Direct numerical simulation of a laminar vortex ring

S. James and C. K. Madnia

Citation: Physics of Fluids (1994-present) 8, 2400 (1996); doi: 10.1063/1.869041

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 Direct numerical simulation of a laminar vortex ring
S. James and C. K. Madnia
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo,
New York 14260-4400
~Received 7 August 1995; accepted 22 April 1996!
Results are presented of direct numerical simulations ~DNS! of a viscous, laminar ring. The effects
of different generator configurations and velocity programs on the formation and post-formation
characteristics of the ring are studied. It is shown that during the formation phase of the ring, total
circulation and impulse in the flowfield are approximately the same for the ‘‘nozzle’’ and ‘‘orifice’’
generators. It is also found that throughout this period the slug flow model under-predicts the total
circulation in the flow. During the formation phase, the simulation results for the time evolution of
total circulation and location of the vortex spiral center are in agreement with the experimental
findings of Didden @J. Appl. Mech. Phys. ~ZAMP! 30, 101 ~1979!#. The results of the flow
visualization studies show that during the post-formation phase a vortex bubble is formed. As the
bubble propels itself forward a wake is formed in the rear of the bubble. The impulse and vorticity
from the bubble are continuously shed into this wake. It is found that the total value of the
20.33
circulation in the flow varies as (t *
1) which is consistent with Maxworthy’s @J. Fluid Mech. 81,
465 ~1977!# prediction of the decay of circulation for a vortex ring. The transport of a passive
Shvab-Zeldovich scalar variable is used to study the mixing and to obtain the maximum product
formation in a chemical reaction of the type A1B→ Products in a vortex ring. It is found that as
the bubble containing the fuel propels itself forward, the outside oxidizer flow is entrained into it
and reacts to form a product. Some of this product then is de-entrained into the wake of the bubble.
# © 1996 American Institute of Physics.@S1070-6631~96!02508-1

I. INTRODUCTION
Vortex rings have been studied for more than a century.
Reynolds1 appears to have been the first to observe correctly
the flowfield of a real vortex ring, and to note that the ring
grows in size and slows down as it entrains the surrounding
fluid. Since then, numerous theoretical and experimental
studies have been conducted which are summarized in the
review paper by Shariff and Leonard.2 This interest in study-
ing vortex rings is primarily due to the fact that the simple
structure of the ring makes it suitable for both experimental
and theoretical studies. Indeed the vortex ring is a classical
flow problem and is used in the study of vortex dynamics.3,4
A vortex ring is formed by imparting an axisymmetric
impulse to a fluid. Early theoretical studies on the formation
of vortex rings were performed by Lamb5 and Sommerfeld6
using an inviscid analysis. Since then, there have been a
number of experimental investigations on the formation
phase. Maxworthy7 and Didden8 studied the formation phase
of a ring generated by a discharge of the fluid through a
circular nozzle. The development of the vortex ring during
this phase plays a key role in the post-formation characteris-
tics of the ring.
The total circulation during the formation phase was
compared with the slug flow model. It is found that the for-
mation process is Reynolds number dependent. More re-
cently, Glezer9 studied the formation phase of a vortex ring
formed from an orifice. He suggested that although the slug
flow model can not accurately predict the total circulation in
the flow, it can be used for comparing the relative circulation
of vortex rings formed from the same generator. Although
the time evolution of circulation during the formation phase
was obtained by previous investigators, there has been no
report of the time evolution of the impulse during this phase.
This is understandable, as it would require a complete
knowledge of the velocity in the flowfield. However, impulse
can be conveniently calculated from results of DNS.
The characteristics of the vortex-sheet roll-up due to
starting flow past a sharp-edged tube and orifice openings
were studied theoretically.10,11 Saffman10 applied similarity
theory of the formation of a two-dimensional vortex to ob-
tain the location of the center of the vortex spiral. The ex-
perimental results of Didden8 and recent computational re-
sults of Nitsche and Krasny12 show a different result for the
axial location of the vortex spiral.
The post-formation phase of a laminar vortex ring was
studied by Maxworthy.13 Using a boundary layer approach,
he obtained simple power laws for the time evolution of
circulation, diameter and speed of the vortex ring. He pro-
posed that a vortex ring continuously sheds impulse into its
wake. Though the total impulse in the flowfield remains con-
stant, the decrease of the ring impulse is accompanied by a
corresponding increase of the impulse in the wake region.
Furthermore, the circulation of the ring continuously de-
creases. Although the numerical simulations of Stanaway
et al.14 showed the shedding of vorticity from the ring into
its wake, they have not tested Maxworthy’s hypothesis re-
garding the decrease of the ring impulse. A large part of the
literature on vortex rings deals with theoretical and experi-
mental investigations. There are very few direct numerical
simulations ~DNS! of vortex rings.14–16 In all these works, an
initial vorticity distribution is assumed, thus details of the
formation process of the vortex ring are absent. Such an
approach is understandable, considering the severe computa-
tional resources required for such simulations, not to mention

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 ring, there has been no report of a systematic study of the
effects of the vortex ‘‘generator’’ geometry on the formation
and the evolution of the ring.
The flow quantities are solved in a three-dimensional
domain bounded by the vortex generator on the left. The
fluid dynamics equations solved are
]r ]r U i
1 50, ~1!
]t ]xi
]r U i ]r U i U j ]s ji
1 5 , ~2!
]t ]x j ]x j
]r e t ]r e t U i ] q i ]s ji U i
1 52 1 , ~3!
]t ]xi ]xi ]x j
]r J ]r U i J
]t
1
]xi
5
]
]xi
rD
]J
]xi
. S D ~4!

