The turbulent Prandtl number in a pure plume is 3/5

We derive a new expression for the entrainment coefficient in a turbulent plume using an equation for the squared mean buoyancy. Consistency of the resulting expression with previous relations for the entrainment coefficient implies that the turbulent Prandtl number in a pure plume is equal to 3/5 when the mean profiles of velocity and buoyancy have a Gaussian form of equal width. Entrainment can be understood in terms of the volume flux, the production of turbulence kinetic energy or the production of scalar variance for either active or passive variables. The equivalence of these points of view indicates how the entrainment coefficient and the turbulent Prandtl and Schmidt numbers depend on the Richardson number of the flow, the ambient stratification and the relative widths of the velocity and scalar profiles. The general framework is valid for self-similar plumes, which are characterised by a power-law scaling. For jets and pure plumes it is shown that the derived relations are in reasonably good agreement with results from direct numerical simulations and experiments.

Energy-consistent entrainment relations for jets and plumes

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.

Two-dimensional planar plumes: non-Boussinesq effects

In an accompanying paper (van den Bremer & Hunt, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 750, 2014, pp. 210–244) closed-form solutions, describing the behaviour of two-dimensional planar turbulent rising plumes from horizontal planar area and line sources in unconfined quiescent environments of uniform density, that are universally applicable to Boussinesq and non-Boussinesq plumes, are proposed. This universality relies on an entrainment velocity unmodified by non-Boussinesq effects, an assumption that is derived in the literature based on similarity arguments and is, in fact, in contradiction with the axisymmetric case, in which entrainment is modified by non-Boussinesq effects. Exploring these solutions, we show that a non-Boussinesq plume model predicts exactly the same behaviour with height for a pure plume as would a Boussinesq model, whereas the effects on forced and lazy plumes are opposing. Non-intuitively, the non-Boussinesq model predicts larger fluxes of volume and mass for lazy plumes, but smaller fluxes for forced plumes at any given height compared to the Boussinesq model. This raises significant questions regarding the validity of the unmodified entrainment model for planar non-Boussinesq plumes based on similarity arguments and calls for detailed experiments to resolve this debate.

Turbulent entrainment into inert and reacting multiphase plumes

Theoretical predictions and experimental results for turbulent entrainment in inert and reacting, multiphase plumes are presented. It is shown that in an inert, pure plume, the entrainment coefficient is approximately constant with downstream distance. In a reacting plume, in which buoyancy is depleted by chemical reaction, the entrainment coefficient decreases strongly with distance from the source owing mainly to a decrease in the Richardson number. The effect on entrainment of the drift in the velocity and buoyancy distributions in the radial direction, i.e. the similarity drift introduced by Kaminski, Tait & Carazzo (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 526, 2005, pp. 361–76), is found to increase with downstream distance and with the reaction rate but, on laboratory-scale experiments, remains small compared to the contribution to entrainment from the turbulent stresses and buoyancy.

The effect of sudden source buoyancy flux increases on turbulent plumes

Building upon the recent experimentally verified modelling of turbulent plumes which are subject to decreases in their source strength (Scase et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 563, 2006b, p. 443), we consider the complementary case where the plume's source strength is increased. We consider the effect of increasing the source strength of an established plume and we also compare time-dependent plume model predictions for the behaviour of a starting plume to those of Turner (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 13, 1962, p. 356).Unlike the decreasing source strength problems considered previously, the relevant solution to the time-dependent plume equations is not a simple similarity solution. However, scaling laws are demonstrated which are shown to be applicable across a large number of orders of magnitude of source strength increase. It is shown that an established plume that is subjected to an increase in its source strength supports a self-similar ‘pulse’ structure propagating upwards. For a point source plume, in pure plume balance, subjected to an increase in the source buoyancy flux F0, the rise height of this pulse in terms of time t scales as t3/4 while the vertical extent of the pulse scales as t1/4. The volume of the pulse is shown to scale as t9/4. For plumes in pure plume balance that emanate from a distributed source it is shown that the same scaling laws apply far from the source, demonstrating an analogous convergence to pure plume balance as that which is well known in steady plumes. These scaling law predictions are compared to implicit large eddy simulations of the buoyancy increase problem and are shown to be in good agreement.We also compare the predictions of the time-dependent model to a starting plume in the limit where the source buoyancy flux is discontinuously increased from zero. The conventional model for a starting plume is well approximated by a rising turbulent, entraining, buoyant vortex ring which is fed from below by a ‘steady’ plume. However, the time-dependent plume equations have been defined for top-hat profiles assuming only horizontal entrainment. Therefore, this system cannot model either the internal dynamics of the starting plume's head or the extra entrainment of ambient fluid into the head due to the turbulent boundary of the vortex ring-like cap. We show that the lack of entrainment of ambient fluid through the head of the starting plume means that the time-dependent plume equations overestimate the rise height of a starting plume with time. However, by modifying the entrainment coefficient appropriately, we see that realistic predictions consistent with experiment can be attained.