Vortical

In fluid dynamics, vortical means pertaining to a vortex or to vortices. 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.

Vortical movement is characterized by non-zero vorticity, with vorticity \(\boldsymbol{\omega}\) defined as the curl of the flow velocity:

\[ \boldsymbol{\omega} = \operatorname{curl}\ \mathbf{v} \ne \mathbf{0}, \] where v is the velocity vector field of the fluid flow.

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 flow is rotating.

See also

• Biot–Savart law
• coordinate rotation
• hurricane
• vortex
• vorticity

References

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

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 PDF (57.2 KB)". National Institute for Fusion Science, Theory and Computer Simulation Center.
• 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.