Coherent structures in tornado-like vortices

The dynamics of tornadolike vortices is investigated through a set of novel physical experiments and modal analyses for a wide range of swirl ratios (0.22 ≤ S ≤ 0.96). Various physical phenomena such as wandering, vortex breakdown, or transition from one-cell to two-cell structures are observed. To investigate the coherent structure of the tornado vortices, two different decomposition methods are applied: (i) proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), also referred to as principle component analysis, and (ii) a novel dynamic proper orthogonal decomposition to provide time evolutions of the POD modes. To foster the physical interpretation of these POD modes, we also applied modal decomposition on a simulated synthetic vortex. The results show that at low swirl ratios before vortex breakdown, the flow is characterized by a single vortex which is tilted at lower heights. For intermediate swirls, before vortex touchdown, the flow is characterized by a recirculation bubble with a single spiral rotating around it. By further increasing the swirl ratio, transition from a single spiral to a double spiral (one-cell to two-cell structures) occurs. Based on these observations, a simple vortex structure of tornadolike vortex is put forward which can be used to generate a low order, large scale turbulence model for these types of flows.