Stable Vortex Research Articles

Magnetic vortex structure for hollow Fe3O4 spherical submicron particles

Magnetic particles with a hollow structure have arisen as an important class of nanomagnets because of a large pore volume and higher surface-to-volume ratio compared with the same-sized solid particles. The hollow structure results in unique magnetic features such as enhanced surface exchange bias, spin freezing, and preferential stability of a magnetic vortex. Despite a recent growing understanding of sub-100 nm hollow spherical magnetic nanoparticles, magnetic properties of larger-sized hollow particles were not currently understood in detail. Here, we report results of observations of magnetic microstructures for 420 nm-sized hollow Fe3O4 spherical particles with an electron holography imaging technique, where a magnetic-vortex formation is inferred from bulk measurements. We directly observe a magnetic vortex in a remanence state with magnetization circularly oriented within the shell and the reduced stray field. Micromagnetic simulations demonstrate an increasing stability of a vortex for a hollow sphere and the formation of a field-induced curling double vortex with a pair of clockwise and counterclockwise vortices. This double vortex structure is not confirmed for the solid counterpart, and its stability enhances with decreasing the shell thickness. The present work provides useful knowledge in designing magnetic particles, where a hollow structure and a magnetic vortex are key factors for high-performance biomedical applications.

The effects of swirl vanes and a vortex stabilizer on the dynamic flow field in a cyclonic separator

The present work describes the isolated and combined effects of two internal components – swirl vanes and a vortex stabilizer – on the properties of the flow inside a particular type of gas–liquid cyclonic separator. These elements play an important role in the optimization of the catch efficiency of the gas and liquid phases but may otherwise result in a large increase in pressure drop. It is shown that the vanes and the vortex stabilizer have a considerable influence on the position of the center of rotation of the flow, which clearly does not coincide with the geometric center of the cyclone. Here, an experimental study investigates the velocity field and the resulting pressure drop inside the cyclone to account for the individual effects caused by the two internal components. Particle Image Velocimetry is used to characterize the mean velocity field and the precession of the vortex core (PVC). For the different geometrical configurations discussed in the present work, the influence of the swirl vanes was always beneficial to reduce the residence time and thus decrease the pressure drop across the cyclonic separator. The present work also introduces a method for the assessment of the PVC frequency of a confined swirling flow for low frequency 2D-PIV measurements.

Topological confinement of vortices in two-flavor dense QCD

We find a novel confinement mechanism in the two-flavor dense quark matter proposed recently, that consists of the 2SC condensates and the P-wave diquark condensates of d-quarks. This quark matter exhibiting color superconductivity as well as superfluidity is classified into two phases; confined and deconfined phases of vortices. We establish that the criterion of the confinement is color neutrality of Aharonov-Bohm (AB) phases: vortices exhibiting color non-singlet AB phases are confined by the so-called AB defects to form color-singlet bound states. In the deconfined phase, the most stable vortices are non-Abelian Alice strings, which are superfluid vortices with fractional circulation and non-Abelian color magnetic fluxes therein, exhibiting color non-singlet AB phases. On the other hand, in the confined phase, these non-Abelian vortices are confined to either a baryonic or mesonic bound state in which constituent vortices are connected by AB defects. The baryonic bound state consists of three non-Abelian Alice strings with different color magnetic fluxes with the total flux canceled out connected by a domain wall junction, while the mesonic bound state consists of two non-Abelian Alice strings with the same color magnetic fluxes connected by a single domain wall. Interestingly, the latter contains a color magnetic flux in its core, but this can exist because of color neutrality of its AB phase.

Cyclonic and anticyclonic rotation in a cylinder cooled inhomogeneously on the top.

In this work, we study the development of vortical structures generated in a rotating cylinder non-homogeneously cooled on the top. In the axisymmetric regime, for moderate vertical temperature differences and any rotation rate, cyclonic and anticyclonic rotations coexist in the flow: a counterclockwise motion at upper levels, giving place to a vertical top-down vortex, and a clockwise rotation at lower levels that generates a spin up motion. For lower rotation rates and high enough vertical temperature differences, only cyclonic top-down vortices survive and get stronger. We perform a force balance analysis to explain the phenomena. In the non-axisymmetric regime, no anticyclonic rotation at the bottom is reported and the cyclonic top-down vortex either disappears or splits up in two top-down vortices, depending on the ambient rotation rate. The intensity of the cooling on the top and how localized this cool region is affect the flow developed. When the horizontal temperature difference on the top is larger than the vertical temperature difference between top and bottom, stable axisymmetric top-down vortices with an inner updraft of warmer air are reported. The more localized the cooling above, the more difficult the development of the inner updraft becomes. Results may contribute to the understanding of the relevance of thermal processes in tornadogenesis.

