Volume 7 (2016): Issue 1 (January 2016)
Open Issue

The planar interactions between pair of vortices in an inviscid fluid are analytically investigated, by assuming one of the two vortices pointwise and the other one uniform. A novel approach using the Schwarz function of the boundary of the uniform vortex is adopted. It is based on a new integral relation between the (complex) velocity induced by the uniform vortex and its Schwarz function and on the time evolution equation of this function. They lead to a singular integrodifferential problem. Even if this problem is strongly nonlinear, its nonlinearities are confined inside two terms, only. As a consequence, its solution can be analytically approached by means of successive approximations. The ones at 0th (nonlinear terms neglected) and 1st (nonlinear terms evaluated on the 0-order solution) orders are calculated and compared with contour dynamics simulations of the vortex motion. A satisfactory agreement is keept for times which are small with respect to the turn-over time of the vortex pair.

This paper presents a comparative study between a large number of different existing sequential quadrature schemes suitable for Robust Design Optimization (RDO), with the inclusion of two partly original approaches. Efficiency of the different integration strategies is evaluated in terms of accuracy and computational effort: main goal of this paper is the identification of an integration strategy able to provide the integral value with a prescribed accuracy using a limited number of function samples. Identification of the different qualities of the various integration schemes is obtained utilizing both algebraic and practical test cases. Differences in the computational effort needed by the different schemes is evidenced, and the implications on their application to practical RDO problems is highlighted.

The rising motion in free space of a pulsating spherical bubble of gas and vapour driven by the gravitational force, in an isochoric, inviscid liquid is investigated. The liquid is at rest at the initial time, so that the subsequent flow is irrotational. For this reason, the velocity field due to the bubble motion is described by means of a potential, which is represented through an expansion based on Legendre polynomials. A system of two coupled, ordinary and nonlinear differential equations is derived for the vertical position of the bubble center of mass and for its radius. This latter equation is a modified form of the Rayleigh-Plesset equation, including a term proportional to the kinetic energy associated to the translational motion of the bubble.