Hi,

is there a particular book or paper or references which explains how to read voriticity plots?

I have some plots involving moving airfoils and I need explain what is happening.

Thank alot!

I think you are going to need to clarify your question - you read a vorticity plot just like any other plot. Regions of high vorticity magnitude typically correspond to regions of strong shear or fluid rotationality, and the sign of the vorticity provides the sense of the fluid rotationality. Being able to interpret the meaning in a vorticity plot really goes back to understanding how vorticity develops in a flow, and how it is carried through the flow. For this, I would recommend any reference that does a good job of deriving and explaining the vorticity equation. The wikipedia entry is not a bad place to start -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorticity_equation

Thanks ag.

well, I'm more interested in how the evolving vorticity (leading/trailing edge vortex) influence the lift,thrust and efficiency of the airfoil

I've read 1 or 2 papers (e.g. A Numerical Study of the Propulsive Efficiency of a Flapping Hydrofoil by Pedro)which discuss a bit but I'm looking for more. If someone can give more references, that 'll be great.