The oblique ascent of a viscous vortex pair toward a free surface

The problem of a vortex pair, rising obliquely at an angle of 45° toward a deformable free surface in a viscous, incompressible fluid, is solved with the aid of the Navier—Stokes equations. The full nonlinear boundary conditions at the free surface are applied. The oblique interaction of the vortex pair with the free surface results in a number of novel features that have not been observed for the special case of a vertical rise, reported earlier. These features include the directional change of trajectories near the free surface and the occurrence of waves driven by the vortex pair. Moreover, surface tension can completely change the flow characteristics such as the direction of the trajectories and the generation of secondary vortices. Numerical solutions are presented for selected Reynolds, Froude, and Weber numbers.