Modification of the Euler equations for ‘‘vorticity confinement’’: Application to the computation of interacting vortex rings

A new ‘‘vorticity confinement’’ method is described which involves adding a term to the momentum conservation equations of fluid dynamics. This term depends only on local variables and is zero outside vortical regions. The partial differential equations with this extra term admit solutions that consist of Lagrangian-like confined vortical regions, or covons, in the shape of two-dimensional (2-D) vortex ‘‘blobs’’ and three-dimensional (3-D) vortex filaments, which convect in a constant external velocity field with a fixed internal structure, without spreading, even if the equations contain diffusive terms. Solutions of the discretized equations on a fixed Eulerian grid show the same behavior, in spite of numerical diffusion. Effectively, the new term, together with diffusive terms, constitute a new type of regularization of the inviscid equations which appears to be very useful in the numerical solution of flow problems involving thin vortical regions. The discretized Euler equations with the extra term can be solved on fairly coarse, Eulerian computational grids with simple low-order (first- or second-) accurate numerical methods, but will still yield concentrated vortices which convect without spreading due to numerical diffusion. Since only a fixed grid is used with local variables, the vorticity confinement method is quite general and can automatically accommodate changes in vortex topology, such as merging. Applications are presented for incompressible flow in 3D, where pairs of thin vortex rings interact and, in some cases, merge.