Targeted particle delivery via vortex ring reconnection

Abstract

A conceptual model for targeted particle delivery is proposed using controlled vortex ring reconnection. Entrained particles can be efficiently transported within the core of vortex rings which advect via self-induction. A pair of these particle-transporting vortex rings traveling in the streamwise direction along parallel trajectories will mutually interact, resulting in a pair of vortex reconnection events. The reconnection causes a topological change to the vortex ring which is accompanied by a rapid repulsion in a perpendicular plane to the direction of travel, effectively transporting the particles toward the desired location on the sidewalls of a ducted flow. In addition to proposing this conceptual model, we show the dominant physics of the process and the considerations for targeted delivery.