Analogies and differences between the stability of an isolated pancake vortex and a columnar vortex in stratified fluid

2016 ◽  
Vol 796 ◽  
pp. 732-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunok Yim ◽  
Paul Billant
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Froude Number ◽  
Gravitational Instability ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Maximum Growth ◽  
Maximum Growth Rate ◽  
Shear Instability ◽  
Axisymmetric Mode ◽  
Columnar Vortex

In order to understand the dynamics of pancake shaped vortices in stably stratified fluids, we perform a linear stability analysis of an axisymmetric vortex with Gaussian angular velocity in both the radial and axial directions with an aspect ratio of ${\it\alpha}$. The results are compared to those for a columnar vortex (${\it\alpha}=\infty$) in order to identify the instabilities. Centrifugal instability occurs when $\mathscr{R}>c(m)$ where $\mathscr{R}=ReF_{h}^{2}$ is the buoyancy Reynolds number, $F_{h}$ the Froude number, $Re$ the Reynolds number and $c(m)$ a constant which differs for the three unstable azimuthal wavenumbers $m=0,1,2$. The maximum growth rate depends mostly on $\mathscr{R}$ and is almost independent of the aspect ratio ${\it\alpha}$. For sufficiently large buoyancy Reynolds number, the axisymmetric mode is the most unstable centrifugal mode whereas for moderate $\mathscr{R}$, the mode $m=1$ is the most unstable. Shear instability for $m=2$ develops only when $F_{h}\leqslant 0.5{\it\alpha}$. By considering the characteristics of shear instability for a columnar vortex with the same parameters, this condition is shown to be such that the vortex is taller than the minimum wavelength of shear instability in the columnar case. For larger Froude number $F_{h}\geqslant 1.5{\it\alpha}$, the isopycnals overturn and gravitational instability can operate. Just below this threshold, the azimuthal wavenumbers $m=1,2,3$ are unstable to baroclinic instability. A simple model shows that baroclinic instability develops only above a critical vertical Froude number $F_{h}/{\it\alpha}$ because of confinement effects.

scholarly journals Stability of a Gaussian pancake vortex in a stratified fluid

2013 ◽  
Vol 718 ◽  
pp. 457-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Eletta Negretti ◽  
Paul Billant
Keyword(s):  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Froude Number ◽  
Gravitational Instability ◽  
Shear Instability ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Minimum Thickness ◽  
Horizontal Size ◽  
Vertical Thickness ◽  
3 Omega ◽  
Pancake Vortex

AbstractVortices in stably stratified fluids generally have a pancake shape with a small vertical thickness compared with their horizontal size. In order to understand what mechanism determines their minimum thickness, the linear stability of an axisymmetric pancake vortex is investigated as a function of its aspect ratio $\alpha $, the horizontal Froude number ${F}_{h} $, the Reynolds number $\mathit{Re}$ and the Schmidt number $\mathit{Sc}$. The vertical vorticity profile of the base state is chosen to be Gaussian in both radial and vertical directions. The vortex is unstable when the aspect ratio is below a critical value, which scales with the Froude number: ${\alpha }_{c} \sim 1. 1{F}_{h} $ for sufficiently large Reynolds numbers. The most unstable perturbation has an azimuthal wavenumber either $m= 0$, $\vert m\vert = 1$ or $\vert m\vert = 2$ depending on the control parameters. We show that the threshold corresponds to the appearance of gravitationally unstable regions in the vortex core due to the thermal wind balance. The Richardson criterion for shear instability based on the vertical shear is never satisfied alone. The dominance of the gravitational instability over the shear instability is shown to hold for a general class of pancake vortices with angular velocity of the form $\tilde {\Omega } (r, z)= \Omega (r)f(z)$ provided that $r\partial \Omega / \partial r\lt 3\Omega $ everywhere. Finally, the growth rate and azimuthal wavenumber selection of the gravitational instability are accounted well by considering an unstably stratified viscous and diffusive layer in solid body rotation with a parabolic density gradient.

Instabilities of a Baroclinic, Double Diffusive Frontal Zone

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 840-861 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. D. Smyth
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Frontal Zone ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Flux Ratio ◽  
Maximum Growth ◽  
Maximum Growth Rate ◽  
Variable Diffusivity ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Parameter Values ◽  
Double Diffusive

Abstract The linear theory of double diffusive interleaving is extended to take account of baroclinic effects. This study goes beyond previous studies by including the possibility of modes with nonzero tilt in the alongfront direction, which allows for advection by the baroclinic frontal flow. This requires that the stability equations be solved numerically. The main example is based on observations of interleaving on the lower flank of Meddy Sharon, but a range of parameter values is covered, leading to conclusions that are relevant in a variety of oceanic regimes. The frontal zone is treated as infinitely wide with uniform gradients of temperature, salinity, and alongfront velocity. The stationary, vertically symmetric interleaving mode is shown to have maximum growth rate when its alongfront wavenumber is zero, providing validation for previous studies in which this property was assumed. Besides this, there exist two additional modes of instability: the ageostrophic Eady mode of baroclinic instability and a mode not previously identified. The new mode is oblique (i.e., it tilts in the alongfront direction), vertically asymmetric, and propagating. It is strongly dependent on boundary conditions, and its relevance in the ocean interior is uncertain as a result. Effects of variable diffusivity and buoyancy flux ratio are also considered.

