Vortex Flow presents a detailed description of the natural phenomena of vortices, fundamental concepts, and applications of the vortex flows. Numerous figures and examples illustrate concepts presented in this interesting book for mechanical, chemical, powder, and aeronautical engineers and engineering students.

From the astrophysical scale of a swirling spiral galaxy, through the geophysical scale of a hurricane, down to the subatomic scale of elementary particles, vortical motion and vortex dynamics have played a profound role in our understanding of the physical world. Kuchemann referred to vortex dynamics as "the sinews and muscles of fluid motion. " In order to update our understanding of vortex dominated flows, NASA Langley Research Center and the Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering (ICASE) conducted a workshop during July 9-11, 1985. The subject was broadly divided into five overlapping topics vortex dynamics, vortex breakdown, massive separation, vortex shedding from sharp leading edges and conically separated flows. Some of the experts in each of these areas were invited to provide an overview of the subject. This volume is the proceedings of the workshop and contains the latest, theoretical, numerical, and experimental work in the above-mentioned areas. Leibovich, Widnall, Moore and Sirovich discussed topics on the fundamentals of vortex dynamics, while Keller and Hafez treated the problem of vortex break down phenomena; the contributions of Smith, Davis and LeBalleur were in the area of massive separation and inviscid-viscous interactions, while those of Cheng, Hoeijmakers and Munnan dealt with sharp-leading-edge vortex flows; and Fiddes and Marconi represented the category of conical separated flows.

The study of vortex and wave flows is one of the traditional problems of fluid mechanics, the practical importance of which has grown significantly in recent years. Consideration of the processes of substance transfer in such complex systems as natural water bodies is fraught with many difficulties of a methodological and fundamental nature: the extreme complexity of conducting a full-scale experiment, the complexity and variability of hydrophysical fields of the ocean and hydrometeorological conditions during research, and also, in some cases, the complexity and the variability of the properties of the transferred substance. In this connection, it is of particular interest to study the transfer of markers in stationary vortex and wave flows, which can form in laboratory facilities with constant external conditions. In this case, it is possible to avoid problems associated with the spatial and temporal variability of natural sources of vortex formations and directly trace the dependence of the characteristic flow parameters or the characteristics of the movement of solid or other objects placed during. This book presents the results of experimental and theoretical studies of the dynamics and structure of multiphase vortex flows and the nature of the transfer of three types of markers: solid-state (ice, plastic), immiscible with water (oil, oil, diesel) and soluble (aniline dyes, uranyl). The results will be important, first of all, for a better understanding of the behavior of various impurities in the circulation flows and more accurate prediction of their distribution in natural conditions (in a stratified hydrosphere and atmosphere).

Understanding the nature of vortices in high-Tc superconductors is a crucial subject for research on superconductive electronics, especially for superconducting interference devices (SQUIDs), it is also a fundamental problem in condensed-matter physics. Recent technological progress in methods for both direct and indirect observation of vortices, e.g. scanning SQUID, terahertz imaging, and microwave excitation, has led to new insights into vortex physics, the dynamic behavior of vortices in junctions and related questions of noise. This book presents the current status of research activity and provides new information on the applications of SQUIDs, including magnetocardiography, immunoassays, and laser-SQUID microscopes, all of which are close to being commercially available.