  The conical self-similar vortex solution of Long (1961) is reconsidered, with
a view toward understanding what, if any, relationship exists between Long's
solution and the more-recent similarity solutions of Mayer and Powell (1992),
which are a rotational-flow analogue of the Falkner-Skan boundary-layer flows,
describing a self-similar axisymmetric vortex embedded in an external stream
whose axial velocity varies as a power law in the axial (z) coordinate, with
phi=r/z^n being the radial similarity coordinate and n the core growth rate
parameter. We show that, when certain ostensible differences in the
formulations and radial scalings are properly accounted for, the Long and
Mayer-Powell flows in fact satisfy the same system of coupled ordinary
differential equations, subject to different kinds of outer-boundary
conditions, and with Long's equations a special case corresponding to conical
vortex core growth, n=1 with outer axial velocity field decelerating in a 1/z
fashion, which implies a severe adverse pressure gradient. For pressure
gradients this adverse Mayer and Powell were unable to find any
leading-edge-type vortex flow solutions which satisfy a basic physicality
criterion based on monotonicity of the total-pressure profile of the flow, and
it is shown that Long's solutions also violate this criterion, in an extreme
fashion. Despite their apparent nonphysicality, the fact that Long's solutions
fit into a more general similarity framework means that nonconical analogues of
these flows should exist. The far-field asymptotics of these generalized
solutions are derived and used as the basis for a hybrid spectral-numerical
solution of the generalized similarity equations, which reveal the existence of
solutions for more modestly adverse pressure gradients than those in Long's
case, and which do satisfy the above physicality criterion.
