Elongation of material lines and vortices by Euler flows on two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds

Abstract

We study the influence of the differential geometry of the flow domain on the motion of fluids on two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds, particularly on the elongation of material lines and vortices. We derive a formula for the second order time derivative of the square of the distance between close fluid particles and show that a curvature term appears. The elongation of a material line is accelerated by negative curvature. The use of this expression extends Haller's definition of hyperbolic domains to flows on curved surfaces. The need to consider curvature effects is illustrated by three examples. The example of a curved two-dimensional torus implies that the filamentation of vortices can be triggered by negative curvature.