Stability of vortex pairs over slender conical bodies: Analysis and numerical computation

Abstract

Analytical studies and computational fluid dynamics simulations are presented to study the formation and stability of stationary symmetric and asymmetric vortex pairs over slender conical bodies in an inviscid incompressible flow at high angles of attack. The analytical method is based on an eigenvalue analysis on the motion of the vortices under small perturbations. A three-dimensional time-accurate Euler code is used to compute five typical flows studied by the analytical method on extraordinarily fine grids with strict convergence criteria. Both the theory and the computation show that the vortices over a delta wing are stable and those over a wing-body configuration at the low angle of attack are symmetric and stable, but become asymmetric and bistable at higher angles of attack; that is, the vortices shift to one of two stable mirror-imaged asymmetric configurations. The computational results agree well with the analytical predictions, demonstrating the existence of a global inviscid hydrodynamic instability mechanism responsible for the asymmetry of separation vortices over slender conical bodies.