# Visualisation of vortex flows

Are there examples of vortex flows (eg: von Karman vortex street or large eddies) which are visualized in a way apart from displaying where the mass is displayed? I can imagine there to be a display based on velocity. But is there a display based on pressure?

From what I have seen, in a display of the vortex street, you can see how a mass of fluid is swirled around and eventually detached from a body, but that information isn't really useful quantitatively. Is it possible to find previous work where someone has measured velocity/forces/pressure around the vortex, is it possible and will a quantitative measurement help in any way?

• Many vortex flows are (quasi) two dimensional, in which case a stream function $\psi$ can be defined and contours of $\psi$ = constant can be plotted. This is a very common way to visualize these flows. – Nick P Dec 24 '13 at 14:20
• Interest only - 4th photo down here - I took this photo in 2009. – Russell McMahon Jul 9 '15 at 8:46