Uploaded January 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Entered into our 2019 ZEISS Photography Competition by postdoctoral researcher Jack Atkinson.
This video shows a comparison between numerical simulations (left and right) and laboratory experiments (centre) of a thermal (a rising parcel of fluid).
The thermal wraps up into a mushroom cap before eventually becoming a buoyant vortex ring. After the vortex ring moves off ahead, a second mushroom begins to form from the wake. The numerics, along with the mathematical predictions and results, match well the real-world behaviour until the point at which the experimental vortex ring impinges upon the top of the tank, whereupon it breaks apart in a graceful fashion.
These images come work I performed as part of my PhD thesis. The work studied the processes by which the thermal transitions between the different stages to provide an understanding of its evolution.
Entered into our 2019 ZEISS Photography Competition by postdoctoral researcher Jack Atkinson.
This video shows a comparison between numerical simulations (left and right) and laboratory experiments (centre) of a thermal (a rising parcel of fluid).
The thermal wraps up into a mushroom cap before eventually becoming a buoyant vortex ring. After the vortex ring moves off ahead, a second mushroom begins to form from the wake. The numerics, along with the mathematical predictions and results, match well the real-world behaviour until the point at which the experimental vortex ring impinges upon the top of the tank, whereupon it breaks apart in a graceful fashion.
These images come work I performed as part of my PhD thesis. The work studied the processes by which the thermal transitions between the different stages to provide an understanding of its evolution.
