Vortex

In fluid dynamics, a vortex (pl.: vortices or vortexes)[1][2] is

a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis
line, which may be straight or curved.[3][4] Vortices form in
stirred fluids and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools
in the wake of a boat, and in the winds surrounding a tropical
cyclone, tornado, or dust devil.

Vortices are a major component of turbulent flow. The

distribution of velocity, vorticity (the curl of the flow
velocity), as well as the concept of circulation are used to
characterize vortices. In most vortices, the fluid flow velocity Vortex created by the passage of an
is greatest next to its axis and decreases in inverse proportion aircraft wing, revealed by colored smoke
to the distance from the axis.

In the absence of external forces, viscous friction within the

fluid tends to organize the flow into a collection of irrotational
vortices, possibly superimposed to larger-scale flows,
including larger-scale vortices. Once formed vortices can
move, stretch, twist, and interact in complex ways. A moving
vortex carries some angular and linear momentum, energy,
and mass, with it.
Von Kármán vortex street behind a
drinking straw; milk was poured into the

Overview water to make the current visible

In the dynamics of fluid, a vortex is fluid that revolves around

the line of flow. The flow of fluid might be curved or straight.
Vortices form from stirred fluids: they might be observed in
smoke rings, whirlpools, in the wake of a boat or the winds
around a tornado or dust devil.

Vortices are an important part of turbulent flow. Vortices can

otherwise be known as a circular motion of a liquid. In the
cases of the absence of forces, the liquid settles. That makes
A Kármán vortex street is shown in this
the water stay still instead of move.
photo, as winds from the west blow onto
clouds that have formed over the
When they are created, vortices can move, stretch, twist and
mountains in the desert. This
interact in complicated ways. When a vortex is moving,
phenomenon observed from ground level
sometimes, it can affect an angular position. For an example, is extremely rare, as most cloud-related
if a water bucket is rotated or spun constantly, it will rotate Kármán vortex street activity is viewed
from space.
around an invisible line called the axis line. The rotation moves around in circles. In this example the
rotation of the bucket creates extra force.

The reason that the vortices can change shape is the fact that they have open particle paths. This can
create a moving vortex. Examples of this fact are the shapes of tornadoes and drain whirlpools. When two
or more vortices are close together they can merge to make a vortex. Vortices also hold energy in its
rotation of the fluid. If the energy is never removed, it would consist of circular motion forever.

Properties

Vorticity
A key concept in the dynamics of vortices is the vorticity, a
vector that describes the local rotary motion at a point in the
fluid, as would be perceived by an observer that moves along
with it. Conceptually, the vorticity could be observed by
placing a tiny rough ball at the point in question, free to move
with the fluid, and observing how it rotates about its center.
The direction of the vorticity vector is defined to be the
direction of the axis of rotation of this imaginary ball
(according to the right-hand rule) while its length is twice the The Crow instability of a jet aeroplane's
ball's angular velocity. Mathematically, the vorticity is contrail visually demonstrates the vortex
defined as the curl (or rotational) of the velocity field of the created in the atmosphere (gas fluid
fluid, usually denoted by and expressed by the vector medium) by the passage of the aircraft.
analysis formula , where is the nabla operator and
is the local flow velocity.[5]

The local rotation measured by the vorticity must not be confused with the angular velocity vector of
that portion of the fluid with respect to the external environment or to any fixed axis. In a vortex, in
particular, may be opposite to the mean angular velocity vector of the fluid relative to the vortex's axis.

Vortex types
In theory, the speed u of the particles (and, therefore, the vorticity) in a vortex may vary with the distance
r from the axis in many ways. There are two important special cases, however:

If the fluid rotates like a rigid body–that is, if the angular rotational velocity Ω is uniform, so
that u increases proportionally to the distance r from the axis–a tiny ball carried by the flow
would also rotate about its center as if it were part of that rigid body. In such a flow, the
vorticity is the same everywhere: its direction is parallel to the rotation axis, and its
magnitude is equal to twice the uniform angular velocity Ω of the fluid around the center of
rotation.
 A rigid-body vortex

If the particle speed u is inversely proportional to the

distance r from the axis, then the imaginary test ball
would not rotate over itself; it would maintain the
same orientation while moving in a circle around the
vortex axis. In this case the vorticity is zero at any
point not on that axis, and the flow is said to be
irrotational.

