The approach of a vortex pair to a plane surface in inviscid fluid

Abstract

It is shown that a symmetrical vortex pair consisting of equal and opposite vortices approaching a plane wall at right angles must approach the wall monotonically in the absence of viscous effects. An approximate calculation is carried out for uniform vortices in which the vortices are assumed to be deformed into ellipses whose axis ratio is determined by the local rate of strain according to the results of Moore & Saffman (1971).