" or "vortex tube" which is widely defined as a bundle of vorticity lines without any vorticity line leak. Actually, vortex is an open area for vorticity line penetration. Second, vortex is not necessarily congregation of vorticity lines, but dispersion in many 3-dimensional cases. Some textbooks say that vortex cannot end inside the flow field but must end on the solid wall (and/or boundaries). Our DNS observation and many other numerical results show almost all vortices are ended inside the flow field. Finally, a more theoretical study shows that neither vortex nor vorticity line can attach to the solid wall and they must be detached from the wall.
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Journal Article Details
Publisher Name: Global Science Press
Language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4208/cicp.OA-2016-0183
Communications in Computational Physics, Vol. 22 (2017), Iss. 2 : pp. 441–459
Published online: 2017-01
AMS Subject Headings: Global Science Press
Copyright: COPYRIGHT: © Global Science Press
Pages: 19