%0 Journal Article %T Nonlinear dynamics of the elliptic instability %+ Institut de Recherche sur les Phénomènes Hors Equilibre (IRPHE) %+ Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique (LGIT) %A Schaeffer, Nathanaël %A Le Dizès, Stéphane %< avec comité de lecture %@ 0022-1120 %J Journal of Fluid Mechanics %I Cambridge University Press (CUP) %V 646 %P 471-480 %8 2010-03 %D 2010 %Z 2010JFM...646..471S %R 10.1017/S002211200999351X %Z Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geochemistry %Z Environmental Sciences/Global ChangesJournal articles %X In this paper, we analyse by numerical simulations the nonlinear dynamics of the elliptic instability in the configurations of a single strained vortex and a system of two counter-rotating vortices. We show that although a weakly nonlinear regime associated with a limit cycle is possible, the nonlinear evolution far from the instability threshold is, in general, much more catastrophic for the vortex. In both configurations, we put forward some evidence of a universal nonlinear transition involving shear layer formation and vortex loop ejection, leading to a strong alteration and attenuation of the vortex, and a rapid growth of the vortex core size. %G English %L insu-00548979 %U https://insu.hal.science/insu-00548979 %~ SDE %~ INSU %~ UNIV-SAVOIE %~ UGA %~ CNRS %~ UNIV-GRENOBLE1 %~ UNIV-AMU %~ INPG %~ IRSTEA %~ IRPHE %~ EC-MARSEILLE %~ GIP-BE %~ IFSTTAR %~ AGREENIUM %~ INRAE %~ USMB-COMUE %~ UNIV-EIFFEL %~ IFSTTAR-UNIVEIFFEL