Vortex Ring Interaction with Permeable Media
Jason J. Van Luipen1 and Dr. Douglas Bohl2
1
Aeronautical Engineering & Honors Program, Clarkson
University, Potsdam, NY 13699
2
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering,
Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699
Jason J. Van Luipen email: vanluijj@clarkson.edu
Format: Oral
Abstract:
Vortex rings are fundamental fluid structures that occur in many nature and technological
situations. They are compact toroidal shaped regions in the flow field where vortex
filaments are contained within a circular core region. The study of vortex ring interaction
with permeable surfaces has begun to receive attention due to its possible application in
contaminant and explosive detection. While vortex rings have a long history of study, the
effect of surface permeability on the structure of vortex rings has not been thoroughly
studied. The long term goal of this study is focused on quantifying vortex rings that have
interacted with surfaces of varied permeability. The current work details a series of
experiments to characterize the properties of vortex rings (i.e. the convection speed and
ring diameter) produced by the experiment apparatus without permeable surfaces in
place. The data obtained by these experiments will be used as a base line for the
permeable surface interaction study. Four distinct vortex rings of varying size and
convection speed were generated with the apparatus for comparison. The vortex rings
were visualized using Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) and recorded with a digital
camera. The images recorded were processed to determine the location of the center of
the vortex ring as it convected through the ambient fluid. Multiple trials were performed
for each experiment to quantify the repeatability of the vortex rings generated by the
apparatus. Results show each ring is repeatable and indicate an asymptotic limit of the
convection speed.
Class of 2010
Aeronautical Engineering
Honors Program
Mentor: Dr. Douglas Bohl