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The vortices of two-dimensional turbulence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

James C. Mcwilliams
James C. Mcwilliams
Affiliation:
Geophysical Turbulence Program, National Center for Atmospheric Research, PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, USA
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Abstract

A solution of decaying two-dimensional turbulence at large Reynolds number is analysed by means of an automated vortex census. The census identifies the flow structures which approximately conform to the idealized shape of an isolated, coherent vortex. It also determines vortex characteristics, such as amplitude, size, radial profile, and deformation from the ideal axisymmetric shape. The distributions of these characteristics within the vortex population are examined, as are their time evolutions. Interpretation of these distributions is made with reference to both the random initial conditions for the solution and the dynamical processes of vortex emergence, survival, and interaction.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 219 , October 1990 , pp. 361 - 385
Copyright
© 1990 Cambridge University Press

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