Coalescence of stretching vortices

Abstract

The contour dynamics numerical technique is used to study the coalescence of two equal uniform vortices in the presence of an externally applied stretching strain field. Plane three-dimensional stretching is found to substantially inhibit vortex coalescence when the plane of the vortex axes is initially perpendicular to the plane of the straining motion. This behavior is interpreted qualitatively in terms of a purely two-dimensional flow fully equivalent to the stretching configuration.

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