An irrotational vortex

Irrotational vortices
In the absence of external forces, a vortex usually evolves fairly
quickly toward the irrotational flow pattern, where the flow velocity u
is inversely proportional to the distance r. Irrotational vortices are also
called free vortices.

For an irrotational vortex, the circulation is zero along any closed

contour that does not enclose the vortex axis; and has a fixed value, Γ,
for any contour that does enclose the axis once.[6] The tangential
component of the particle velocity is then . The angular
momentum per unit mass relative to the vortex axis is therefore
constant, .

The ideal irrotational vortex flow in free space is not physically

realizable, since it would imply that the particle speed (and hence the
force needed to keep particles in their circular paths) would grow Pathlines of fluid particles
around the axis (dashed line)
without bound as one approaches the vortex axis. Indeed, in real
of an ideal irrotational vortex
vortices there is always a core region surrounding the axis where the
(see animation)
particle velocity stops increasing and then decreases to zero as r goes
to zero. Within that region, the flow is no longer irrotational: the
vorticity becomes non-zero, with direction roughly parallel to the vortex axis. The Rankine vortex is a
model that assumes a rigid-body rotational flow where r is less than a fixed distance r0, and irrotational
flow outside that core regions.

In a viscous fluid, irrotational flow contains viscous dissipation everywhere, yet there are no net viscous
forces, only viscous stresses.[7] Due to the dissipation, this means that sustaining an irrotational viscous
vortex requires continuous input of work at the core (for example, by steadily turning a cylinder at the
core). In free space there is no energy input at the core, and thus the compact vorticity held in the core
will naturally diffuse outwards, converting the core to a gradually-slowing and gradually-growing rigid-
body flow, surrounded by the original irrotational flow. Such a decaying irrotational vortex has an exact
solution of the viscous Navier–Stokes equations, known as a Lamb–Oseen vortex.

Rotational vortices
A rotational vortex–a vortex that rotates in the same way as a
rigid body–cannot exist indefinitely in that state except
through the application of some extra force, that is not
generated by the fluid motion itself. It has non-zero vorticity
everywhere outside the core. Rotational vortices are also
called rigid-body vortices or forced vortices.

For example, if a water bucket is spun at constant angular

speed w about its vertical axis, the water will eventually
rotate in rigid-body fashion. The particles will then move
along circles, with velocity u equal to wr.[6] In that case, the
free surface of the water will assume a parabolic shape.
Saturn's north polar vortex
In this situation, the rigid rotating enclosure provides an extra
force, namely an extra pressure gradient in the water, directed
inwards, that prevents transition of the rigid-body flow to the irrotational state.

Vortex formation on boundaries

Vortex structures are defined by their vorticity, the local rotation rate of fluid particles. They can be
formed via the phenomenon known as boundary layer separation which can occur when a fluid moves
over a surface and experiences a rapid acceleration from the fluid velocity to zero due to the no-slip
condition. This rapid negative acceleration creates a boundary layer which causes a local rotation of fluid
at the wall (i.e. vorticity) which is referred to as the wall shear rate. The thickness of this boundary layer
is proportional to (where v is the free stream fluid velocity and t is time).

If the diameter or thickness of the vessel or fluid is less than the boundary layer thickness then the
boundary layer will not separate and vortices will not form. However, when the boundary layer does
grow beyond this critical boundary layer thickness then separation will occur which will generate
vortices.

This boundary layer separation can also occur in the presence of combatting pressure gradients (i.e. a
pressure that develops downstream). This is present in curved surfaces and general geometry changes like
a convex surface. A unique example of severe geometric changes is at the trailing edge of a bluff body
where the fluid flow deceleration, and therefore boundary layer and vortex formation, is located.

