We have performed Coherent-vorticity Preserving (CvP) Large-Eddy simulations of a trefoil knot-shaped vortex, inspired by the experiments of Kleckner and Irvine.5 The flow parameter space is extended in the present study, including variations of the circulation Reynolds numbers in the range Rtr = 2x 10~3 -200x 10~3, where Rtr = 20,000 is the value used in the experiments. The vortex line corresponding to the trefoil knot is defined using a parametric equation and the Biot-Savart law is employed to initialize the velocity field. The CvP-LES computation displays a good qualitative match with the experiment. In particular, the vortex entanglement process is accurately represented as well as the subsequent separation of the main vortex in two distinct structures - a small and a large vortex - with different self-advection speeds that have been quantified. The smaller vortex propagates at approximately 3 times the speed of the larger vortex, despite exhibiting a one-order-of-magnitude lower vorticity magnitude peak in its core. The advection velocity of the vortex before bursting is found to be independent of the Reynolds number. The low Reynolds number computation leads to a decrease of the separated vortices velocity after bursting, compared to the higher Reynolds computations. The computation of energy spectra emphasizes intense energy transfers from large to small scales during the bursting process. The evolution of volume-averaged enstrophy shows that the bursting leads to the creation of small scales that arc sustained a long time in the flow, when a sufficiently large Reynolds number is considered (Rer > 20000). The low Reynolds number case Rtr = 2,000 hinders the generation of small scales during the bursting process and yields essentially laminar dynamics. The onset of background turbulence due to the entanglement process can be observed at Rtr = 200.000.
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