scholarly journals Marginal Instability?

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (9) ◽  
pp. 2373-2381 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Thorpe ◽  
Zhiyu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Richardson Number ◽  
Maximum Growth ◽  
Flow Speed ◽  
Maximum Growth Rate ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Boundary Layer Flows ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Marginal State ◽  
The Mean

Abstract Some naturally occurring, continually forced, turbulent, stably stratified, mean shear flows are in a state close to that in which their stability changes, usually from being dynamically unstable to being stable: the time-averaged flows that are observed are in a state of marginal instability. By “marginal instability” the authors mean that a small fractional increase in the gradient Richardson number Ri of the mean flow produced by reducing the velocity and, hence, shear is sufficient to stabilize the flow: the increase makes Rimin, the minimum Ri in the flow, equal to Ric, the critical value of this minimum Richardson number. The value of Ric is determined by solving the Taylor–Goldstein equation using the observed buoyancy frequency and the modified velocity. Stability is quantified in terms of a factor, Φ, such that multiplying the flow speed by (1 + Φ) is just sufficient to stabilize it, or that Ric = Rimin/(1 + Φ)2. The hypothesis that stably stratified boundary layer flows are in a marginal state with Φ < 0 and with |Φ| small compared to unity is examined. Some dense water cascades are marginally unstable with small and negative Φ and with Ric substantially less than ¼. The mean flow in a mixed layer driven by wind stress on the water surface is, however, found to be relatively unstable, providing a counterexample that refutes the hypothesis. In several naturally occurring flows, the time for exponential growth of disturbances (the inverse of the maximum growth rate) is approximately equal to the average buoyancy period observed in the turbulent region.

Oblique wind waves generated by the instability of wind blowing over water

1996 ◽  
Vol 316 ◽  
pp. 163-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. C. Morland
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Wind Waves ◽  
Maximum Growth ◽  
Maximum Growth Rate ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Oblique Angle ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Directional Distributions ◽  
The Waves

The growth rates of gravity waves are computed from linear, inviscid stability theory for wind velocity profiles that are representative of the mean flow in a turbulent boundary layer. The energy transfer to the waves is largely concentrated in an angle (to the wind) interval that broadens with increasing wind speed and narrows with increasing wavelength. At sufficiently high wind speeds and sufficiently short wavelengths, the waves of maximum growth rate propagate at an oblique angle to the wind. The connection with bimodal directional distributions of observed spectra is discussed.

The Reflection of a Stationary Gravity Wave by a Viscous Boundary Layer

2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (9) ◽  
pp. 3363-3371 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Lott
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Richardson Number ◽  
Critical Level ◽  
Inviscid Limit ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Viscous Boundary Layer ◽  
Lee Waves ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Viscous Boundary

Abstract The backward reflection of a stationary gravity wave (GW) propagating toward the ground is examined in the linear viscous case and for large Reynolds numbers (Re). In this case, the stationary GW presents a critical level at the ground because the mean wind is null there. When the mean flow Richardson number at the surface (J) is below 0.25, the GW reflection by the viscous boundary layer is total in the inviscid limit Re → ∞. The GW is a little absorbed when Re is finite, and the reflection decreases when both the dissipation and J increase. When J > 0.25, the GW is absorbed for all values of the Reynolds number, with a general tendency for the GW reflection to decrease when J increases. As a large ground reflection favors the downstream development of a trapped lee wave, the fact that it decreases when J increases explains why the more unstable boundary layers favor the onset of mountain lee waves. It is also shown that the GW reflection when J > 0.25 is substantially larger than that predicted by the conventional inviscid critical level theory and larger than that predicted when the dissipations are represented by Rayleigh friction and Newtonian cooling. The fact that the GW reflection depends strongly on the Richardson number indicates that there is some correspondence between the dynamics of trapped lee waves and the dynamics of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities. Accordingly, and in one classical example, it is shown that some among the neutral modes for Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities that exist in an unbounded flow when J < 0.25 can also be stationary trapped-wave solutions when there is a ground and in the inviscid limit Re → ∞. When Re is finite, these solutions are affected by the dissipation in the boundary layer and decay in the downstream direction. Interestingly, their decay rate increases when both the dissipation and J increase, as does the GW absorption by the viscous boundary layer.

