Near-Surface Vortex Intensification through Corner Flow Collapse

Abstract Results are presented from a large set of large-eddy simulations of a class of unsteady vortex evolution that may sometimes play a role in tornadogenesis or tornado variability. Beginning with a high-swirl parent vortex with an excess of low-swirl flow through the surface/corner/core region, perturbation of the low-swirl near-surface inflow at a large radius can trigger a subsequent dynamic “corner flow collapse” producing dramatic near-surface intensification relative to conditions aloft of an order of magnitude or more in velocity scale. This paper presents a more detailed treatment of the physics and simulation of corner flow collapse, expanding upon the presentation given in a companion paper treating near-surface vortex intensification more generally for both steady and unsteady conditions. The basic scaling of the onset, intensification, structure, and duration of the phenomenon is explored as a function of some of the dominant physical parameters involved. A dimensionless rate of change of...