Vortical

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vortical means pertaining to a vortex or to vortices. In fluid dynamics, the movement of a fluid can be said to be vortical if the fluid moves around in a circle, or in a helix, or if it tends to spin around some axis. Such motion can also be called solenoidal.

Vortical movement is characterized by non-zero curl:

where v is the velocity vector field of the fluid.

The curl of the velocity (at a specified point of the vector field) yields a vector which points in the direction around which the fluid is rotating.

[edit] See also

• Hurricane
• vortex
• vorticity
• coordinate rotation
• Biot-Savart law

[edit] References

• Ting, L., "Viscous vortical flows" (Lecture notes in physics). Springer-Verlag 1991. ISBN 3-540-53713-9.

[edit] External links

• Vortical Flow Research Lab (MIT) -- Study of flows found in nature and part of the Department of Ocean Engineering.
• Kida, Shigeo, "Life, Structure, and Dynamical Role of Vortical Motion in Turbulence". National Institute for Fusion Science, Theory and Computer Simulation Center. (PDF)
• Marcos, C. de la Fuente, and P. Barge, "The effect of long-lived vortical circulation on the dynamics of dust particles in the mid-plane of a protoplanetary disc".
• "Vortical" images via Google.