Stratospheric Mountain Waves Trailing across Northern Europe

AbstractPlanetary waves disturbed the hitherto stable Arctic stratospheric polar vortex in the middle of January 2016 in such a way that unique tropospheric and stratospheric flow conditions for vertically and horizontally propagating mountain waves developed. Coexisting strong low-level westerly winds across almost all European mountain ranges plus the almost zonally aligned polar-front jet created these favorable conditions for deeply propagating gravity waves. Furthermore, the northward displacement of the polar night jet resulted in a widespread coverage of stratospheric mountain waves trailing across Northern Europe. This paper describes the particular meteorological setting by analyzing the tropospheric and stratospheric flows based on the ERA5 data. The potential of the flow for exciting internal gravity waves from nonorographic sources is evaluated across all altitudes by considering various indices to indicate flow imbalances as δ, Ro, Roζ, Ro⊥, and ΔNBE. The analyzed gravity waves are described and characterized. The main finding of this case study is the exceptionally vast extension of the mountain waves trailing to high latitudes originating from the flow across the mountainous sources that are located at about 45°N. The magnitudes of the simulated stratospheric temperature perturbations attain values larger than 10 K and are comparable to values as documented by recent case studies of large-amplitude mountain waves over South America. The zonal means of the resolved and parameterized stratospheric wave drag during the mountain wave event peak at −4.5 and −32.2 m s−1 day−1, respectively.

Multibeam OAM Transmitarray With Stable Vortex Property Based on Bifocal Method

In this letter, a multibeam transmitarray carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) is introduced to realize 1-D +/-30° beam coverage. A three-layer unit cell is designed to provide high-efficiency transmission and full 360° phase coverage. This unit cell consists of two orthogonal polarizers at the outermost layers and a polarization rotating patch in the middle layer. A feeding array is employed to illuminate the transmitarray. By combining bifocal principle with the method of OAM beam generation, the stability of steered OAM beams is improved compared to conventional single focal design. A five-beam protype producing -1 OAM mode is simulated, fabricated, and measured, realizing a +/-30° beam coverage with stable vortex property and high mode purity. The proposed design has advantages such as multi-OAM-beam, stable vortex property, wideband, high gain, and easy fabrication.

Collimated electron sheet driven by an intense Laguerre–Gaussian pulse

A collimated electron sheet is generated by using an intense circularly polarized (CP) Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) laser to irradiate the plasma in three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is found that the CP LGpl(p=0, l=1, σz=1) laser provides a more stable vortex force to ensure the concentrated transport of electrons as compared to a linearly polarized LG laser. Herein, the effects of the laser intensity, target density, and preplasma on collimated sheet formation are discussed in detail. Such collimated electron sheets may be potentially used in various applications such as the generation of vortex radiation sources and electron microscopy.

Flat-floor bubbles, dark solitons, and vortices stabilized by inhomogeneous nonlinear media

We consider one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) optical or matter-wave media with a maximum of the local self-repulsion strength at the center, and a minimum at periphery. If the central area is broad enough, it supports ground states in the form of flat-floor \textquotedblleft bubbles", and topological excitations, in the form of dark solitons in 1D and vortices with winding number $m$ in 2D. Unlike bright solitons, delocalized bubbles and dark modes were not previously considered in this setting. The ground and excited states are accurately approximated by the Thomas-Fermi expressions. The 1D and 2D bubbles, as well as vortices with $m=1$, are completely stable, while the dark solitons and vortices with $m=2$ have nontrivial stability boundaries in their existence areas. Unstable dark solitons are expelled to the periphery, while unstable double vortices split in rotating pairs of unitary ones. Displaced stable vortices precess around the central point.

Strain-induced time reversal breaking and half quantum vortices near a putative superconducting tetracritical point in Sr2RuO4

Motivated by continuing debate concerning the pairing symmetries of Sr${}_{2}$RuO${}_{4}$, the authors develop a general description of a situation in which superconducting orders are nearly degenerate. They suggest that many seemingly contradictory experimental findings can be reconciled if one assumes this material is near a tetracritical point, where small variations in strain can lead to rich phenomenology. More specifically, the authors characterize possible superconducting domain walls, allowing for spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking and the stabilization of half-quantum vortices.

