The basic description of a fluid flow is provided by the velocity field and the pressure field.
From the velocity field streamlines can be constructed, and from these important information about structures in the flow can be found, e.g. separation from solid bodies and the location of vortices in the form of regions with a rotating flow.
However, an important secondary quantity is the vorticity, the curl of the velocity field. Vorticity measures the rotation of individual fluid particles and is generally used to visualize vortex structures. But the identification of structures on the basis of velocity gives a different result from that obtained from vorticity.
The purpose of the present project is to gain a better understanding of the connection between structures in flows defined by these different approaches. While a bifurcation theory for velocity patterns is quite well developed, the same is not the case for vorticity patterns.
The project will contribute to a better understanding of bifurcations of vorticity patterns. Both theoretical tools in the form of normal form computations and numerical simulations of specific flows will be used.
Contact person: Morten Brøns