Experimental studies of the development of quasi-two-dimensional turbulence in stably stratified fluid

Abstract

Abstract Quasi-two-dimensional turbulence was generated by towing an array of vertical cylinders through a tank which was filled with a two-layer stratified fluid. Sugar and Epsom salts were used, to give matching refractive indices for the two layers. The interface between the two layers was seeded with approximately 1000 neutrally buoyant particles. The evolution of this quasi-two-dimensional turbulence was visualized by photographing the fluorescent particles illuminated by a horizontal laser sheet traversing in the vertical direction. The three-dimensional particle velocity was obtained by digitizing the streaks. The evolution of the velocity correlations, length scales, one-dimensional and two-dimensional velocity and vorticity spectra were obtained for N = 5.72 s−1, N = 4.43 s−1, and N = 2.55 s−1 (where N is the Brunt-Vaisala frequency). The results showed the physical process of inverse energy cascading and the formation of dominant vortical structures under the influence of density stratification. Compared with idealized two-dimensional turbulence, the flow is highly dissipative at high N, as a result of the frictional dissipation between the interface and the unstratified layers.