Vorticity generation and conservation for two-dimensional interfaces and boundaries

The generation, redistribution and, importantly, conservation of vorticity and circulation is studied for incompressible Newtonian fluids in planar and axisymmetric geometries. A generalised formulation of the vorticity at the interface between two fluids for both no-slip and stress-free conditions is presented.

Illustrative examples are provided for planar Couette flow, Poiseuille flow, the spin-up of a circular cylinder, and a cylinder below a free surface. For the last example, it is shown that, although large imbalances between positive and negative vorticity appear in the wake, the balance is found in the vortex sheet representing the stress-free surface.