The starting vortices generated by bodies with sharp edges

The starting vortex generated at the trailing-edge of a flat plate, that is impulsively translated at fixed angle-of-attack, is a widely-studied canonical problem. In this talk, we explore the nature of the starting vortices for general motion of a flat plate and an arbitrary body with any number of sharp edges. A general inviscid theory is reported by invoking the Kutta condition at the sharp edges, and making use of the Birkhoff-Rott equation for dynamics of the vortex sheet. This shows that three vortex types can arise. The validity of this inviscid theory for a viscous fluid is explored using high-fidelity direct numerical simulations of the Navier Stokes equations.