Another form of vortex formation on a boundary is when fluid flows perpendicularly into a wall and
creates a splash effect. The velocity streamlines are immediately deflected and decelerated so that the
boundary layer separates and forms a toroidal vortex ring.[8]

Vortex geometry
In a stationary vortex, the typical streamline (a line that is everywhere tangent to the flow velocity vector)
is a closed loop surrounding the axis; and each vortex line (a line that is everywhere tangent to the
vorticity vector) is roughly parallel to the axis. A surface that is everywhere tangent to both flow velocity
and vorticity is called a vortex tube. In general, vortex tubes are nested around the axis of rotation. The
axis itself is one of the vortex lines, a limiting case of a vortex tube with zero diameter.

According to Helmholtz's theorems, a vortex line cannot start or end in the fluid – except momentarily, in
non-steady flow, while the vortex is forming or dissipating. In general, vortex lines (in particular, the axis
line) are either closed loops or end at the boundary of the fluid. A whirlpool is an example of the latter,
namely a vortex in a body of water whose axis ends at the free surface. A vortex tube whose vortex lines
are all closed will be a closed torus-like surface.

A newly created vortex will promptly extend and bend so as to eliminate any open-ended vortex lines.
For example, when an airplane engine is started, a vortex usually forms ahead of each propeller, or the
turbofan of each jet engine. One end of the vortex line is attached to the engine, while the other end
usually stretches out and bends until it reaches the ground.

When vortices are made visible by smoke or ink trails, they may seem to have spiral pathlines or
streamlines. However, this appearance is often an illusion and the fluid particles are moving in closed
paths. The spiral streaks that are taken to be streamlines are in fact clouds of the marker fluid that
originally spanned several vortex tubes and were stretched into spiral shapes by the non-uniform flow
velocity distribution.

Pressure in a vortex
The fluid motion in a vortex creates a dynamic pressure (in addition to any hydrostatic pressure) which is
lowest in the core region, closest to the axis, and increases as one moves away from it, in accordance with
Bernoulli's principle. One can say that it is the gradient of this pressure that forces the fluid to follow a
curved path around the axis.

In a rigid-body vortex flow of a fluid with constant density, the dynamic pressure is proportional to the
square of the distance r from the axis. In a constant gravity field, the free surface of the liquid, if present,
is a concave paraboloid.

In an irrotational vortex flow with constant fluid density and cylindrical symmetry, the dynamic pressure
K
varies as P∞ − ⁠r2 ⁠, where P∞ is the limiting pressure infinitely far from the axis. This formula provides
another constraint for the extent of the core, since the pressure cannot be negative. The free surface (if
present) dips sharply near the axis line, with depth inversely proportional to r2. The shape formed by the
free surface is called a hyperboloid, or "Gabriel's Horn" (by Evangelista Torricelli).
The core of a vortex in air is sometimes visible because water vapor
condenses as the low pressure of the core causes adiabatic cooling; the
funnel of a tornado is an example. When a vortex line ends at a
boundary surface, the reduced pressure may also draw matter from that
surface into the core. For example, a dust devil is a column of dust
picked up by the core of an air vortex attached to the ground. A vortex
that ends at the free surface of a body of water (like the whirlpool that
often forms over a bathtub drain) may draw a column of air down the
core. The forward vortex extending from a jet engine of a parked
airplane can suck water and small stones into the core and then into the
engine.

Evolution
Vortices need not be steady-state features; they can move and change A plughole vortex
shape. In a moving vortex, the particle paths are not closed, but are
open, loopy curves like helices and cycloids. A vortex flow might also
be combined with a radial or axial flow pattern. In that case the streamlines and pathlines are not closed
curves but spirals or helices, respectively. This is the case in tornadoes and in drain whirlpools. A vortex
with helical streamlines is said to be solenoidal.

As long as the effects of viscosity and diffusion are negligible, the fluid in a moving vortex is carried
along with it. In particular, the fluid in the core (and matter trapped by it) tends to remain in the core as
the vortex moves about. This is a consequence of Helmholtz's second theorem. Thus vortices (unlike
surface waves and pressure waves) can transport mass, energy and momentum over considerable
distances compared to their size, with surprisingly little dispersion. This effect is demonstrated by smoke
rings and exploited in vortex ring toys and guns.