The velocity is U i , r is the density, s ji is the stress tensor,

FIG. 1. Schematic diagram of the vortex ring generator. ~a! ‘‘Nozzle’’; ~b!
‘‘orifice.’’
a very accurate numerical scheme to resolve the large gradi-
ents in the flowfield of a vortex ring. Recent advances in
super-computing technology have made the study of laminar
vortex rings amenable to DNS.17 Results of these simulations
can be regarded as numerical experiments which add to the
understanding of vortex rings. In the present study, DNS of
viscous, laminar vortex rings are performed.
The main objectives of the present investigation are ~a!
to study the formation process of a ring; ~b! to study the
effects of different generators and velocity programs on the
dynamics and the kinematics of a ring; ~c! to investigate the
phenomena of mixing and entrainment in a vortex ring. This
paper is organized as follows. Section II contains a descrip-
tion of the problem and the numerical methodology. Results
pertaining to the formation and post-formation phases of the
vortex ring are presented in Section III. Concluding remarks
are furnished in Section IV.
II. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION AND NUMERICAL
METHODOLOGY
Vortex rings are formed by a brief discharge of a jet of
fluid through a circular opening. The flow configuration con-
sidered is that of a three-dimensional ~3D! starting jet of
species A evolving for a finite duration from an axisymmet-
ric vortex generator into a quiescent flow of species B. A
vortex ring can be generated from a nozzle @Fig. 1~a!# or an
orifice, which is a cylindrical cavity in a plane wall @Fig.
1~b!#. Although almost in all the previous studies of vortex
rings, a nozzle or an orifice geometry was used to generate a
e t is the total energy density, q i is the heat flux, D is the
binary mass diffusion coefficient and J is the conserved sca-
lar variable.18 The fluid is assumed calorically perfect and
viscosity, thermal conductivity and mass diffusion coeffi-
cient are assumed to be constant. Prandtl number and
Schmidt number are assigned a value of unity. Fourier heat
conduction and Fickian diffusion are assumed.
The initial and boundary conditions used to solve the
above governing equations for the ‘‘orifice’’ and ‘‘nozzle’’
cases are discussed below. At time t50 the pressure is set
equal to the atmospheric value, the temperature is set to 300
K, the density is assigned a value of 1 kg/m3 and all veloci-
ties are set equal to zero at all the grid points in the compu-
tational domain. A square-shaped profile @Fig. 2~a!# is as-
signed at the inflow (x50) for the axial velocity and the
passive scalar J. The equation for this profile is provided in
Table I. The finite duration of the jet velocity is defined by a
velocity program. Figures 2~b! and 2~c! show a square-
shaped and a bell-shaped velocity program, respectively. The
equations for the velocity programs shown in Fig. 2 are pro-
vided in Table I. The finite duration of the passive scalar is
defined by a species program identical in shape to the
square-shaped velocity program. On these figures,
U 0 max 5138.87 m/s. The Mach number calculated based on
this value of U 0 max is M 50.4 which is sufficiently low to not
cause significant compressibility effects. The vortex genera-
tor diameter is D 0 51.25 cm. The length of the slug of fluid
displaced by the vortex generator, L(t) is calculated using
the expression
L~ t !5 E
0
t
U 0 ~ t ! dt, ~5!
where U 0 (t) is the velocity program. The total length of the
slug of fluid displaced (L 0 ) is calculated by substituting
t5t o f f in Eq. ~5!. t o f f corresponds to the duration of the
velocity program.
For the ‘‘nozzle’’ configuration @Fig. 1~a!# second de-
rivative of the flow quantities are set to zero at the outflow
(x57D 0 ) boundary and free slip conditions are assigned at
cross-flow boundaries (y5z53.5D 0 and y5z523.5D 0 ).

Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996 S. James and C. K. Madnia 2401
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 FIG. 3. Comparison of the U-velocity profiles corresponding to four grids
for Run 2 at t *510.5, x/D53.5.

‘‘orifice’’ configuration @Fig. 1~b!# second derivatives of the

flow quantities are set to zero at the outflow boundary and
free slip conditions are assigned at the cross-flow boundaries.
During the formation phase, a no-slip boundary condition is
imposed at the inflow boundary, for the grid points outside
the jet region. After the jet flow is stopped, a no-slip bound-
ary condition is assigned for all grid points on the inflow
boundary. For the bell-shaped velocity program @Fig. 2~c!#,
the same boundary conditions as for the ‘‘orifice’’ case are
used.
Equations ~1!–~4!, together with boundary conditions
and initial conditions, are solved using an explicit time-
marching scheme by means of a monotone Flux-Corrected-
FIG. 2. ~a! Velocity and conserved scalar profiles at the inflow ~x50!. ~b! Transport ~FCT! algorithm.19,20 FCT has been developed
Velocity program and variation of the length of fluid displaced ~L/L 0! with over the past 20 years as a method for accurately solving the
time for Runs 1, 2, 4, and 5. ~c! Velocity program and variation of the length
of fluid displaced ~L/L 0 ! with time for Run 3.
fluid mechanical conservation equations without violating
the positivity of mass and energy, particularly near regions
of steep gradients. This is achieved by a numerical diffusion,
During the formation phase, second derivatives of the flow to guarantee the positivity of the solution, followed by a
quantities are set to zero at the inflow (x50) boundary, for compensating anti-diffusion, which reduces the numerical er-
the grid points outside the jet region. After the jet flow is ror. Choosing the ‘‘correct’’ value of this anti-diffusion flux
stopped, second derivatives of the flow quantities are set to is crucial for obtaining a physically plausible solution to the
zero at all the grid points on the inflow boundary. For the problem. By the proper choice of both the artificial diffusive
and antidiffusive terms, FCT algorithms becomes fourth-
order accurate in space and second-order accurate in time.
TABLE I. Equations for velocity and passive scalar profiles at the inflow The computations are performed in a three-dimensional
~x50!, and equations for velocity and passive scalar programs.
domain with the vortex generator of diameter D 0 located in
U J 1 1
the center of the inflow plane. The grids are compressed in
Velocity and
5 5 2 tanh@ 10~ r21 !# where the radial direction with the maximum compression in the
passive scalar U0 J0 2 2
profiles r52(y 2 1z 2 ) 1/2/D 0 regions of high gradients. A grid refinement study was per-
formed for Runs 1–3 to determine the optimum number of
U0
5
J0 1 5
F F
5 tanh ~ t2t a ! 11.0 ,
U0max J0max 2 ta G G grids required to accurately resolve the details of the vortex
ring flow. A typical plot of the spatial convergence of the
tb magnitude of the axial velocity is presented in Fig. 3. It can
t<t a 1

