Reynolds number dependence of two-dimensional laminar co-rotating vortex merging

Abstract

The paper reports unsteady Navier–Stokes calculations of laminar two-dimensional co-rotating vortex merging for various Reynolds numbers. The unsteady, incompressible two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations were solved with fourth-order Runge–Kutta temporal discretization and fourth-order symmetric compact schemes for spatial discretization. Calculations of the unsteady Taylor vortex benchmark showed that fourth-order accurate solutions for all primitive variables were indeed achieved. Calculations for a pair of equal-strength co-rotating vortices show good agreement with reported direct numerical simulation and experiments for the evolution of the separation distance and core radius. It is found that the time required for merging is inversely proportional to the square root of the Reynolds number. According to previous experimental research, it was also found that complete merging in laminar regime undergoes four stages with physical meaning. The physical mechanism responsible for the merging process is investigated and it is found that the antisymmetric vorticity dynamics plays an important role until full merging.