Kármán vortex street

British

/ ˈkɑːmən /

noun

a regular stream of vortices shed from a body placed in a fluid stream: investigated by Kármán who advanced a formula for the frequency of the shed vortices in terms of the stream velocity and the dimensions of the body See also vortex street

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Kármán vortex street

named after Theodore Von Kármán (1881–1963), Hungarian-born engineer

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The Washington Post speculates that incident may have been the result of a Kármán vortex street — a pattern of swirling vortices that could have resulted from Gibraltar's unique geography — although no official explanation from British Airways has been provided.

From Salon

This pattern is known rather grandly as a von Karman vortex street.

From Scientific American

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023