AXISYMMETRICAL VORTEX BREAKDOWN .2. PHYSICAL-MECHANISMS

The physical mechanisms for vortex breakdown which, it is proposed here, rely on the production of a negative azimuthal component of vorticity, are elucidated with the aid of a simple, steady, inviscid, axisymmetric equation of motion. Most studies of vortex breakdown use as a starting point an equation for the azimuthal vorticity (Squire 1960), but a departure in the present study is that it is explored directly and not through perturbations of an initial stream function. The inviscid equation of motion that is derived leads to a criterion for vortex breakdown based on the generation of negative azimuthal vorticity on some stream surfaces. Inviscid predictions are tested against results from numerical calculations of the Navier-Stokes equations for which breakdown occurs.