Formation of a Counter-Rotating Vortex Pair in a Plume in a Cross-Flow

Numerical simulations are performed to study the formation of a counter-rotating vortex pair (CVP), a dominant flow feature in plumes inclined in a cross-flow. The unsteady three-dimensional flow fields are calculated by a finite difference method using the Boussinesq approximation. A plume rises from an isothermally heated square surface facing upward in air. Calculations show that the CVP originates not from horizontal spanwise vorticity in the velocity boundary layer on the bottom wall around the heated area, but from horizontal streamwise vorticity just above each side of the heated area. When the cross-flow begins after a plume forms a vortex ring in the cap above the heated area in a still environment, the vortex ring does not form a CVP. However, as the cap and the stem of the plume move downwind, a rotation about the streamwise axis appears just above each side edge of the heated area and grows into the CVP. We discuss the effect of entrainment into the stem and cap on the formation of the streamwise rotation that causes the CVP.