F F G G
Velocity and 2 be seen from this figure that 128380380 grids are sufficient
U0 J0 1 5
passive scalar 5 5 tanh ~ t a 1t b 2t ! 11.0 , to resolve the axial velocity field. Comparison of the circu-
U0max J0max 2 ta
programs lation and impulse results corresponding to the 128
t.t a 1
tb 380380 simulation with the results of 1283 simulations at
2 Re G 5G 0 / n 5500 revealed a maximum discrepancy of less
Square-shaped and passive scalar programs:
t a 5 0.35, t b 5 3.29, J 0 max 5 1.0
than 5% of the values for these variables. Therefore, it was
Bell-shaped program: t a 5 t b 5 4.0 concluded that 128380380 grids are sufficient to accurately
capture the details of the flow. For the Re G 51000 simula-

2402 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996 S. James and C. K. Madnia
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 TABLE II. Run conditions.

Vortex Re jet Re G Computational

generator Velocity U 0 max D 0 G0 domain
Run geometry program L 0 /D 0 L x 3L y 3L z N x 3N y 3N z Phase
n n
1 Orifice Square 3.3 300 500 7D 0 37D 0 37D 0 128380380 Formation 1
post-formation
2 Nozzle Square 3.3 300 500 7D 0 37D 0 37D 0 128380380 Formation 1
post-formation
3 Orifice Bell-shaped 4.0 300 500 7D 0 37D 0 37D 0 128380380 Formation 1
post-formation
4 Nozzle Square 3.3 600 1000 3D 0 37D 0 37D 0 12831283128 Formation
5 Orifice Square 3.3 600 1000 3D 0 37D 0 37D 0 12831283128 Formation

tions 1283 grids were used. It should be noted that a grid posed on the jet axial velocity. At later times as the spiral
compression ratio ~ratio of the uncompressed grid length to moves away from the exit plane the U-velocity profiles fol-
the smallest compressed grid length! of 3:1 was used in the low the shape of the velocity program @Fig. 5~b!#, and due to
radial direction for all the simulations. Additional details on the flow entrainment associated with the spiral, the velocity
the problem description and the numerical methodology can develops peaks outside of the nozzle edge. A similar behav-
be found in James.21 ior has also been observed for the orifice case ~Run 5!. The
main difference between the two flow configurations occurs
III. PRESENTATION OF RESULTS at later times. A comparison of Fig. 5~b! and Fig. 5~c! shows
a wider spread of the U-velocity profiles for the nozzle case.
Direct numerical simulations of vortex rings are per-
This is primarily due to the ‘‘open’’ boundary condition im-
formed. The formation phase and the post-formation phase
posed at the inflow as compared to the no-slip boundary
are treated separately. Table II provides a listing of the rel-
condition for the orifice case.
evant parameters for the simulations conducted in this study.
The starting flow around the nozzle or an orifice edge
Comparing with the laminar to turbulent transition-
produces a vorticity sheet which rolls up into a spiral as flow
boundary-plot of vortex rings,9 it is observed that the present
develops. A measure of the strength of the vortex spiral is
simulations are well within the laminar regime. All contour
and velocity plots are obtained for the y2x centerplane of
the computational domain. Figure 4 shows typical vortex
rings generated by the simulations. During the formation
phase the axisymmetric vortex sheet at the edge of the start-
ing jet rolls up into a vortex ring shown in Fig. 4~a!. The
surface of the vortex sheet and the ring in this figure has a
constant vorticity magnitude of 37,000/s. After the jet flow is
shut off, the ring pinches off from the vortex generator and
moves downstream due to its own induced velocity @Fig.
4~b!#. The surface of the vortex ring shown in this figure has
a constant vorticity magnitude of 24,000/s.
A. Formation phase
The formation phase of the vortex ring corresponds to
the finite duration of a jet of fluid exiting from a ‘‘nozzle’’ or
an ‘‘orifice’’ type of configurations. The jet flow is con-
trolled by a velocity program, and as can be seen from Fig. 2
the shut off time corresponding to the jet with the square-
shaped velocity program is t * o f f 54.0. The time is normalized
by U 0 max and D 0 ~e.g., t * 5tU 0 max /D 0 ). Figure 5 presents
the velocity profiles for Runs 4 and 5 for t * ,t * o f f . During
the initial times @Fig. 5~a!#, the flow accelerates and turns
abruptly at the nozzle edge, developing peaks near the edge
and as the flow turns further a negative U-velocity can be
observed outside of the nozzle. The magnitude of these
peaks relative to the centerline velocity decreases in time and
at t * 51.18 the flow has turned around completely and a
spiral has been formed ~can be seen from the velocity vector
plots, not shown here!. At this time the peaks observed cor- FIG. 4. Surface of constant vorticity magnitude for a typical vortex ring. ~a!
respond mostly to the induced velocity of the spiral superim- Formation phase ~v537,000/s!. ~b! Post-formation phase ~v524,000/s!.

Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996 S. James and C. K. Madnia 2403
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FIG. 5. U-velocity profiles at second grid point. ~a! and ~b! correspond to
Run 4. ~c! corresponds to Run 5.
the circulation G, which also gives a measure of the amount
of vorticity in the flowfield. Figure 6 shows the temporal
evolution of the circulation in the flowfield, during the for-
mation phase of the ring for Runs 1, 3 and 5. The total
circulation in the flowfield is calculated using the
expression22
RW W
G5 U •ds , ~6!
where the circuit is taken around the lower half of the y2x
centerplane. At early times as the flow accelerates and the
vortex spiral is formed the circulation increases nonlinearly
and after this initial development phase the circulation varies
2404 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996
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FIG. 6. Total circulation versus time during the formation phase for Runs 1,
3 and 5 and the slug-flow model.
linearly with time. A slug flow-model has been used by
Maxworthy,7 Didden,8 and Glezer9 to predict the circulation
of the vortex spiral. The model assumes a uniform velocity
equal to the ‘‘piston’’ velocity across the exit plane of the
nozzle or orifice type of generators. The circulation corre-
sponding to the slug flow model, G 0 , is calculated:
G 05 E0
to f f U 2~ t !
2
0
dt, ~7!
where U 0 (t) is the exit velocity at the orifice and is assumed
uniform across the face of the orifice. It should be noted that
the slug-flow model for the calculation of circulation is in-
dependent of the geometry of the vortex generator.
A comparison of the circulation from the slug-flow
model and that obtained from the simulations is also shown
in Fig. 6. It can be observed that except at early times the
slug-flow model underpredicts the value of circulation. To
understand this, the U-profiles at the exit of the orifice nor-
malized by the jet centerline velocity U CL is plotted in Fig.
7. It can be seen that the U-velocity near the ‘‘orifice-lip’’ is
greater than that of the jet centerline velocity. This results in
a larger flux of vorticity into the flowfield and is in agree-
ment with the results reported by Didden8 and Nitsche and
Krasny.12 Comparison of the U-velocity profiles for Runs 1
and 5 reveals that the U/U CL near the edge of the orifice
reaches a higher value for Run 5. This contributes to the
higher values of circulation observed in Fig. 6 for Run 5.
The effect of various velocity programs on the genera-
tion of circulation during the formation phase of the ring was
studied by Didden.24 In the present study, in addition to a
square-shaped velocity program, a bell-shaped velocity pro-
gram @Fig. 2~c!# was also used to generate a vortex ring. The
simulation ~Run 3! is performed such that the total slug-flow
circulation is equal to that of the square-shaped case. In order
to compare the circulation of the two velocity programs
~Runs 1 and 3!, it is necessary to determine the correspond-
ing virtual origin in time t *
0 . Virtual origin is defined as the
intercept on the time axis of the linear portion of length of
the slug of fluid ejected from the vortex generator and is
shown in Fig. 2. The virtual origin for the bell-shaped and
S. James and C. K. Madnia
 FIG. 9. Temporal variation of total circulation for Run 4 and data from
Didden’s1 Fig. 14.

Fig. 6 shows that similar to Runs 1 and 5 the model under-

predicts the actual circulation.
The rate of shedding of circulation with time is plotted in
Fig. 8. At small times during the acceleration phase of the
flow the rate of shedding of the circulation into the flow is
very large due to large flow velocities near the edge of the
orifice. As the U-velocity profiles become uniform across the
jet exit, the rate of change of circulation approaches a con-
stant approximately equal to the circulation rate calculated
from the slug-flow model.
FIG. 7. U-velocity profiles normalized by U CL at the second grid point. ~a!
Run 1, ~b! Run 5.
The results for the circulation from Run 4 and Didden’s8
experimental results for the total circulation corresponding to
Re j 52300 and L 0 /D 0 51.4 are plotted in Fig. 9. In order to
make a meaningful comparison between these data, the cir-
the square-shaped velocity programs are 4.0 and 0.34, re-
culation is normalized by G o f f , and the length scale chosen
spectively. It is observed from Fig. 6 that the values of cir-
is L 0 . Figure 9 shows good agreement between simulation
culation for Run 1 is higher than the circulation values cor-
and experiment. At early times, the total circulation in the
responding to Run 3. On this plot the shifted time
flow varies non-linearly with time, and for
1 5t * 2t *
t* 0 is used. Examination of the U-velocity profiles
t* 5(t2t )U /L .0.4 a linear variation is observed.
for Run 3 ~not shown! reveals a lower value of U/U CL at the n 0 0 max 0

edge of the orifice as compared to the values of U/U CL in
Fig. 7~a! corresponding to Run 1. Comparison of the circu-
lation corresponding to Run 3 with the slug-flow model in
The rate of increase of total circulation corresponding to the
linear section is the same for both simulation and experi-
ment.
The hydrodynamic impulse I, is one of the main param-
eters which characterizes a vortex ring, and is calculated us-
ing the expression25

WI 5
1
2
E rW W dV.
r3v ~8!

The above equation can also be written as

WI 5 E rW U dV1
1
2
E rW
r 3 ~ nW 3U
W ! dS, ~9!

where rW is the position vector of a point in the flowfield, nW is

FIG. 8. Rate of change of circulation versus time for Run 1, Run 5 and
slug-flow model.
the unit outward normal vector, and v W is the vorticity vector
associated with that point. This shows that the hydrodynamic
impulse is equal to the total linear momentum plus a surface
integral. As an axial impulse is imparted to the flowfield the
y and z components of WI are zero. In the present simulations,
it is observed that the y and z components of the calculated
impulse are orders of magnitude lower than the x-component

Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996 S. James and C. K. Madnia 2405
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 FIG. 10. Temporal variation of impulse during the formation phase for Run FIG. 11. Temporal variation of radial location of the center of the vortex
1 and Run 5. spiral for Run 2, Run 4 and data from Didden’s1 Fig. 6.

