A method for determining the velocity induced by highly anisotropic vorticity blobs (Q1924694)

An approximate method for determination of the induced velocity from highly anisotropic vorticity blobs is presented, and issues related to use of anisotropic elements in calculations with vortex blob algorithms for high Reynolds number near-wall flows are examined. The presented method can determine the induced velocity by using smooth blob functions of arbitrary form, provided that the vorticity length scale associated with the blob is much less in one direction than in orthogonal directions. The ratio of these length scales is used as a small parameter to construct an asymptotic approximation to the induced velocity field. The method is illustrated for anisotropic Gaussian elements in both two and three dimensions. It is argued, using test calculations for a Blasius boundary layer, that direct calculation of the induced velocity requires about an order of magnitude more CPU time for anisotropic Gaussian elements than for isotropic elements. This difference is more than made up for by a reduction of several orders of magnitude in the number of elements needed to resolve boundary layer flows at moderate to high Reynolds numbers. It is also found that the standard vortex blob representation leads to errors in the calculation of wall slip velocity and wall shear stress due to smoothing of the discontinuity between the real and image vorticity fields at the wall, but that these errors can be avoided by placing doublet-type elements along the wall.