Velocity fluctuations in a dilute suspension of viscous vortex rings

Abstract

We explore the velocity fluctuations in a fluid due to a dilute suspension of randomly-distributed vortex rings at moderate Reynolds number, for instance those generated by a large colony of jellyfish. Unlike previous analysis of velocity fluctuations associated with gravitational sedimentation or suspensions of microswimmers, here the vortices have a finite lifetime and are constantly being produced. We find that the net velocity distribution is similar to that of a single vortex, except for the smallest velocities which involve contributions from many distant vortices; the result is a truncated $5/3$-stable distribution with variance (and mean energy) linear in the vortex volume fraction $\phi$. The distribution has an inner core with a width scaling as $\phi^{3/5}$, then long tails with power law $|u|^{-8/3}$, and finally a fixed cutoff (independent of $\phi$) above which the probability density scales as $|u|^{-5}$, where $u$ is a component of the velocity. We argue that this distribution is robust in the sense that the distribution of any velocity fluctuations caused by random forces localized in space and time has the same properties, except possibly for a different scaling after the cutoff.