Coherent-vorticity Preserving Large-Eddy Simulation of trefoil knotted vortices

TL;DR

This study uses advanced LES simulations to replicate and analyze the complex dynamics of trefoil knotted vortices, revealing how vortex entanglement and bursting depend on Reynolds number and influence energy transfer and turbulence.

Contribution

The paper introduces a coherent-vorticity preserving LES approach to accurately simulate trefoil vortex dynamics across a wide Reynolds number range, extending prior experimental and numerical studies.

Findings

Vortex entanglement and separation are well captured and match experiments.

Vortex advection velocity is Reynolds number independent before bursting.

High Reynolds numbers lead to sustained small-scale turbulence after bursting.

Abstract

We have performed Coherent-vorticity Preserving Large-Eddy simulations of a trefoil knot-shaped vortex, inspired by the experiments of Kleckner and Irvine. The flow parameter space is extended in the present study, including variations of the circulation Reynolds numbers in the range Re = 2000 - 200000, where Re = 20000 is the value used in the experiments. The vortex line corresponding to the trefoil knot is defined using a parametric equation and the Biot-Savart law is employed to initialize the velocity field. The CvP LES computation displays a good qualitative match with the experiment. In particular, the vortex entanglement process is accurately represented as well as the subsequent separation of the main vortex in two distinct structures - a small and a large vortex - with different self-advection speeds that have been quantified. The small vortex propagates faster than the large oscillatory vortex which carries an important amount of vorticity. The advection velocity of the vortex before bursting is found to be independent of the Reynolds number. The low Reynolds number computation leads to a decrease of the separated vortices velocity after bursting, compared to the higher Reynolds computations. The computation of energy spectra emphasizes intense energy transfers from large to small scales during the bursting process. The evolution of volume-averaged enstrophy shows that the bursting leads to the creation of small scales that are sustained a long time in the flow, when a sufficiently large Reynolds number is considered (Re>20000). The low Reynolds number case Re = 2000 hinders the generation of small scales during the bursting process and yields essentially laminar dynamics. The onset of background turbulence due to the entanglement process can be observed at Re = 200000