DYNAMICS OF FLUID MIXING IN TIME-DEPENDENT VISCOUS WAKES, JETS, AND SHEAR LAYERS

A FAMILY OF MODELS WILL BE DEVELOPED TO STUDY THE DYNAMICS OF FLUID MIXING IN TWO-DIMENSIONAL VISCOUS, INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOWS. THE SIMPLEST MODEL AND ITS GENERALIZATIONS ARE BASED ON THE LAGRANGIAN FORMULATION OF FLUID MOTION AND WILLALLOW STUDY OF THE DYNAMICS OF MIXING AS A FUNCTION OF THE REYNOLDS NUMBER. VISCOSITY IS INTRODUCED BY ALLOWING VORTICITY TO DIFFUSE AS IN THE EXACT SELF-SIMILAR SOLUTION TO THE NAVIER-STOKES EQUATIONS DESCRIBING THE VISCOUS GROWTHOF AN ISOLATED VORTEX CORE. NUMERICAL CODE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO SIMULATE FLOWS AND CONFIGURATIONS OF PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE IN AERODYNAMICS WILL BE DEVELOPED. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL GIVE IMPORTANT INSIGHT INTO THE DYNAMIC MIXING PROCESSES INVOLVED IN WAKES, JETS, AND SHEAR LAYERS WHICH SHOULD FACILITATE THEIR SIMULATION AND CONTROL.