scholarly journals Energy-consistent entrainment relations for jets and plumes

2015 ◽  
Vol 782 ◽  
pp. 333-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarten van Reeuwijk ◽  
John Craske
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Richardson Number ◽  
Turbulence Kinetic Energy ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
First Order ◽  
Entrainment Coefficient ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Flow Turbulence ◽  
Pure Plume

We discuss energetic restrictions on the entrainment coefficient${\it\alpha}$for axisymmetric jets and plumes. The resulting entrainment relation includes contributions from the mean flow, turbulence and pressure, fundamentally linking${\it\alpha}$to the production of turbulence kinetic energy, the plume Richardson number$\mathit{Ri}$and the profile coefficients associated with the shape of the buoyancy and velocity profiles. This entrainment relation generalises the work by Kaminskiet al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 526, 2005, pp. 361–376) and Fox (J. Geophys. Res., vol. 75, 1970, pp. 6818–6835). The energetic viewpoint provides a unified framework with which to analyse the classical entrainment models implied by the plume theories of Mortonet al.(Proc. R. Soc. Lond.A, vol. 234, 1955, pp. 1–23) and Priestley & Ball (Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., vol. 81, 1954, pp. 144–157). Data for pure jets and plumes in unstratified environments indicate that to first order the physics is captured by the Priestley and Ball entrainment model, implying that (1) the profile coefficient associated with the production of turbulence kinetic energy has approximately the same value for pure plumes and jets, (2) the value of${\it\alpha}$for a pure plume is roughly a factor of$5/3$larger than for a jet and (3) the enhanced entrainment coefficient in plumes is primarily associated with the behaviour of the mean flow and not with buoyancy-enhanced turbulence. Theoretical suggestions are made on how entrainment can be systematically studied by creating constant-$\mathit{Ri}$flows in a numerical simulation or laboratory experiment.

scholarly journals Wave field and zonal flow of a librating disk

2015 ◽  
Vol 782 ◽  
pp. 178-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Le Dizès
Keyword(s):  
Wave Field ◽  
Rotation Rate ◽  
Zonal Flow ◽  
Shear Layers ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Frequency Interval ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Disk Radius ◽  
Harmonic Response ◽  
The Mean

In this work, we provide a viscous solution of the wave field generated by librating a disk (harmonic oscillation of the rotation rate) in a stably stratified rotating fluid. The zonal flow (mean flow correction) generated by the nonlinear interaction of the wave field is also calculated in the weakly nonlinear framework. We focus on the low dissipative limit relevant for geophysical applications and for which the wave field and the zonal flow exhibit generic features (Ekman scaling, universal structures, etc.). General expressions are obtained which depend on the disk radius $a^{\ast }$, the libration frequency ${\it\omega}^{\ast }$, the rotation rate ${\it\Omega}^{\ast }$ of the frame, the buoyancy frequency $N^{\ast }$ of the fluid, its kinematic diffusion ${\it\nu}^{\ast }$ and its thermal diffusivity ${\it\kappa}^{\ast }$. When the libration frequency is in the inertia-gravity frequency interval ($\min ({\it\Omega}^{\ast },N^{\ast })<{\it\omega}^{\ast }<\max ({\it\Omega}^{\ast },N^{\ast })$), the presence of conical internal shear layers is observed in which the spatial structures of the harmonic response and of the mean flow correction are provided. At the point of focus of these internal shear layers on the rotation axis, the largest amplitudes are obtained: the angular velocity of the harmonic response and the mean flow correction are found to be $O({\it\varepsilon}E^{-1/3})$ and $({\it\varepsilon}^{2}E^{-2/3})$ respectively, where ${\it\varepsilon}$ is the libration amplitude and $E={\it\nu}^{\ast }/({\it\Omega}^{\ast }a^{\ast 2})$ is the Ekman number. We show that the solution in the internal shear layers and in the focus region is at leading order the same as that generated by an oscillating source of axial flow localized at the edge of the disk (oscillating Dirac ring source).