of the impulse, thus supporting the fact that the axial com- agreement with Saffman’s similarity findings for a limited
ponent is clearly the dominant one. Henceforth when the time interval. Figure 11 also suggests that as Re G increases
term impulse is used, it refers to the axial component of WI , the range of agreement with the theory is extended. Figure
and will be referred to as I. 12~a! presents a log-log plot of the time variation of the
None of the experimental or computational investiga- x-location of the spiral. x c is normalized by its value at
tions of vortex rings in the past, reports the evolution of t5t o f f , x c o f f . This figure shows that both simulation results
impulse during the formation phase. This is primarily due to and experimental data exhibit a slope of 3/2 for a limited
the difficulty of obtaining detailed velocity measurements in
the flowfield. The temporal evolution of the impulse in the
flowfield of the ‘‘orifice’’ is shown in Fig. 10 for Runs 1 and
5. The impulse corresponding to the slug-flow model is de-
fined by Glezer9 as
I 0 52 r AG 0 , ~10!
where A5 p D 20 /4 is the vortex generator area. The values of
impulse corresponding to Run 5 are higher compared to the
impulse for Run 1. This is consistent with the results for the
circulation shown in Fig. 6. Similar behavior is observed for
Runs 2 and 4 corresponding to the nozzle flowfield. Impulse
calculated by equations ~8! and ~9! yielded identical results.
Henceforth all results presented for impulse will be based on
Eq. ~9!.
As the flow is started from rest, an axisymmetric vortex
sheet is formed from the edge of a nozzle or an orifice and
rolls up into a vortex spiral. Saffman10 obtained expressions
for the location of the center of the vortex spiral, (x c ,y c ), by
applying the similarity law of the corresponding plane flow
to the rolling up of the axisymmetric vortex sheet. This
theory is restricted to very small times and the flow is as-
sumed to have an impulsive start. Similarity theory predicts
x c ;(t * 1)
2/3
and y c ;(t * 2/3
1) .
Results of the present simulations are used to obtain the
variation of the location of the center of the vortex spiral
with time. Figure 11 presents a log-log plot of the time evo-
lution of y-location of the spiral for Runs 2 and 4. Shown
also on this plot are the experimental results of Didden8 for
Re j 52300 and L 0 /D 0 51.4. In order to make a meaningful
comparison between the simulation results and the experi- FIG. 12. ~a! Variation of axial location of the center of the vortex spiral with
mental data, y c was normalized by its value at t5t o f f , time for Run 2, Run 4 and data from Didden’s1 Fig. 6 on a log-log scale. ~b!
Part ~a! plotted on a linear scale. A least square fit through each data is
y c o f f , and the length scale chosen was L 0 . This figure shows shown by a straight line. Solid line has a slope of 1.07, dotted line has a
that the simulation results and experimental data are in slope of 1.18 and dashed line has a slope of 1.33.

2406 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996 S. James and C. K. Madnia
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 time interval, which is different from the value 2/3 predicted
by the similarity theory. Currently, there is no theoretical
explanation for the power law behavior x c ;(t 1* ) 3/2. Tradi-
tionally, x c data are shown on a log-log plot. It is interesting
to present these data on a linear graph. Figure 12~b! is Fig.
12~a! plotted using a linear scale. This figure indicates that
for almost the entire duration of the formation phase straight
lines can be fitted through both the computational data and
the experimental data. Similar results are obtained for Runs 3
and 5. It is important to note that in Didden’s experiment, as
the vortex ring evolves from the nozzle, it induces a flow on
the outside surface of the nozzle. The negative vorticity pro-
duced in the boundary-layer, formed near the outside surface
of the nozzle, is entrained into the vortex spiral and cancels
some of its positive vorticity. Also as the boundary-layer on
the inside surface of the nozzle grows, the displacement ef-
fect causes an increase of the axial velocity at the exit of the
nozzle. In the present simulations, because the surface of the
nozzle has not been simulated, the production of negative
vorticity and the boundary layer displacement effect are ab-
sent. These effects are also neglected in the similarity theory.
In view of the agreement seen between the simulation and
experiment, it may be concluded that the negative vorticity
and the boundary layer displacement effect present in the
experiment are not responsible for the discrepancy between
the theoretical and experimental results for the temporal
variation of x c .

B. Post-formation phase
The emphasis in the previous section was on the forma-
tion phase of a vortex ring. The present section discusses the
various features of its evolution after the jet action is
stopped, i.e., no more fluid is injected into the flowfield, and
the vortex ring translates due to its own induced velocity.
Particular emphasis is placed to study the physical character-
istics of the rings formed by different vortex generators and
velocity programs.
As the jet velocity decreases to zero, the flow exiting
from the orifice has a very low velocity as compared to the
induced velocity of the vortex ring outside the orifice. This
leads to the formation of a stopping vortex very close to the
inflow boundary which can be seen in Fig. 13~a!. Experimen-
tal investigations by Maxworthy7 and Didden8 show the
presence of the stopping vortex for both the nozzle and ori-
fice as generators. Didden’s pictures clearly show the devel-
opment of the stopping vortex from a nozzle. Figure 13 also
shows that as the vortex ring travels downstream the core of
the vortex ring gets deformed and the vorticity in the flow is
not only contained to the regions near the core but extends FIG. 13. Contour plots of the z-component of vorticity for Run 1. ~a!
far behind the ring. A similar observation is reported by t *54.0, ~b! t *511.8, ~c! t *517.0. Increment in the contour levels are ~a!
Stanaway et al.14 in their numerical simulations. In order to 13.33103, ~b! 3.53103, ~c! 3.13103.
elucidate the structure of the vortex ring, a vector plot of the
velocity in a reference frame translating with the vortex ring
is presented in Fig. 14. The vortex ring is distinguished by a
forward and rearward stagnation points. Henceforth this bubble. Maxworthy13 conjectured that irrotational fluid is
structure will be referred to as ‘‘vortex bubble’’. The in- contaminated by vorticity diffusion as it flows over the sur-
crease of vorticity in the aft region of the ring observed in face of the bubble. Part of this vortical fluid is then deposited
Fig. 13 is due to the vorticity shedding from the vortex into the rear of the ring to form a wake.

Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996 S. James and C. K. Madnia 2407
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 FIG. 14. Velocity vectors in the centerplane during the post-formation phase for Run 1 at t *59.05.