Two or more vortices that are approximately parallel and circulating in the same direction will attract and
eventually merge to form a single vortex, whose circulation will equal the sum of the circulations of the
constituent vortices. For example, an airplane wing that is developing lift will create a sheet of small
vortices at its trailing edge. These small vortices merge to form a single wingtip vortex, less than one
wing chord downstream of that edge. This phenomenon also occurs with other active airfoils, such as
propeller blades. On the other hand, two parallel vortices with opposite circulations (such as the two
wingtip vortices of an airplane) tend to remain separate.

Vortices contain substantial energy in the circular motion of the fluid. In an ideal fluid this energy can
never be dissipated and the vortex would persist forever. However, real fluids exhibit viscosity and this
dissipates energy very slowly from the core of the vortex. It is only through dissipation of a vortex due to
viscosity that a vortex line can end in the fluid, rather than at the boundary of the fluid.

Further examples
In the hydrodynamic interpretation of the behaviour of electromagnetic fields, the
acceleration of electric fluid in a particular direction creates a positive vortex of magnetic
fluid. This in turn creates around itself a corresponding negative vortex of electric fluid. Exact
solutions to classical nonlinear magnetic equations include the Landau–Lifshitz equation,
 the continuum Heisenberg model, the Ishimori
equation, and the nonlinear Schrödinger equation.
Vortex rings are torus-shaped vortices where the
axis of rotation is a continuous closed curve. Smoke
rings and bubble rings are two well-known
examples.
The lifting force of aircraft wings, propeller blades,
sails, and other airfoils can be explained by the
creation of a vortex superimposed on the flow of air
past the wing.
Ground vortices are formed by propellers
Aerodynamic drag can be explained in large part by
and jet engines, whether installed on an
the formation of vortices in the surrounding fluid that
aircraft or on an indoor test stand, when
carry away energy from the moving body.
operating close to the ground. They are
Large whirlpools can be produced by ocean tides in made visible if the air humidity is high
certain straits or bays. Examples are Charybdis of enough or sand is present on the
classical mythology in the Straits of Messina, Italy;
ground.[9]
the Naruto whirlpools of Nankaido, Japan; and the
maelstrom at Lofoten, Norway.
Vortices in the Earth's atmosphere are important
phenomena for meteorology. They include
mesocyclones on the scale of a few miles,
tornadoes, waterspouts, and hurricanes. These
vortices are often driven by temperature and
humidity variations with altitude. The sense of
rotation of hurricanes is influenced by the Earth's
rotation. Another example is the polar vortex, a
persistent, large-scale cyclone centered near the
Earth's poles, in the middle and upper troposphere Kármán vortex streets formed off the
and the stratosphere. island of Tristan da Cunha in the south
Vortices are prominent features of the atmospheres Atlantic Ocean
of other planets. They include the permanent Great
Red Spot on Jupiter, the intermittent Great Dark
Spot on Neptune, the polar vortices of Venus, the Martian dust devils and the North Polar
Hexagon of Saturn.
Sunspots are dark regions on the Sun's visible surface (photosphere) marked by a lower
temperature than its surroundings, and intense magnetic activity.
The accretion disks of black holes and other massive gravitational sources
Taylor–Couette flow occurs in a fluid between two nested cylinders, one rotating, the other
fixed.

See also

Physics portal

Artificial gravity – Use of circular rotational Cyclonic separation – Method of removing

force to mimic gravity particulates from a fluid stream through
Batchelor vortex vortex separation
Biot–Savart law – Law of classical Eddy – Swirling of a fluid and the reverse
electromagnetism current created when the fluid is in a
Coordinate rotation – Motion of a certain turbulent flow regime
space that preserves at least one point
 Gyre – Any large system of circulating Vortex tube – Device for separating
ocean surface currents compressed gas into hot and cold streams
Helmholtz's theorems – 3D motion of fluid Vortex tunnel – Device for various rides
near vortex lines and attractions
History of fluid mechanics Vortex cooler – Device for separating
Horseshoe vortex – Model in compressed gas into hot and cold streams
aerodynamics VORTEX projects – Field experiments that
Hurricane – Rapidly rotating storm system study tornadoes
Kármán vortex street – Repeating pattern Vortex shedding – Oscillating flow effect
of swirling vortices resulting from fluid passing over a blunt
Kelvin–Helmholtz instability – body
Phenomenon of fluid mechanics Vortex stretching – Lengthening of vortices
Quantum vortex – Quantized flux in 3D fluid flow
circulation of some physical quantity Vortex-induced vibration – Motions
Rankine vortex – Mathematical formula for induced on bodies within a fluid flow due to
viscous fluid vortices in the fluid
Shower-curtain effect – Effect in physics Vorticity – Pseudovector field describing
the local rotation of a continuum near
Strouhal number – Dimensionless number some point
describing oscillating flow mechanisms
Whirly tube – Whirling aerophone
Vortex engine – Alternative to tall chimneys
Wormhole – Hypothetical topological
feature of spacetime