Numerical Study and Theoretical Comparison of Outlet Hole Geometry for a Gravitational Vortex Turbine

The gravitational water vortex turbine is an alternative to renewable energies, it transforms the hydrokinetic energy of the rivers into electric energy and it does not require a reservoir. According to studies carried out, the hydraulic efficiency can increase or decrease according to the turbine geometrical configuration. This paper presents a numerical (CFD) and analytical comparison between conical and cylindrical designs for the outlet. The results show a higher performance for conical geometry than the cylindrical tank. The fluid behavior in CFD and analytical studies presents a tangential velocity increase near to air core and outlet hole (similar behavior). The maximum theoretical power generated was 167 W and 150 W for conical and cylindrical design respectively. The differences between geometries of the outlet holes using CFD and analytical models were 11 and 7%, respectively. However, the closest results to the CFD model had different values of 31 and 29% for conical and cylindrical design, respectively. The furthest result regarding the CFD study was 55%. The principal difference is due to tank geometry, the change in discharge zone, as well as the ratio of diameter tank and outlet hole can increase or decrease the tangential velocity and make a stronger and more stable vortex formation. The theoretical power generated is a good parameter to select the height to place the rotor.

Optical vortex beams with a symmetric and almost symmetric OAM spectrum.

We show both theoretically and numerically that if an optical vortex beam has a symmetric or almost symmetric angular harmonics spectrum [orbital angular momentum (OAM) spectrum], then the order of the central harmonic in the OAM spectrum equals the normalized-to-power OAM of the beam. This means that an optical vortex beam with a symmetric OAM spectrum has the same topological charge and the normalized-to-power OAM has an optical vortex with only one central angular harmonic. For light fields with a symmetric OAM spectrum, we give a general expression in the form of a series. We also study two examples of form-invariant (structurally stable) vortex beams with their topological charges being infinite, while the normalized-to-power OAM is approximately equal to the topological charge of the central angular harmonic, contributing the most to the OAM of the entire beam.

Large-Eddy Simulation Study of Flow and Heat Transfer in Swirling and Non-Swirling Impinging Jets on a Semi-Cylinder Concave Target

Swirling impinging jet (SIJ) is considered as an effective means to achieve uniform cooling at high heat transfer rates, and the complex flow structure and its mechanism of enhancing heat transfer have attracted much attention in recent years. The large eddy simulation (LES) technique is employed to analyze the flow fields of swirling and non-swirling impinging jet emanating from a hole with four spiral and straight grooves, respectively, at a relatively high Reynolds number (Re) of 16,000 and a small jet spacing of H/D = 2 on a concave surface with uniform heat flux. Firstly, this work analyzes two different sub-grid stress models, and LES with the wall-adapting local eddy-viscosity model (WALEM) is established for accurately predicting flow and heat transfer performance of SIJ on a flat surface. The complex flow field structures, spectral characteristics, time-averaged flow characteristics and heat transfer on the target surface for the swirling and non-swirling impinging jets are compared in detail using the established method. The results show that small-scale recirculation vortices near the wall change the nearby flow into an unstable microwave state, resulting in small-scale fluctuation of the local Nusselt number (Nu) of the wall. There is a stable recirculation vortex at the stagnation point of the target surface, and the axial and radial fluctuating speeds are consistent with the fluctuating wall temperature. With the increase in the radial radius away from the stagnation point, the main frequency of the fluctuation of wall temperature coincides with the main frequency of the fluctuation of radial fluctuating velocity at x/D = 0.5. Compared with 0° straight hole, 45° spiral hole has a larger fluctuating speed because of speed deflection, resulting in a larger turbulence intensity and a stronger air transport capacity. The heat transfer intensity of the 45° spiral hole on the target surface is slightly improved within 5–10%.

Half-quantum vortices in nematic and chiral phases of He3

We report theoretical results for the stability of half-quantum vortices (HQVs) in the superfluid phases of $^3$He confined in highly anisotropic Nafen aerogel. Superfluidity of $^3$He confined in Nafen is the realization of a "nematic superfluid" with Cooper pairs condensed into a single p-wave orbital aligned along the anisotropy axis of the Nafen aerogel. In addition to the nematic phase, we predict a second "chiral" phase that onsets at a lower transition temperature. This chiral phase spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry and is a topological superfluid. Both superfluid phases are equal-spin pairing condensates that host arrays of HQVs as equilibrium states of rotating superfluid $^3$He. We present results for the structure of HQVs, including magnetic and topological signatures of HQVs in both the nematic and chiral phases of $^3$He-Nafen.

