Numerical studies of relaxing two-dimensional vortices with non-axisymmetric states

L. A. Barba Department of Aerospace Engineering University of Bristol Bristol BS8 1TR UK A. Leonard Graduate Aeronautical Labs California Institute of Technology Pasadena CA 91125 USA

One of the relevant questions apropos of two-dimensional vortices with elliptical shapes is whether they decay to an axisymmetric state. The process of axisymmetrization is recognized as one of two fundamental processes in the evolution of two-dimensional turbulent ows, the other being vortex merging [6]. These processes participate in the notorious evolution of 2D turbulence to form isolated, coherent vortices, that live for many eddy turn-over periods [5]. The relaxation of linearly perturbed, large-Re Lamb-Oseen vortices was studied numerically in [2], and it was seen that the non-axisymmetric perturbations decay much faster than the viscous timescale. A mechanism of shear-diusion averaging [4] is active, whereby the shearing along streamlines causes the winding-up of the nonaxisymmetric vorticity into spiral structures, which are then rapidly homogenized due to viscous diusion. The axisymmetric state is approached on a Re1/3 timescale, as shown in [4]. We compute the evolution of Gaussian vortex monopoles, with quadrupolar perturbations. Fully nonlinear simulations of this ow were previously presented in [8], where it was observed that whereas for small-amplitude nonaxisymmetric perturbations the ow relaxes to an axisymmetric state, for large enough amplitudes of the perturbation, the ow relaxes instead to a quasi-steady, rotating tripole (only three perturbation amplitudes were computed, however). The shear-diusion mechanism is still active, but only the positive portions of the quadrupolar perturbation are mixed while the negative parts form persistent inclusions. It was suggested that there exists a threshold amplitude separating the domains of attraction of the monopole and tripole. On the other hand, the study of [3] using asymptotic methods leads the author to conjecture that the threshold in perturbation amplitude for the existence of the non-axisymmetric state would decrease with increasing Reynolds numbers, and to lament the lack of calculations with dierent Re in [8]. Presently, a parametric study has been performed by carry10 ing out calculations for various Re and perturbation amplitude . The method used is a fully mesh-less vortex method, develTripole oped in [1]. To quantify axisymmetrization, the magnitude of 10 No tripole the minimum (negative) to maximum vorticity, |min /max |, after several turn-over times is measured. This is shown in Figure 1, for nal time T = 800. Visualization of vorticity (plots and an10 imations will be shown at the oral presentation), indicates that when this ratio is smaller than about 102 there is no tripole structure: the negative vorticity spirals around the core, result10 ing in axisymmetrization. This is indicated by the horizontal line Re = 10 Re = 10 in Figure 1. As conjectured by [3], we conrm that the ampliRe = 3x10 Re = 10 tude of the perturbation for the appearance of a tripole decreases 10 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.35 , amplitude of0.3 perturbation 0.4 the with increasing Reynolds number. The dierence in relaxation behaviour around this threshold amplitude is dramatic, like a Figure 1: |min /max | at T vs. for dierent Re. jump in the min-max ratio of , but it is not clear whether this is a bifurcation or a continuous (but fast!) transition from one state to the other. Results of more than 50 simulations will be summarized and visualized during the oral presentation for the discussion of these interesting issues.
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|min/max| at t=T

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References
[1] L. A. Barba. Vortex method for computing high-Reynolds number ows: Increased accuracy with a fully mesh-less formulation. PhD thesis, California Institute of Technology, 2004. [2] A. J. Berno and J. F. Lingevitch. Rapid relaxation of an axisymmetric vortex. Phys. Fluids, 6(11):37173723, 1994. [3] S. Le Diz`s. Non-axisymmetric vortices in two-dimensional ows. J. Fluid Mech., 406:175198, 2000. e [4] T. S. Lundgren. Strained spiral vortex model for turbulent ne structures. Phys. Fluids, 25(12):21932203, 1982. [5] J. C. McWilliams. The emergence of isolated coherent vortices in turbulent ow. J. Fluid Mech., 146:2143, 1984. [6] M. V. Melander, J. C. McWilliams, and N. J. Zabusky. Axisymmetrization and vorticity-gradient intensication of an isolated two-dimensional vortex through lamentation. J. Fluid Mech., 178:137159, 1987. [7] L. F. Rossi. Resurrecting core spreading vortex methods: A new scheme that is both deterministic and convergent. SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 17:370397, 1996. [8] L. F. Rossi, J. F. Lingevitch, and A. J. Berno. Quasi-steady monopole and tripole attractors for relaxing vortices. Phys. Fluids, 9(8):23292338, 1997.