Kármán vortex street
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In fluid dynamics, a Kármán vortex street is a repeating pattern of swirling vortices, caused by a process known as vortex shedding, which is responsible for the unsteady separation of flow of a fluid around blunt bodies.
Visualisation of the vortex street behind a circular cylinder in air; the flow is made visible through release of glycerol vapour in the air near the cylinder
A look at the Kármán vortex street effect from ground level, as air flows quickly from the Pacific Ocean eastward over Mojave Desert mountains. This phenomenon observed from ground level is extremely rare, as most cloud-related Kármán vortex street activity is viewed from space.
Kármán vortex street caused by wind flowing around the Juan Fernández Islands off the Chilean coast
Chimneys with strakes fitted to break up vortices
Fluid dynamics
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In physics, physical chemistry and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids—liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. Fluid dynamics has a wide range of applications, including calculating forces and moments on aircraft, determining the mass flow rate of petroleum through pipelines, predicting weather patterns, understanding nebulae in interstellar space and modelling fission weapon detonation.
The transition from laminar to turbulent flow