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Viscous vortex-pair-cylinder interactions near inviscid translating equilibria: a numerical study

Numerical simulations using the Lattice Boltzmann Method are presented of the following two-dimensional incompressible flow problem. Starting from configurations corresponding to translating inviscid equilibria, namely, the translating Föppl equilibria (counter-rotating point vortex pair, either fore or aft of a translating circular cylinder) and the translating Hill equilibria (counter-rotating point vortex pair, either fore or aft of an elliptic cylinder), viscosity is turned on for $t >0$ and the subsequent viscous interaction is simulated. The interaction is in a dynamically coupled setting where the neutrally buoyant cylinder is free to move along the symmetry axis under the action of the instantaneous fluid stresses on its surface. It is observed that for starting configurations in which the vortex pair trails the cylinder, the viscous evolution stays close to the inviscid equilibrium. However, for starting configurations in which the vortex pair leads the cylinder, there is significant deviation from the inviscid equilibrium. In such cases, the vortices either accelerate and leave the cylinder behind or, more interestingly, leave their leading positions and are attracted towards the trailing positions. In other words, the cylinder in such cases threads through the leading vortices, overtakes them and the vortices are observed to trail the cylinder again. The symmetry of the inviscid dynamics about the perpendicular axis is thus broken.