Vortex breakdown mechanics of a laminar confined swirling flow with large expansion ratio using a non-uniform finite difference approximation

Abrupt expansions are a very frequent geometry in mechanical engineering systems, i.e. in combustion chambers, valves, heat exchangers or impinging cooling devices. However, despite the large number of devices that use this geometry, the expanded flow behaviour still needs further research to understand and predict the full system performance. This paper presents the application of the non-uniform finite difference approximation method developed in Sanmiguel et al. for the numerical characterisation of a confined swirling laminar jet discharging with a large expansion ratio. This investigation can be considered an extension of previous work by Revuelta, but now a swirling flow is generated by a rotating pipe upstream the expansion. The structures found when a fully-developed rotating Hagen-Poiseuille flow discharges into a much larger pipe section are summarised in a bifurcation diagram, whose coordinates are the Reynolds number of the jet ( Rej) and the swirl parameter ( L), for which the time-dependent, axisymmetric and incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are integrated numerically. For values of the jet Reynolds number below 200, there is a critical value of the swirl parameter above which stable vortex breakdown appears. For values of the Reynolds number above 200, three different behaviours are observed, and each performance appears for a critical value of the swirl parameter. When increasing the swirl parameter from zero, the flow becomes axisymmetrically unstable, showing an oscillatory behaviour. If further increasing the swirl intensity, the oscillatory flow coexists with a vortex breakdown bubble and, finally, a steady vortex breakdown is reached. The expansion ratio ε considered in all the simulations is 1[Formula: see text]. In previous literature, the exactness of the limiting critical Rej and L values that define these behaviours has been found to be influenced by the variability in the inlet profile conditions, which affects the expanded flow. This enhances the importance in the present investigation to accurately simulate the discharge pipe inlet profiles.

Engineering Application of an Identification Method to Shock-Induced Vortex Stability in the Transonic Axial Fan Rotor

In the present paper, the steady RANS (Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes) simulations based on our independently developed CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) solver NUAA-Turbo 2.0, are carried out to investigate the shock wave/tip leakage vortex (SW/TLV) interaction in two representative transonic axial fan rotors, NASA Rotor 67 and NASA Rotor 37. The intent of this study is mainly to verify if an identification method derived from relevant theories is suitable for shock-induced vortex stability in the real engineering environment. As the additional findings, a universal tip vortex model is established and the characteristics of vortex breakdown or not are also summarized under different load levels. To ensure the prediction accuracy of all numerical methods selected in this research, detailed comparisons are made between computational and experimental results before flow analysis. The excellent agreement between the both indicates that the current code is capable of capturing the dominant secondary flow structures and aerodynamic phenomenon, especially the vortex system in tip region and SW/TLV interaction. It is found that three vortical structures such as tip leakage vortex (TLV), shock-induced vortex (SIV), tip separation vortex (TSV) in addition the tip leakage vortex-induced vortex (TLV-IV, which only occurs when the TLV strength increases to a certain extent) frequently exist near the blade tip and then abstracted as a tip vortex model. A stable TLV after passing through the passage shock is commonly characterized by tight rolling-up, slow deceleration and slight expansion. Conversely, the vortex behaves in a breakdown state. The final verification results show that the above two vortex states can be satisfactorily detected by the theoretical discriminant introduced in this work.

Numerical simulation of shock wave/tip leakage vortex interaction for a transonic axial fan rotor

Abstract This paper presents the steady numerical investigation on SW/TLV interaction with SST turbulence model at two characteristic operating conditions for a transonic fan rotor, NASA Rotor 67. The main purpose of the present work is to reveal the main flow structures and properties during the SW/TLV interaction, and a theoretical criterion for vortex stability is engineeringly utilized to determine such shock wave-induced vortex stability. The validations for all numerical schemes have been conducted by comparing the RANS solutions with detailed experimental data before the analyses of flow phenomenon and mechanism. The simulation results indicate that numerical methods used in NUAA-Turbo 2.0 solver, independently developed by our team, enable to accurately capture the complex flow structures including shock wave and vortex systems within the blade passages, especially in the tip region. Similar to wing-tip vortex created by vortex generator, the TLV has the same wake-type characteristics. The flow pattern generated by such interaction is characterized by the bulged-forward shock front followed by a subsonic flow region and a slight expansion of vortex core. No apparent vortex breakdown was examined by both intuitive visualization of three-dimensional vortex structure and a theoretical criterion.