1. Impulse and circulation
It has been shown by previous investigators that impulse
of a vortex ring in an unbounded fluid is an invariant.22,25
The time evolution of the total impulse for Runs 1, 2 and 3 is
shown in Fig. 15. It can be seen that for Run 1 after the jet is
shut off, the impulse initially decreases and then increases at
a very slow rate. As explained earlier, a stopping vortex is
formed after the jet is shut off. The strength of this vortex is
plotted in Fig. 16. An image vortex is also present due to the
no-slip boundary condition at the inflow of the domain which
influences the total impulse in the flowfield. Thus the com-
bination of the image vortex and the stopping vortex causes
a change of total impulse until t * 1 '6.7, and as the ring
moves away from the orifice the total impulse starts to rise at
a very slow rate. The effect of the ‘‘wall’’ and the stopping
vortex on the evolution of the flow impulse will be more

FIG. 16. Variation of the z-component of vorticity with y for the stopping
FIG. 15. Temporal variation of impulse for Runs 1, 2, and 3. vortex corresponding to Runs 1, 2, and 3.

2408 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996 S. James and C. K. Madnia
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 FIG. 17. Circulation versus time for Runs 1, 2, and 3.
clear when the impulse-time curve for Runs 2 and 3 are
analyzed. Glezer and Coles23 made a note of the decrease of
impulse of a vortex ring generated from an orifice. They
attributed the decrease to the presence of the wall. However,
they did not quantify their results.
In order to study the effect of the velocity program on
the evolution of the vortex ring generated through an orifice
the variation of impulse and circulation with time for Runs 1
and 3 is studied. Figure 15 shows the impulse-time curve for
both velocity programs. Note that the curve corresponding to
Run 3 during the post-formation phase is quite different from
that of Run 1. To understand this, it is useful to examine the
strength of the stopping vortex for Run 3 in Fig. 16. It can be
observed from this figure that the stopping vortex is very
weak as compared to the stopping vortex for Run 1. Thus the
predominant effect on the impulse associated with Run 3 is
due to the ‘‘wall’’ boundary conditions. Figure 15 shows that
the impulse for Run 3 decreases immediately after the jet is
stopped and then shows a gradual increase. It can be inferred
that when the jet is stopped the vortex ring is still close to the
wall (X/D 0 '1.0), and there is an interaction between the
ring and its image which leads to a decrease of the total
impulse in the flowfield. As the vortex ring moves away
from the wall, this effect is reduced, and the total impulse
gradually rises to its initial value, i.e., the value immediately
after the jet is shut off. It can be hypothesized that for the
orifice case if the ‘‘wall’’ is removed, the impulse should
show an initial decrease due to the effect of the stopping
vortex, and as the strength of this vortex decreases, the im-
pulse should increase and reach a maximum at t * 1 '6.7 and
then should remain constant with time. This is indeed the
case and will be shown for the nozzle case.
The effect of different vortex generator configurations
on the evolution of the ring during its post-formation phase
is also studied. Figure 15 shows a comparison of the
impulse-time curve for Runs 1 and 2. Due to the absence of
the wall in the nozzle case, various features of the impulse
curve for the nozzle case is primarily due to the effect of the
stopping vortex. Note that the stopping vortex plays an im-
1 '6.7 as beyond this time the impulse does
portant role till t *
not vary with time. Comparing the strength of the stopping
vortex in the nozzle case with the orifice case ~Run 1! in Fig.
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FIG. 18. Comparison of circulation in the vortex bubble with that in the
entire flowfield for Run 1.
16, it is noted that the stopping vortex for both orifice and
nozzle cases have approximately the same strength. It can be
concluded that the slow recovery of the impulse correspond-
ing to Run 1 for t 1* .6.7 is due to the diminishing influence
of the image vortex. This also accounts for a larger reduction
of the total impulse, immediately after the jet is shut off, for
the orifice case compared to the nozzle case ~Fig. 15!.
The influence of the stopping vortex on total circulation
for the orifice case ~Run 1! can also be observed in Fig. 17.
Circulation decreases immediately after the jet is shut off.
This is due to the opposite sign vorticity associated with the
stopping vortex. Later, the circulation remains constant for a
short time and then starts to decay. Immediately after the
formation period the vorticity cancellation near the axis of
the ring is negligible, but as the core vorticity diffuses and
reaches the centerline cancellation occurs which results in a
reduction of circulation. Contour plots of the z-component of
the vorticity shown in Fig. 13 also confirms this.
The effect of the stopping vortex on circulation, pro-
duced as a result of the bell-shaped velocity program is elu-
cidated from Fig. 17. Unlike the circulation curve of Run 1,
the circulation associated with Run 3 does not show an initial
decrease immediately after the jet is shut-off. This also con-
firms the statement made earlier that the strength of the stop-
ping vortex corresponding to Run 3 is weak and does not
influence the total circulation significantly. The later de-
crease in circulation is predominantly due to vorticity can-
cellation taking place at the axis of symmetry of the flow-
field.
Contrary to the impulse for the two generators it is seen
from Fig. 17 that the time variation of the total circulation in
the flowfield of the nozzle ~Run 2! and the orifice ~Run 1! is
approximately the same. This is because the total amount of
vorticity introduced into the flowfield are the same for both
cases.
A measure of the amount of vorticity deposited into the
wake of the vortex bubble is shown in Fig. 18. The total
circulation and the circulation of the bubble for Run 1 are
shown in this figure. The difference between the two curves
gives the amount of vorticity in the wake. It can be noted that
until t * '7.0 the amount of vorticity in the wake is very
S. James and C. K. Madnia 2409
 FIG. 19. Downstream variation of the centerline U-velocity at various times.
small and at later times the circulation of the vortex bubble is
smaller than that in the flowfield. Also the circulation of the
vortex bubble decreases at a faster rate as compared to that
of the entire flowfield. A plausible explanation is that for the
vortex bubble, the decrease in circulation is due to shedding
of vorticity into the wake and also due to cancellation of
vorticity, while that for the entire flowfield, is solely due to
cancellation along the centerline. Comparison of the circula-
tion in the vortex bubble and that in the bubble and its wake
for Run 2 also shows a trend similar to that in Run 1.
2. Kinematics
In this section kinematics of vortex rings generated by
‘‘orifice’’ and ‘‘nozzle’’ types of configurations are studied.
Also, the effect of different velocity programs are consid-
ered. Figure 19 shows the downstream variation of the cen-
terline velocity U c normalized by U 0 max , corresponding to
Run 1 for several times during the simulation. It can be ob-
served that the velocity profiles get broader and their peak
value decreases with time. The axial location of the ring
based on the variation of U c max with time is plotted in Fig.
20. Glezer and Coles23 used a similar criteria to obtain the
axial location of a turbulent vortex ring. On this figure also
FIG. 20. Comparison of the x-location of the vortex ring obtained from
U c max and the vorticity centroid @Eq. ~11!# for Run 1.
2410 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996
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FIG. 21. Evolution of the ring radius for Runs 1, 2 and 3.
plotted is the axial location based on the vorticity centroid
defined by Helmholtz26 calculated from the formula below:
** xy 2 v z dA
X V5 . ~11!
** y 2 v z dA
The difference between the two curves in Fig. 20 at later
times is due to the effect of vorticity shedding into the wake.
At early times during the post-formation phase the x-location
of the ring obtained from both methods have values close to
each other and as the ring moves downstream, the vorticity
in the wake increases continuously, and results in widening
of the difference between the two curves.
The radius of the vortex ring as calculated from the
expression2
** y v z dA
R V5 , ~12!
** v z dA
is plotted in Fig. 21. Note that immediately after the forma-
tion period, the radius decreases for both orifice ~Run 1! and
nozzle ~Run 2! types of configurations. For the orifice case,
this is due to two effects. The effect of the ‘‘wall’’ and the
influence of the induced flow of the stopping vortex formed
at the exit of the orifice. However, for the nozzle case the
FIG. 22. Determination of the core-diameter from the V-velocity profile for
Run 1 at t *510.5.
S. James and C. K. Madnia
 FIG. 23. Determination of the time exponent for Run 1. Solid line corre- FIG. 24. Centerline U-velocity in similarity coordinates for Run 1.
sponds to a least square fit through the data with slope520.33.

