The Escape Time of Small Heavy Particles from a 3D Vortex

摘要

The time that small heavy particles remain inside a 3D vortex until they escape is an important feature in many practical situations. Previous works focused in the case of a 2D vortex. In this paper we analyse the dynamics of small heavy particles initially situated inside a three-dimensional vortex and, as a result, we settle down a formulation of the time that they need to escape from the vortex. Afterwards, by means of numerical simulation we verify the validity of the obtained formulation; a very good agreement is found.