Nobuyuki Okura

On the evolution of vortex rings with swirl

A laminar vortex ring with swirl, which has the meridional velocity component inside the vortex core, was experimentally generated by the brief fluid ejection from a rotating outlet. The evolution of the vortex ring was investigated with flow visualizations and particle image velocimetry measurements in order to find the influence of swirling flow in particular upon the transition to turbulence. Immediately after the formation of a vortex ring with swirl, a columnar strong vortex along the symmetric axis is observed in all cases of the present experiment. Then the characteristic fluid discharging from a vortex ring with swirl referred to as “peeling off” appears. The amount of discharging fluid due to the “peeling off” increases with the angular velocity of the rotating outlet. We conjectured that the mechanism generating the “peeling off” is related to the columnar strong vortex by close observations of the spatio-temporal development of the vorticity distribution and the cutting 3D images constructed fr...

Penetration by a Negatively Buoyant Vortex Ring

In order to investigate the vortex motion affected by buoyancy force, we experimentally formed a negatively buoyant vortex ring by pushing less dense fluid vertically downward out of a nozzle and measured the penetration depth of it in the wide Reynolds number range, 3,000 2. The formation conditions of buoyant vortex rings to be turbulent or laminar are also examined, since the characteristic features of buoyant turbulent vortex rings are markedly different from those of buoyant laminar rings.