A multi-moment vortex method for 2D viscous fluids

In this paper we introduce simplified, exact, combinatorial formulas that arise in the vortex interaction model found in [33]. These combinatorial formulas allow for the efficient implementation and development of a new multi-moment vortex method (MMVM) using a Hermite expansion to simulate 2D vorticity. The method naturally allows the particles to deform and become highly anisotropic as they evolve without the added cost of computing the non-local Biot–Savart integral. We present three examples using MMVM. We first focus our attention on the implementation of a single particle, large number of Hermite moments case, in the context of quadrupole perturbations of the Lamb–Oseen vortex. At smaller perturbation values, we show the method captures the shear diffusion mechanism and the rapid relaxation (on Re^1/3 time scale) to an axisymmetric state. We then present two more examples of the full multi-moment vortex method and discuss the results in the context of classic vortex methods. We perform numerical tests of convergence of the single particle method and show that at least in simple cases the method exhibits the exponential convergence typical of spectral methods. Lastly, we numerically investigate the spatial accuracy improvement from the inclusion of higher Hermite moments in the full MMVM.