Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T19:13:41.883Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Slender-body analysis of the motion and stability of a vortex filament containing an axial flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

Sheila E. Widnall
Affiliation:
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Donald B. Bliss
Affiliation:
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Abstract

Previous results concerning the effects of axial velocity on the motion of vortex filaments are reviewed. These results suggest that a slender-body force balance between the Kutta–Joukowski lift on the vortex cross-section and the momentum flux within the curved filament will give some insight into the behaviour of the filament. These simple ideas are exploited for both a single vortex filament and a vortex pair, both containing axial flow. The stability of a straight vortex filament containing an axial flow to long wave sinusoidal displacements of its centre-line is investigated and the stability boundary obtained. The effect of axial flow on the stability of a vortex pair is explored. It is shown that to lowest order (in the ratio of vortex core radius to distance between the vortices) the effect of axial flow is to reduce the self-induced rotation of a single filament and that this effect can be considered as a change in effective core radius. To the next order, travelling waves appear in the instability, the instability mode for the vortex pair becomes non-planar but the amplification rate of the instability is not affected.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1971 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Batchelor, G. K. & Gill, A. E. 1962 Analysis of the stability of axisymmetric jets. J. Fluid Mech. 14, 529.Google Scholar
Bergman, K. H. 1969 On the dynaniio stability of convective atmospheric vortices. Ph.D. thesis, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington.
Crow, S. C. 1970 Stability theory for a pair of trailing vortices. AIAA Paper 70-53. (To appear in AIAA J.)
Milne-Thompson, L. M. 1968 Theoretical Hydrodynamics. Macmillan.
Moore, D. W. & Saffman, P. B. 1971 Long wave oscillations of a vortex with axial flow. (To be published in Studies in Applied Math.)Google Scholar
Saffman, P. B. 1970 The velocity of viscous vortex rings. Proceedings of the Symposium on Aircraft Wake Turbulence, Seattle, Washington.
Thomson, W. 1910a Vibrations of a columnar vortex. Mathematical and Physical Papers, vol. IV. Cambridge University Press.
Thomson, W. 1910b The translatory velocity of a circular vortex ring. Mathematical and Phyaical Papers, vol. IV. Cambridge University Press.
Widnall, S. E., Bliss, D. & Zalay, A. 1970 Theoretical and experimental study of the stability of a vortex pair. Proceedings of the Symposium on Aircraft Wake Turbulence, Seattle, Washington.