New analytical and CWENO numerical solutions for axisymmetric horizontal flows with heat sources

Abstract

Some new nonlinear analytical solutions are found for axisymmetric horizontal flows dominated by strong heat sources. These flows are common in multiscale atmospheric and oceanic flows such as hurricane embryos and ocean gyres. The analytical solutions are illustrated with several examples. The proposed exact solutions provide analytical support for previous numerical observations and can be also used as benchmark problems for validating numerical models. A central weighted essentially non-oscillatory (CWENO) reconstruction is also employed for numerical simulation of the corresponding integro-differential equations. Due to the use of the same polynomial reconstruction for all derivatives and integral terms, the balance between those terms is well preserved, and the method can precisely reproduce the exact solutions, which are hard to capture by traditional upwind schemes. The developed analytical solutions were employed to evaluate the performance of the numerical method, which showed an excellent performance of the numerical model in terms of numerical diffusion and oscillation.