References

Notes
1. "vortex" ([Link]
nition/american_english/vortex). Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO). Oxford University Press.
Archived from the original ([Link]
h/vortex) on February 3, 2013. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
2. "vortex" ([Link] Merriam-Webster Online.
Merriam-Webster, Inc. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
3. Ting, L. (1991). Viscous Vortical Flows. Lecture notes in physics. Springer-Verlag.
ISBN 978-3-540-53713-7.
4. Kida, Shigeo (2001). Life, Structure, and Dynamical Role of Vortical Motion in Turbulence (ht
tp://[Link]/IUTAM/ABSTRACTS/[Link]) (PDF). IUTAMim Symposium on
Tubes, Sheets and Singularities in Fluid Dynamics. Zakopane, Poland.
5. Vallis, Geoffrey (1999). Geostrophic Turbulence: The Macroturbulence of the Atmosphere
and Ocean Lecture Notes ([Link]
[Link]/~gkv/geoturb/[Link]) (PDF). Princeton University. p. 1. Archived from the original
([Link] (PDF) on 2013-12-28. Retrieved
2012-09-26.
6. Clancy 1975, sub-section 7.5
7. Sirakov, B. T.; Greitzer, E. M.; Tan, C. S. (2005). "A note on irrotational viscous flow".
Physics of Fluids. 17 (10): 108102–108102–3. Bibcode:2005PhFl...17j8102S ([Link]
[Link]/abs/2005PhFl...17j8102S). doi:10.1063/1.2104550 ([Link]
2F1.2104550). ISSN 1070-6631 ([Link]
 8. Kheradvar, Arash; Pedrizzetti, Gianni (2012), "Vortex Dynamics" ([Link]
1007/978-1-4471-2288-3_2), Vortex Formation in the Cardiovascular System, London:
Springer London, pp. 17–44, doi:10.1007/978-1-4471-2288-3_2 ([Link]
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9. Aerodynamics of intakes of high bypass ratio (HBPR) turbofan engines,El-Sayed et al.,June
30 2020,International Robotics & Automation Journal,Volume 6,Issue 2,2020,Figure 1
engine test stand,military aircraft,propeller

Other
Loper, David E. (November 1966). An analysis of confined magnetohydrodynamic vortex
flows ([Link]
(PDF) (NASA contractor report NASA CR-646). Washington: National Aeronautics and
Space Administration. LCCN 67060315 ([Link]
Batchelor, G.K. (1967). An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics. Cambridge Univ. Press. Ch. 7 et
seq. ISBN 9780521098175.
Falkovich, G. (2011). Fluid Mechanics, a short course for physicists. Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 978-1-107-00575-4.
Clancy, L.J. (1975). Aerodynamics. London: Pitman Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-0-273-
01120-0.
De La Fuente Marcos, C.; Barge, P. (2001). "The effect of long-lived vortical circulation on
the dynamics of dust particles in the mid-plane of a protoplanetary disc" ([Link]
046%2Fj.1365-8711.2001.04228.x). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 323
(3): 601–614. Bibcode:2001MNRAS.323..601D ([Link]
RAS.323..601D). doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04228.x ([Link]
8711.2001.04228.x).

External links
Optical Vortices ([Link]
mcdonald/Solitons/Optical_Vortex_Solitons.php) Archived ([Link]
0317001625/[Link]
[Link]) 2013-03-17 at the Wayback Machine
Chapter 3 Rotational Flows: Circulation and Turbulence ([Link]
905192451/[Link]
Vortical Flow Research Lab ([Link] (MIT) – A study of flows found in
nature and part of the Department of Ocean Engineering

Retrieved from "[Link]