UC Berkeley

The transient dynamics of a wake vortex, modelled by a strong swirling $q$-vortex, are examined with an emphasis on exploring optimal transient growth constructed by continuous eigenmodes associated with continuous spectra. The pivotal contribution of the viscous critical-layer eigenmodes (Lee & Marcus, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 967) amongst the entire eigenmode families to optimal perturbations is numerically confirmed, based on a spectral collocation method for a radially unbounded domain that ensures correct analyticity and far-field behaviour. The consistence of the numerical method against numerical sensitivity provides reliability of results as well as flexibility for tuning. Both axisymmetric and helical perturbation cases with axial wavenumbers of order unity or less are considered in the study through both linearised theory and non-linear simulations, yielding results that align with literature on both energy growth curves and optimal perturbation structures. Additionally, the initiation process of transient growth is discussed to reveal its practicability. Inspired by ice crystals in contrails, the role of backward influences of inertial particles on the carrier vortex flow, especially via particle drag, is underscored. In the pursuit of optimal transient growth, the particles are initially distributed at the periphery of the vortex core to disturb the vortex. Two-way coupled vortex-particle simulations conclusively demonstrate clear indications of optimal transient growth during continual vortex-particle interactions, reinforcing the robustness and significance of the transient growth process in the original non-linear vortex system over finite time periods.