Numerical simulation of shock wave/tip leakage vortex interaction for a transonic axial fan rotor

Abstract This paper presents the steady numerical investigation on SW/TLV interaction with SST turbulence model at two characteristic operating conditions for a transonic fan rotor, NASA Rotor 67. The main purpose of the present work is to reveal the main flow structures and properties during the SW/TLV interaction, and a theoretical criterion for vortex stability is engineeringly utilized to determine such shock wave-induced vortex stability. The validations for all numerical schemes have been conducted by comparing the RANS solutions with detailed experimental data before the analyses of flow phenomenon and mechanism. The simulation results indicate that numerical methods used in NUAA-Turbo 2.0 solver, independently developed by our team, enable to accurately capture the complex flow structures including shock wave and vortex systems within the blade passages, especially in the tip region. Similar to wing-tip vortex created by vortex generator, the TLV has the same wake-type characteristics. The flow pattern generated by such interaction is characterized by the bulged-forward shock front followed by a subsonic flow region and a slight expansion of vortex core. No apparent vortex breakdown was examined by both intuitive visualization of three-dimensional vortex structure and a theoretical criterion.

Numerical study on using vortex flow to improve smoke exhaust efficiency in large-scale atrium fires

A high-performance smoke exhaust system is vital for maintaining a tenable environment during fire accidents evacuation. This study proposes a novel vortex flow driven smoke exhaust system to delay the smoke filling process during the atrium fire accident. The complex fluid movement and combustion reactions were predicted using Fire Dynamics Simulator, and the predicted smoke filling process was identified by the least-square method. Good agreements between numerical predictions and experimental measurements for vertical temperature, tangential velocity profile and smoke interface height were achieved. The numerical outcomes revealed that the amount of fresh air supplied, heat release rate and exhaust fan's rate determined the smoke interface's final height. A parametric study was also carried out to investigate the dominating factor in maintaining a stable vortex flow to maximize the smoke exhaust efficiency. Numerical results showed that the vortex flow smoke exhaust system could slow down the smoke filling, and the stability of the swirling fire is crucial for the system's performance.

Relations between shear flow and vortices in the near wake of a high speed train

Two flow cases for high speed train models with different lengths have been numerically computed by performing the improved delayed detached-eddy simulation. Based on the Omega method and turbulence production (TP) distribution, the relations between the shear flow and vortices in the near turbulent wake of a high speed train have been comparatively analyzed. First, in the wake region immediately close to the tail, the boundary layer separation plays significant roles. And the mechanism makes shear deformation prominent in the region with the formed vortices. Moreover, the shear layers are pertinent to the boundary-layer thicknesses and help to the TP distribution. However, the shear-dominated region is very limited due to high dissipation. One the other hand, a vast majority of the vortices captured with the parameter Omega increasing in the downstream region away from the tail. And the TP distributions are stable at different streamwise positions, though obviously decreased. They are greatly attributed to the mean strain rate in the horizontal plane. Meanwhile, the vortical vorticity is thought to be the dominant component inside the vortex cores, although the shear becomes weaker. And thus the turbulence itself can be spatially sustained due to the relatively stable vortex structure. Moreover, the weak shear is believed to depend upon the interaction between the vortices and the ground.

Aspect ratio and the dynamic wake of the Ahmed body

The dynamic structures in the wake of the Ahmed body with a 25° slant angle were investigated. It is well established that the wake is dominated by two, counter rotating, streamwise vortex structures (C-pillar vortices). The influence these vortices have on the flow over the slant back was altered by modifying the width of the body between 60% to 120% of the standard width. The wake was measured using time-resolved particle-image velocimetry in several streamwise and spanwise planes for a height-based Reynolds number of 2.6×104. The wake measurements were decomposed with a spectral proper orthogonal decomposition technique, revealing two oscillatory modes. Firstly, the C-pillar vortical structures alternately contract and expand with a Strouhal number of 0.24, mildly dependent on the width. Secondly, the boundary layers on the sides of the body separate at the end of the body, forming shear layers with a dominant frequency of St = 2.30. Reducing the width of the body to 60% rotates the symmetry axis of the shedding mode. Furthermore, changing the spacing between the C-pillar vortices, by changing the width of the body, alters the nature of the spanwise vortical structures that form behind the base of the model. Intermediate width bodies produce two stable spanwise vortices. For wide bodies, the flow remains separated over the entire slant, and the top spanwise vortex does not form. Rather, the flow over the slant resembles a free shear layer with a Kelvin–Helmholtz-like instability leading to periodic shedding of small-scale vortex structures. Conversely, for narrow bodies, this phenomenon is observed at the bottom of the body and the lower spanwise vortex no longer forms while the flow over the slant remains attached.