The effects of stable stratification on the decay of initially isotropic homogeneous turbulence

Abstract

We report on direct numerical simulations of the decay of initially isotropic, homogeneous turbulence subject to the application of stable density stratification. Flows were simulated for three different initial Reynolds numbers, but for the same initial Froude number. We find that the flows pass through three different dynamical regimes as they decay, depending on the local values of the Froude number and activity parameter. These regimes are analogous to those seen in the experimental study of Spedding (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 337, 1997, pp. 283–301) for the wake of a sphere. The flows initially decay with little influence of stratification, up to approximately one buoyancy period, when the local Froude number has dropped below 1. At this point the flows have adjusted to the density stratification, and, if the activity parameter is large enough, begin to decay at a slower rate and spread horizontally at a faster rate, consistent with the predictions of Davidson (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 663, 2010, pp. 268–292) and the scaling arguments of Billant & Chomaz (Phys. Fluids, vol. 13, 2001, pp. 1645–1651). We refer to this second regime as the stratified turbulence regime. As the flows continue to decay, ultimately the activity parameter drops below approximately 1 as viscous effects begin to dominate. In this regime, the flows have become quasi-horizontal, and approximately obey the scaling arguments of Godoy-Diana et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 504, 2004, pp. 229–238).