Intrinsic dynamics of the boundary of a two-dimensional uniform vortex

Abstract

The link between the shape of a two-dimensional, uniform vortex and self-induced velocities on its boundary is investigated through a contour-dynamics approach. The tangent derivative of the velocity along the boundary is written in a complex form, which depends on the analytic continuation of the tangent unit vector outside the vortex boundary. In this way, a classical analysis in terms of Schwarz's function of the boundary, due to Saffman, is extended to vortices of arbitrary shape. Time evolution of intrinsic quantities (tangent unit vector, curvature and Fourier's coefficients for the vortex shape) is also analyzed, showing that it depends on tangent derivatives of the velocities, only. Furthermore, a spectral method is proposed, aimed at investigating the dynamics of nearly-circular vortices in an inviscid, isochoric fluid. Comparisons with direct numerical simulations are also established.