Linear stability of the Moore-Saffman model for a trailing wingtip vortex

This paper presents an investigation of the stability of a trailing vortex using mean flow profiles given by an approximate solution of the Navier-Stokes equations. The axial and tangential velocity profiles obtained from this solution, deduced by Moore and Saffman ["Axial flow in laminar trailing vortices," Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 333, 491-508 (1973)], agree well with experiments involving wings at slight angles of attack. In particular, the Moore-Saffman profiles better describe the jet-like and wake-like axial flows near the center of the vortex than does the much-studied Batchelor vortex. We determine solutions numerically for these profiles and find that they are well suited to describe the flow at short and intermediate distances behind the wingtip. Growth rates for unstable perturbations are presented for different values of n, the wingtip loading parameter. These growth rates are shown to be somewhat larger than those obtained for the Batchelor vortex, and instability persists for larger values of the swirl. The largest amplification rates were found to occur near n = 0.5, the value corresponding to elliptic loading. This is within the range 0.44 < n < 1.0, where the core axial flow is wake-like. For n < 0.44, the flow in the vortex core is jet-like and the growth rates of unstable perturbations become progressively smaller, with all modes damped for n approximate to 0.25. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.