Abstract
In geophysical flows, vortices are present at very different scales. Examples of them are the meddies, formed at the outlet of the Mediterranean Sea or the vorticity dipoles, occurring when water flushes from a channel into the open sea. In this paper we investigate the formation and the evolution of a spanwise vortex in the latter system, when a periodic forcing is imposed. To this end the Navier-Stokes and continuity equations are solved with a finite volume code (OpenFOAM 2008). The numerical solution has been obtained for a Reynolds number \(Re = 1{,}000\) and a Strouhal number \(S = 0.02\). For comparison, we carried a simulation in a flow produced by a single pulse. We have found that the spanwise vortex appears in front of the dipole. It detaches from the bottom and moves away. When flow is produced by a pulse, this vortex has a horseshoe shape, while for a periodic forcing flow, the shape of the spanwise vortex evolves in time.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Albagnac J (2010) Dynamique tridimensionnelle de dipoles tourbillonnaires en eau peu profonde. Thèse de doctorat, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III Institut de Mcanique des Fluides de Toulouse. France
Chaplygin SA (2007) One case of vortex motion in fluid. Reg Chaotic Dyn 2(12):219–232
Duran-Matute M, Albagnac J, Kamp LPJ, van Heijst GJF (2010) Dynamics and structure of decaying shallow dipolar vortices. Phys Fluids 22:116606
Lacaze L, Brancher P, Eiff O, Labat L (2010) Experimental characterization of the 3D dynamics of a laminar shallow vortex dipole. Exp Fluids 48:225–231
López-Sánchez, E. J. (2013) Vorticidad y transporte de partículas en un flujo periódico a la salida de un canal. Doctoral thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México
López-Sánchez EJ, Ruiz-Chavarría G (2013) Vorticity and particle transport in periodic flow leaving a channel. Eur J Mech B/Fluids 42:92103
Nicolau del Roure F, Sokolofsky SA, Chang K (2009) Structure and evolution of tidal starting jet vortices at idealized barotropic inlets. J Geophys Res 114:C05024
OpenFOAM (2008). The Open Source CFD Toolbox. Programmers Guide. Version 1:5
Sous D, Bonneton N, Sommeria J (2004) Turbulent vortex dipoles in a shallow water layer. Phys Fluids 16:2886–2898
The open source CFD toolbox (2004). http://www.opencfd.co.uk/openfoam Consulted: April 2, 2013
Wells MG, Van Heijst G-JF (2003) A model of tidal flushing of an estuary by dipole formation. Dyn Atmos Oceans Elsevier 37:223–244
Acknowledgments
Authors acknowledge DGAPA-UNAM by support under project IN116312, “Vorticidad y ondas no lineales en fluidos”.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
López-Sánchez, E.J., Ruíz Chavarría, G. (2015). Numerical Simulation of a Spanwise Vortex in a Periodic Forced Flow. In: Klapp, J., Ruíz Chavarría, G., Medina Ovando, A., López Villa, A., Sigalotti, L. (eds) Selected Topics of Computational and Experimental Fluid Mechanics. Environmental Science and Engineering(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11487-3_33
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11487-3_33
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-11486-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-11487-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)