Ageostrophic instability of ocean currents

1982 ◽  
Vol 117 ◽  
pp. 343-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Griffiths ◽  
Peter D. Killworth ◽  
Melvin E. Stern
Keyword(s):  
Potential Vorticity ◽  
Lower Layer ◽  
Rotation Period ◽  
Maximum Growth ◽  
Maximum Growth Rate ◽  
Inertial Effects ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
Free Streamlines ◽  
A Current

We investigate the stability of gravity currents, in a rotating system, that are infinitely long and uniform in the direction of flow and for which the current depth vanishes on both sides of the flow. Thus, owing to the role of the Earth's rotation in restraining horizontal motions, the currents are bounded on both sides by free streamlines, or sharp density fronts. A model is used in which only one layer of fluid is dynamically important, with a second layer being infinitely deep and passive. The analysis includes the influence of vanishing layer depth and large inertial effects near the edges of the current, and shows that such currents are always unstable to linearized perturbations (except possibly in very special cases), even when there is no extremum (or gradient) in the potential vorticity profile. Hence the established Rayleigh condition for instability in quasi-geostrophic models, where inertial effects are assumed to be vanishingly small relative to Coriolis effects, does not apply. The instability does not depend upon the vorticity profile but instead relies upon a coupling of the two free streamlines. The waves permit the release of both kinetic and potential energy from the mean flow. They can have rapid growth rates, the e-folding time for waves on a current with zero potential vorticity, for example, being close to one-half of a rotation period. Though they are not discussed here, there are other unstable solutions to this same model when the potential vorticity varies monotonically across the stream, verifying that flows involving a sharp density front are much more likely to be unstable than flows with a small ratio of inertial to Coriolis forces.Experiments with a current of buoyant fluid at the free surface of a lower layer are described, and the observations are compared with the computed mode of maximum growth rate for a flow with a uniform potential vorticity. The current is observed to be always unstable, but, contrary to the predicted behaviour of the one-layer coupled mode, the dominant length scale of growing disturbances is independent of current width. On the other hand, the structure of the observed disturbances does vary: when the current is sufficiently narrow compared with the Rossby deformation radius (and the lower layer is deep) disturbances have the structure predicted by our one-layer model. The flow then breaks up into a chain of anticyclonic eddies. When the current is wide, unstable waves appear to grow independently on each edge of the current and, at large amplitude, form both anticyclonic and cyclonic eddies in the two-layer fluid. This behaviour is attributed to another unstable mode.

ABSOLUTE INSTABILITY OR CHAOS? — A TRIBUTE TO DR. DAVID G. CRIGHTON

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (04) ◽  
pp. 407-419
Author(s):  
SEAN F. WU
Keyword(s):  
Elastic Plate ◽  
Equilibrium Position ◽  
Flexural Vibration ◽  
Critical Value ◽  
Flow Speed ◽  
Multiple Equilibrium ◽  
Absolute Instability ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Structural Nonlinearities ◽  
The Mean

The stabilities of an elastic plate clamped on an infinite, rigid baffle subject to any time dependent force excitation in the presence of mean flow are examined. The mechanisms that can cause plate flexural vibrations to be absolute unstable when the mean flow speed exceeds a critical value are revealed. Results show that the instabilities of an elastic plate are mainly caused by an added stiffness due to acoustic radiation in mean flow, but controlled by the structural nonlinearities. This added stiffness is shown to be negative and increase quadratically with the mean flow speed. Hence, as the mean flow speed approaches a critical value, the added stiffness may null the overall stiffness of the plate, leading to an unstable condition. Note that without the inclusion of the structural nonlinearities, the plate has only one equilibrium position, namely, its undeformed flat position. Under this condition, the amplitude of plate flexural vibration would grow exponentially in time everywhere, known as absolute instability. With the inclusion of structural nonlinearities, the plate may possess multiple equilibrium positions. When the mean flow speed exceeds the critical values, the plate may be unstable and jump from one equilibrium position to another. Since this jumping is random, the plate flexural vibration may seem chaotic.

scholarly journals Incidence and reflection of internal waves and wave-induced currents at a jump in buoyancy frequency

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 269-315
Author(s):  
J. P. McHugh
Keyword(s):  
Wave Packet ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Weakly Nonlinear ◽  
Transmitted Waves ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Induced Currents ◽  
Wave Induced ◽  
The Waves

Abstract. Weakly nonlinear internal gravity waves are treated in a two-layer fluid with a set of nonlinear Schrodinger equations. The layers have a sharp interface with a jump in buoyance frequency approximately modelling the tropopause. The waves are periodic in the horizontal but modulated in the vertical and Boussinesq flow is assumed. The equation governing the incident wave packet is directly coupled to the equation for the reflected packet, while the equation governing transmitted waves is only coupled at the interface. Solutions are obtained numerically. The results indicate that the waves create a mean flow that is strong near and underneath the interface, and discontinuous at the interface. Furthermore, the mean flow has an oscillatory component with a vertical wavelength that decreases as the wave packet interacts with the interface.

