Bernoulli Loops in Smoke Rings ()
ABSTRACT
Bernoulli’s
law is applied to the closed streamlines of a smoke ring, and the centrifugal
force of the curved flow is balanced by a pressure gradient. Two equations in
two unknowns, pressure and velocity, are combined into one equation in one
unknown, velocity. Solving the governing equation algebraically produces a
radial shear in the velocity such that the speed decreases outward inversely as
the radius increases, which is the main result. Measurements are needed to
verify the predicted structure of the velocity field.