Updraft/Downdraft Constraints for Moist Baroclinic Modes and Their Implications for the Short-Wave Cutoff and Maximum Growth Rate

2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 4450-4458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Zurita-Gotor
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Vertical Structure ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Maximum Growth ◽  
Static Stability ◽  
Short Wave ◽  
Maximum Growth Rate ◽  
Unstable Solutions ◽  
Baroclinic Modes

Abstract This paper examines the dynamics of moist baroclinic modes, based on the idealized model of moist baroclinic instability devised by Emanuel et al. These authors found that the finite static stability along the downdraft prevents the explosive short-wave cyclogenesis of the zero stratification limit in the moist problem, and allows only moderate (order 2) changes in the growth rate and short-wave cutoff, even when the moist static stability vanishes. To understand the limiting role of the dry static stability, a constraint is derived in this paper that relates the updraft and downdraft structures. This constraint is based on continuity and implies that a bulk wavenumber (defined in the paper) scales as the relevant deformation radius in each region. Because neutral solutions are separable, the vertical structure can be encapsulated in terms of a single, equivalent wavenumber based on the downdraft width. This allows an interpretation of the results in terms of the equivalent dry mode. As the ratio between moist and dry static stability decreases, the downdraft width takes an increasingly larger fraction of the total wavelength. In the limit of moist neutrality all the wavelength is occupied by the downdraft, so that the short-wave cutoff is halved. The vertical phase tilt makes unstable solutions nonseparable, and prevents defining an equivalent wavenumber in that case. However, the constraint between the bulk wavenumbers still applies. As the moist stability is reduced, the updraft solution becomes more suboptimal; in the limit of moist neutrality, the updraft wavenumber equals the short-wave cutoff. This provides a bound to the maximum growth rate in the moist problem, which is in agreement with the results of Emanuel et al.

Waves and resonance in free-boundary baroclinic instability

2001 ◽  
Vol 428 ◽  
pp. 387-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. RIPA
Keyword(s):  
Free Boundary ◽  
Potential Vorticity ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Maximum Growth ◽  
Maximum Growth Rate ◽  
Meridional Gradient ◽  
Instability Problem ◽  
Total Potential ◽  
Wave Resonance ◽  
Basic Shear

Eady's model of baroclinic instability has been generalized by including β (the meridional gradient of planetary potential vorticity) while assuming that total potential vorticity is uniform. Moreover, the problems of Eady and of Phillips have been enriched by including a fixed topography or a free boundary (which implies a flow-dependent geostrophic topography). The most general cases (with β, fixed topography and a free boundary) of both problems are shown to have nearly identical stability properties, mainly determined by two Charney numbers: the planetary one and a topographic one. The question of whether this generalized baroclinic instability problem can be described by wave resonance or component ‘resonance’ is addressed. By waves are meant physical modes, which could freely propagate by themselves but are effectively coupled by an independent basic shear, producing the instability. Components, on the other hand, are mathematical modes for which the shear is also crucial for their existence, not just for their coupling, hence the quotation marks around ‘resonance’. In this paper it is shown that both scenarios, components ‘resonance’ and waves resonance, cast light on the free-boundary baroclinic instability problem by providing explanations of the instability onset (at minimum shear) and maximum growth rate cases, respectively. The importance of the mode pseudomomentum for the fulfillment of both mechanisms is also stressed.

Modulated rotating waves in an enclosed swirling flow

2002 ◽  
Vol 465 ◽  
pp. 33-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. M. BLACKBURN ◽  
J. M. LOPEZ
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Vortex Breakdown ◽  
Swirling Flow ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Rotating Waves ◽  
Axisymmetric Solution ◽  
Axisymmetric Mode ◽  
Very Low Frequency

The loss of axisymmetry in a swirling flow that is generated inside an enclosed cylindrical container by the steady rotation of one endwall is examined numerically. The two dimensionless parameters that govern these flows are the cylinder aspect ratio and a Reynolds number associated with the rotation of the endwall. This study deals with a fixed aspect ratio, height/radius = 2.5. At low Reynolds numbers the basic flow is steady and axisymmetric; as the Reynolds number increases the basic state develops a double recirculation zone on the axis, so-called vortex breakdown bubbles. On further increase in the Reynolds number the flow becomes unsteady through a supercritical Hopf bifurcation but remains axisymmetric. After the onset of unsteadiness, another two unsteady axisymmetric solution branches appear with further increase in Reynolds number, each with its own temporal characteristic: one is periodic and the other is quasi-periodic with a very low frequency modulation. Solutions on these additional branches are unstable to three-dimensional perturbations, leading to nonlinear modulated rotating wave states, but with the flow still dominated by the corresponding underlying axisymmetric mode. A study of the flow behaviour on and bifurcations between these solution branches is presented, both for axisymmetric and for fully three-dimensional flows. The presence of modulated rotating waves alters the structure of the bifurcation diagram and gives rise to its own dynamics, such as a truncated cascade of period doublings of very-low-frequency modulated states.