An experimental investigation of pulsating turbulent water flow in a tube

1971 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Gerrard
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Velocity Profile ◽  
Water Flow ◽  
Cylindrical Tube ◽  
Flow Speed ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Mean Velocity ◽  
Central Plateau ◽  
Transition Range ◽  
The Mean

Experiments were made on a pulsating water flow at a mean flow Reynolds number of 3770 in a cylindrical tube of diameter 3·81 cm. Pulsations were produced by a piston oscillating in simple harmonic motion with a period of 12 s. Turbulence was made visible by means of a sheet of dye produced by electrolysis from a fine wire stretched across a diameter. The sheet of dye is contorted by the turbulent eddies, and ciné-photography was used to find the velocity of convection which was shown to be the flow speed except in certain circumstances which are discussed. By subtracting the mean flow velocity profile the profile of the component of the motion oscillating at the imposed frequency was determined.The Reynolds number of these experiments lies in the turbulent transition range, so that large effects of laminarization are observed. In the turbulent phase, the velocity profile was found to possess a central plateau as does the laminar oscillating profile. The level and radial extent of this were little different from the laminar ones. Near to the wall, the turbulent oscillating profile is well represented by the mean velocity power law relationship, u/U ∝ (y/a)1/n. In the laminarized phase, the turbulent intensity is considerably reduced at this Reynolds number. The velocity profile for the whole flow (mean plus oscillating) relaxes towards the laminar profile. Laminarization contributes appreciably to the oscillating component.Extrapolation of the results to higher Reynolds numbers and different frequencies of oscillation is suggested.

Topographic Form Drag on Tides and Low-Frequency Flow: Observations of Nonlinear Lee Waves over a Tall Submarine Ridge near Palau

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 1489-1507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunnar Voet ◽  
Matthew H. Alford ◽  
Jennifer A. MacKinnon ◽  
Jonathan D. Nash
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Neap Tide ◽  
Spring Tide ◽  
Tidal Flow ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Submarine Ridge ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Waves

AbstractTowed shipboard and moored observations show internal gravity waves over a tall, supercritical submarine ridge that reaches to 1000 m below the ocean surface in the tropical western Pacific north of Palau. The lee-wave or topographic Froude number, Nh0/U0 (where N is the buoyancy frequency, h0 the ridge height, and U0 the farfield velocity), ranged between 25 and 140. The waves were generated by a superposition of tidal and low-frequency flows and thus had two distinct energy sources with combined amplitudes of up to 0.2 m s−1. Local breaking of the waves led to enhanced rates of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy reaching above 10−6 W kg−1 in the lee of the ridge near topography. Turbulence observations showed a stark contrast between conditions at spring and neap tide. During spring tide, when the tidal flow dominated, turbulence was approximately equally distributed around both sides of the ridge. During neap tide, when the mean flow dominated over tidal oscillations, turbulence was mostly observed on the downstream side of the ridge relative to the mean flow. The drag exerted by the ridge on the flow, estimated to for individual ridge crossings, and the associated power loss, thus provide an energy sink both for the low-frequency ocean circulation and the tidal flow.

scholarly journals Incidence and reflection of internal waves and wave-induced currents at a jump in buoyancy frequency

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. McHugh
Keyword(s):  
Wave Packet ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Weakly Nonlinear ◽  
Transmitted Waves ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Induced Currents ◽  
Wave Induced ◽  
The Waves

Abstract. Weakly nonlinear internal gravity waves are treated in a two-layer fluid with a set of nonlinear Schrodinger equations. The layers have a sharp interface with a jump in buoyancy frequency approximately modeling the tropopause. The waves are periodic in the horizontal but modulated in the vertical and Boussinesq flow is assumed. The equation governing the incident wave packet is directly coupled to the equation for the reflected packet, while the equation governing transmitted waves is only coupled at the interface. Solutions are obtained numerically. The results indicate that the waves create a mean flow that is strong near and underneath the interface, and discontinuous at the interface. Furthermore, the mean flow has an oscillatory component that can contaminate the wave envelope and has a vertical wavelength that decreases as the wave packet interacts with the interface.

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