Numerical study on the motion of azimuthal vortices in axisymmetric rotating flows

Abstract

A rich phenomenon in the dynamics of azimuthal vortices in a circular cylinder caused by the inertial oscillation is investigated numerically at high Reynolds numbers and moderate Rossby numbers. In the actual spin-up flow where both the Ekman circulation and the bottom friction effects are included, the first appearance of a seed vortex is generated by the Ekman boundary-layer on the bottom wall and the subsequent roll-up near the corner bounded by the side wall. The existence of the small vortex then rapidly propagates toward the inviscid region and induces a complicated pattern in the distribution of azimuthal vorticity, i.e. inertial oscillation. The inertial oscillation however does not deteriorate the classical Ekman-pumping model in the time scale larger than that of the oscillatory motion. Motions of single vortex and a pair of vortices are further investigated under a slip boundary-condition on the solid walls. For the case of single vortex, repeated change of the vorticity sign is observed together with typical propagation of inertial waves. For the case of a pair of vortices with a two-step profile in the initial azimuthal velocity, the vortices' movement toward the outer region is resisted by the crescentshape vortices surrounding the pair. After touching the border between the core and outer regions, the pair vortices weaken very fast.