Abstract
A turbulent region is generated by horizontal pulsed injection at the interface of a two-layer fluid. Flow visualization studies reveal the existence of three stages in the evolution of the vertical size of this region: growth, maximum height, and collapse. A scaling analysis for the height of the turbulent region is presented, which appears to be in good agreement with the measurements. Comparable results were obtained by Fernando, van Heijst, and Fonseka (submitted to J. Fluid Mech.) for similar experiments in a linearly stratified fluid. Thorpe-scale measurements of the turbulent region reveal that the ratio of the rms displacement Lt and the maximum displacement Ltmax remain constant with time. The eventual formation process of the dipolar vortices after the collapse and the influence of interfacial wave motions on these dipolar vortices are discussed.
Highlights
In many geophysical flows stable stratification plays a major role in the evolution of turbulent flows
The flow eventually is transformed into a dipolar vortex structure, as was described by van Heijst and Fl6r6 and Voropayev et al 7 For each stage a scaling analysis was given for the evolution of the vertical patch size
A laboratory study on the evolution of a turbulent region injected at the interface of a two-layer fluid was performed
Summary
In many geophysical flows stable stratification plays a major role in the evolution of turbulent flows. An isolated tur bulent region was generated by horizontally injecting a small volume of fluid during a short period of time, and the evolution of the emerging turbulent region was investi gated. In this evolution three different stages have been identified: the turbulent region grows vertically (first stage) until it reaches its maximum size (the second stage), and subsequently collapses under gravity (third stage).
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