Successive stages and the role of natural vortex dislocations in three-dimensional wake transition (Q2743738)

This paper studies successive stages and the role of natural vortex dislocations by three-dimensional transition in a nominally two-dimensional flow in a cylindrical wake by means of direct numerical simulation (DNS). The creation of streamwise and vertical components and their impact on the spanwise waviness of von Kármán vortex filaments are analyzed by means of Craik-Leibovich shearing instability mechanism. A comparative discussion is given on elliptic stability theory. The authors prove the existence of a further stage in the three-dimensional transition which substantially modifies the regular spanwise undulation. They examine the systematic and repetitive development of natural vortex dislocations in the near wake and its properties related to a drastic reduction of the fundamental frequency and to the selection of lower path in Strouhal-Reynolds number relation. Quantification of these properties is carried out by using wavelet analysis and autoregressive modelling of time series. The study on the optimum shape of spanwise distribution and the ability to trigger the vortex dislocation in wake flows can be useful in the analysis of stability and in further DNS studies.