Tornado-like non-stationary vortices: experimental modelling under laboratory conditions

Abstract

The purposes of the paper are threefold: 1) to show the fundamental possibility of physical simulation of non-stationary wall-free concentrated air vortices (called here as tornado-like vortices) under laboratory conditions without using of the mechanical rotation, 2) to find the heating rates of underlying surface and air temporal and spatial temperature shear which lead to the stable genesis of wall-free vortices, and 3) to investigate the some parameters of the process of generation of vortices and their characteristics. The wall-free vortices were generated over underlying surface of aluminum sheet due to its controlled heating from below as a result of development of unstable stratifycation of air.