Nonlinear instability of viscous plane Couette flow Part 1. Analytical approach to a necessary condition

1991 ◽  
Vol 231 ◽  
pp. 561-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bérengére Dubrulle ◽  
Jean-Paul Zahn
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Couette Flow ◽  
Finite Extension ◽  
Maximum Growth ◽  
Finite Amplitude ◽  
Maximum Growth Rate ◽  
Inviscid Limit ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Marginal Stability ◽  
Plane Couette Flow

We perform a two-dimensional analytical stability analysis of a viscous, unbounded plane Couette flow perturbed by a finite-amplitude defect and generalize the results obtained in the inviscid limit by Lerner and Knobloch. The dispersion relation is derived and is used to establish the condition of marginal stability, as well as the growth rates at different Reynolds numbers. We confirm that instability occurs at wavenumbers of the order of ε, the non-dimensional amplitude of the defect. For large enough εR (R being the Reynolds number based on the width of the defect), the maximum growth rate is about ½ε, at approximately half the critical wavenumber. We formulate the instability conditions in the case where the flow has a finite extension in the downstream direction. Instability appears when ε is greater than RL1/3, where RL is the Reynolds number based on the downstream scale, and when the ratio of the defect width to the downstream scale lies in the interval [(εRL}−½, ε].

Dynamo action in complex flows: the quick and the fast

2008 ◽  
Vol 601 ◽  
pp. 101-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEVEN M. TOBIAS ◽  
FAUSTO CATTANEO
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Coherent Structures ◽  
Maximum Growth ◽  
Maximum Growth Rate ◽  
Magnetic Reynolds Number ◽  
Flow Structures ◽  
Dynamo Action ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Active Scalar Equations

We consider the kinematic dynamo problem for a velocity field consisting of a mixture of turbulence and coherent structures. For these flows the dynamo growth rate is determined by a competition between the large flow structures that have large magnetic Reynolds number but long turnover times and the small ones that have low magnetic Reynolds number but short turnover times. We introduce the concept of a quick dynamo as one that reaches its maximum growth rate in some (small) neighbourhood of its critical magnetic Reynolds number. We argue that if the coherent structures are quick dynamos, the overall dynamo growth rate can be predicted by looking at those flow structures that have spatial and temporal scales such that their magnetic Reynolds number is just above critical. We test this idea numerically by studying 2.5-dimensional dynamo action which allows extreme parameter values to be considered. The required velocities, consisting of a mixture of turbulence with a given spectrum and long-lived vortices (coherent structures), are obtained by solving the active scalar equations. By using spectral filtering we demonstrate that the scales responsible for dynamo action are consistent with those predicted by the theory.

Saturation mechanism and generated viscosity in gravito-turbulent accretion disks

2020 ◽  
Vol 640 ◽  
pp. A53
Author(s):  
L. Löhnert ◽  
S. Krätschmer ◽  
A. G. Peeters
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Accretion Disks ◽  
Gravitational Instability ◽  
Turbulent Viscosity ◽  
Radial Distance ◽  
Maximum Growth ◽  
Wave Number ◽  
Radiative Cooling ◽  
Mixing Length

Here, we address the turbulent dynamics of the gravitational instability in accretion disks, retaining both radiative cooling and irradiation. Due to radiative cooling, the disk is unstable for all values of the Toomre parameter, and an accurate estimate of the maximum growth rate is derived analytically. A detailed study of the turbulent spectra shows a rapid decay with an azimuthal wave number stronger than ky−3, whereas the spectrum is more broad in the radial direction and shows a scaling in the range kx−3 to kx−2. The radial component of the radial velocity profile consists of a superposition of shocks of different heights, and is similar to that found in Burgers’ turbulence. Assuming saturation occurs through nonlinear wave steepening leading to shock formation, we developed a mixing-length model in which the typical length scale is related to the average radial distance between shocks. Furthermore, since the numerical simulations show that linear drive is necessary in order to sustain turbulence, we used the growth rate of the most unstable mode to estimate the typical timescale. The mixing-length model that was obtained agrees well with numerical simulations. The model gives an analytic expression for the turbulent viscosity as a function of the Toomre parameter and cooling time. It predicts that relevant values of α = 10−3 can be obtained in disks that have a Toomre parameter as high as Q ≈ 10.

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