Vortex ring formation at tube and orifice openings

Abstract

The formation, at tube and orifice openings, of vortex rings generated by a piston moving with velocity proportional to time to some power m, is considered. The expansion of the axisymmetric generating flow about the circular forming edge is used in conjunction with the similarity theory of edge vortex growth to model the ring formation process. For large Reynolds numbers the ring diameter and circulation are not strongly dependent on the piston velocity profile. However, the ring viscous subcore shows peaks in the tangential velocity profile only if m < (π–θ)/(2π–θ), where θ is the edge forming angle.