Existence and Stability of Asymmetric Burgers Vortices

Burgers vortices are stationary solutions of the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations in the presence of a background straining flow. These solutions are given by explicit formulas only when the strain is axisymmetric. In this paper we consider a weakly asymmetric strain and prove in that case that non-axisymmetric vortices exist for all values of the Reynolds number. In the limit of large Reynolds numbers, we recover the asymptotic results of Moffatt, Kida & Ohkitani 11]. We also show that the asymmetric vortices are stable with respect to localized two-dimensional perturbations.