On singularity formation in three-dimensional vortex sheet evolution

It is shown that if a doubly-infinite vortex sheet has cylindrical shape and strength distributions at some initial time, then this property is retained in its subsequent evolution. It is also shown that in planes normal to the generator of the cylindrical sheet geometry, the nonlinear evolution of the sheet is the same as that of an equivalent strictly two-dimensional sheet motion. These properties are used to show that when an initially flat vortex sheet is subject to a finite-amplitude, three-dimensional normal mode perturbation, weak singularities develop along lines which are oblique to the undisturbed velocity jump vector at a time that can be inferred from an extension of Moore's [Proc. R. Soc. A 365, 105 (1979)] result for two-dimensional motion. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S1070- 6631(99)01010-7].