predict the time exponent, n, of G f low f ield ;(t * n

1 ) . As shown
decrease of the ring’s radius is only due to the stopping vor- in Fig. 23, the value of the exponent is 20.33, which is in
tex, and the radius is larger for the nozzle case during the accordance with the value of 21/3 obtained by Maxworthy.
post-formation phase. In order to further assess the robustness of Maxworthy’s hy-
The effect of the velocity program on the kinematics of pothesis, the above analysis was repeated by assuming
21/3
vortex rings is also studied. It can be seen from Fig. 21 that G f low f ield ;(t *
1) . The value of t *
0 obtained using this as-
the radii of the vortex rings generated by different velocity sumption was used to obtain the exponent n of
programs differ from each other during the post-formation G bubble ;(t * n
1 ) . A value of n520.67 was obtained, thus
phase. The radius of the ring corresponding to Run 3 is confirming the validity of Maxworthy’s model.
slightly larger than radius of the ring in Run 1. This can be Having obtained the virtual origin in time from the
attributed to the difference between the strength of the stop- above analysis, the next step is to obtain the virtual origin in
ping vortices for Run 1 and Run 3. space X 0 . The dependence of the maximum centerline ve-
A typical plot of the variation of the V-velocity in the locity on time is obtained as follows:
core in the x-direction is shown in Fig. 22. The core diameter
is defined as the region where the magnitudes of the U and U c max ; ~ t * 2t 0* ! n . ~13!
V velocities increase linearly with radius. It is observed in The exponent n520.97 is obtained from the Run 1 data. An
the present simulations that the core has an elliptical shape assumption is made that the dependence of U c max on time
with the major axis of the ellipse in the x-direction. The
and the speed of the vortex ring on time are the same. The
distance between the peak values corresponds to the length
above assumption is also made by Glezer and Coles23 when
of the major axis of the core (2a). The ratio of the size of the
they obtained the similarity laws for a turbulent vortex ring.
core radius, a, to ring radius at t5t o f f is approximately 0.4
The assumption is valid as U c max is also a measure of the
for Run 1 and Run 2.
speed of the ring. Therefore,
3. Scaling behavior d
13 ~X ! 5a ~ t * 2t *
0! .
n
~14!
Maxworthy proposed a theoretical model for explain- dt c max
ing the process of fluid entrainment into the vortex bubble,
Integrating Eq. ~14! results in
and deposition of the circulation and the impulse of the
bubble into a wake. He predicted that circulation for the ~ X c max 2X 0 ! 5b ~ t * 2t *
0!
n11
, ~15!
22/3
vortex bubble decays as (t * 1) and that for the entire flow-
*
field varies as (t 1 ) 21/3
. This analysis is performed assuming where a and b are constants. A value of X 0 522.44 was
the impulse of the vortex bubble to be a constant. The obtained by finding the intercept of the linear fit through the
present simulations ~Runs 1, 2 and 3! are used to confirm X c max vs (t * 2t *
0)
n11
data. Variable e is then defined as
Maxworthy’s hypothesis. Here, only the results for Run 1 is ~ X2X 0 !
presented and the results for the other cases are found to be e 5c , ~16!
~ t * 2t *
0!
n11
very close to the presented results. In order to make a mean-
ingful comparison between the results from present simula- where c is a constant. The centerline velocity profiles using
tions with Maxworthy’s model, the computational data se- the above similarity parameter are plotted in Fig. 24 for vari-
lected correspond to the time for which the rate of decay of ous times during the simulation. Except for the points near
the impulse of the bubble is very small for all the cases the orifice the velocity profiles collapse into a single curve.
considered. To obtain the virtual origin, it is assumed that A similar analysis is carried out for the nozzle case. A
22/3
G bubble ;(t *
1) . Based on this assumption a virtual origin good collapse of the axial velocity data is also obtained by
in time, t 0 529.65 is obtained. This value of t *
* 0 is used to utilizing the above similarity parameters.

Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996 S. James and C. K. Madnia 2411
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 FIG. 25. Contour plots of product mass-fractions for Run 1. ~a! t *57.9, ~b!
t *511.8, ~c! t *516.7. Increment in the contour levels are ~a! 0.125, ~b!
0.125, ~c! 0.125.

4. Mixing and entrainment ing the life history of the vortex ring and the total product
In order to provide a measure of the extent of mixing formed inside the vortex bubble for Run 1. P is defined as
during the post-formation phase of the ring, the transport of a
conserved scalar variable J is considered. The transport of P5 Er Y p dV, ~17!
this scalar determines the limiting rate of reactant conversion
in a binary chemical reaction of the type A1B→Products. where Y p is defined as the mass fraction of the product.
With the usual definition of the Shvab-Zeldovich variable,18
the limiting values J50,1 correspond to pure oxidizer and to
pure fuel, respectively. In this way, effectively, the maxi-
mum rate of product formation in the post-formation phase
of a ring is simulated. Species A emerging from the vortex
generator mixes with the quiescent species B in the ambient.
The flow configuration is shown in Fig. 1.
In order to observe the distribution of product corre-
sponding to an infinitely fast reaction in the flowfield, con-
tour plots of the product mass fraction is plotted in Fig. 25. It
can be observed from this figure that during the early times
after the formation phase (t * .4.0), most of the product in
the flowfield is concentrated in the bubble. However, as the
bubble moves downstream, the total amount of product in
the wake increases due to shedding of the fluid from the
bubble. It is also observed that the highest product mass
fraction contours are located in the core region. Figure 26 FIG. 26. Temporal variation of the total product mass-fraction in the bubble
shows the total product P formed in the entire flowfield dur- and in the flowfield and time variation of Reactant B in the bubble.

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 It can be seen from this figure that the total product in
the flowfield shows an initial non-linear increase during the
formation of the vortex ring, followed by a linear increase
and finally approaches an asymptotic value. The fact that the
total product approaches an asymptotic value indicates that
almost all of the reactant A is consumed. The total product
formation inside the bubble is equally interesting. The initial
increase of the total product associated with the bubble is
due to the higher rate of formation of the product in the
bubble than that lost to the wake. At later times, when nearly
all of the reactant A is consumed, more product is being lost
to the wake than is formed in the bubble, thus the total prod-
uct inside the bubble shows a decrease with time. This indi-
cates that the bubble fluid is being de-entrained into the
wake. The same phenomenon can be observed from the flow
visualization results of Fig. 25. The total mass of the ambient
fluid ~reactant B! in the bubble gives a measure of the en-
trainment into the bubble. It can be observed from Fig. 26
that the total mass of reactant B increases continuously.
Though reactant B is consumed in the reaction occurring in
the bubble, new ambient fluid is continuously entrained. The
later effect dominates that of the former, thus showing a net
entrainment into the bubble. The mixing and entrainment
characteristics of the rings corresponding to Runs 2 and 3 are
in qualitative agreement with the results for Run 1.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
Direct numerical simulations of a viscous laminar ring
are conducted. Results of these simulations are used to gain
some understanding of ~1! the formation process of a vortex
ring, ~2! the effects of different vortex generators and veloc-
ity programs on the dynamics and kinematics of a ring, and
~3! the process of mixing and entrainment in a vortex ring.
It is shown that during the formation phase of the ring,
the slug-flow model underpredicts the total shed circulation.
This is attributed, mainly, to the absence of flow turning
effect in the model. As the U-velocity profiles become uni-
form across the jet exit, the rate of shedding of circulation
into the flow approaches a constant approximately equal to
the circulation rate calculated from the slug-flow model. It is
also found that during this period the total circulation and
impulse in the flowfield are approximately the same for the
nozzle and orifice generators.
The simulation results for the time variation of total cir-
culation and (x c , y c ) are in agreement with the experimental
findings of Didden.8 The y-coordinate of the spiral increases
approximately as y c ;(t * 2/3
1) during a limited time interval
for both simulations and experiment. Similarity theory pre-
dicts the exponent 2/3 for the temporal variation of y c . The
x-location of the vortex-spiral increases approximately as
x c ;(t *
1)
3/2
for a limited time interval for both simulations
and experiment. Similarity theory predicts the exponent 2/3
for the temporal variation of x c . It is found that the x c data
for simulations and experiment exhibit a linear dependence
on time for the entire duration of the formation phase.
The results of the flow visualization show that during the
post-formation phase a vortex bubble is formed. As the
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bubble moves forward due to its self-induced velocity a
wake is formed in the rear of the bubble and the impulse and
vorticity from the bubble are continuously shed into this
wake. It is found that the total value of the circulation in the
flow varies as (t * ) 20.33 which is consistent with Maxwor-
thy’s prediction of the decay of circulation for a vortex ring
flow.
Though the variation with time of the total circulation
associated with the two vortex generators is approximately
the same, the total impulse of the flow from the two genera-
tors evolve differently with time. It is observed that the im-
pulse corresponding to the orifice case is appreciably af-
fected by the ring’s image vortex.
The process of mixing and entrainment in a vortex ring
is also studied. It is found that as the bubble containing the
fuel propels itself forward, the outside oxidizer flow is en-
trained into it and reacts to form a product. Some of this
product then is de-entrained into the wake of the bubble.
A reacting vortex ring under non-equilibrium chemical
reaction is the subject of our current investigation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The computational resources for this work are provided
by the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. All the calcula-
tions were performed on Cray-C90. The authors wish to ac-
knowledge the support of the Donors of the Petroleum Re-
search Funds administrated by the American Chemical
Society under Grant No. ACS-PRF#30619-G9.
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22
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sity Press, Cambridge, UK, 1967!. Lord Kelvin ~W. Thomson!.

2414 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1996 S. James and C. K. Madnia
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