The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

A turbulent patch arising from a breaking internal wave

A turbulent patch arising from a breaking internal wave
A turbulent patch arising from a breaking internal wave
Results of direct numerical simulations of the development of a breaking internal gravity wave are presented. The wave was forced by the imposition of an appropriate bottom boundary shape (a two-dimensional cosine hill) within a density-stratified domain having a uniform upstream velocity and density gradient. The focus is on turbulence generation and maintenance within the turbulent patch generated by the wave breaking. Pathlines, density contours, temporal and spatiral spectra, and second moments of the velocity and density fluctuations and turbulent kinetic energy balance terms obtained from the data averaged over the span in the mixed zone are all used in the analysis of the flow. Typical Reynolds numbers, based on the vertical scale of the breaking region and the upstream velocity, were around 6000 and the fully resolved computations yielded sufficient resolution to capture the fine-scale transition processes as well as the subsequent fully developed turbilence. It is shown that globally, within the turbulent patch, there is an approximate balance in the production, dissipation and transport processes for turbulent kinetic energy, so that the patch remains quasi-steady over a significant time. Although it is far from being axially homogenous, with turbulence generation occurring largely near the upstream bottom part of the patch where the mean velocity shear is particularly large, it has features not dissimilar to those of a classical turbulent wake
0022-1120
103-133
Yakovenko, S.N.
2f472aaf-6458-4b0b-be9b-816060c97461
Thomas, T.G.
bccfa8da-6c8b-4eec-b593-00587d3ce3cc
Castro, I.P.
66e6330d-d93a-439a-a69b-e061e660de61
Yakovenko, S.N.
2f472aaf-6458-4b0b-be9b-816060c97461
Thomas, T.G.
bccfa8da-6c8b-4eec-b593-00587d3ce3cc
Castro, I.P.
66e6330d-d93a-439a-a69b-e061e660de61

Yakovenko, S.N., Thomas, T.G. and Castro, I.P. (2011) A turbulent patch arising from a breaking internal wave. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 677, 103-133. (doi:10.1017/jfm.2011.64).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Results of direct numerical simulations of the development of a breaking internal gravity wave are presented. The wave was forced by the imposition of an appropriate bottom boundary shape (a two-dimensional cosine hill) within a density-stratified domain having a uniform upstream velocity and density gradient. The focus is on turbulence generation and maintenance within the turbulent patch generated by the wave breaking. Pathlines, density contours, temporal and spatiral spectra, and second moments of the velocity and density fluctuations and turbulent kinetic energy balance terms obtained from the data averaged over the span in the mixed zone are all used in the analysis of the flow. Typical Reynolds numbers, based on the vertical scale of the breaking region and the upstream velocity, were around 6000 and the fully resolved computations yielded sufficient resolution to capture the fine-scale transition processes as well as the subsequent fully developed turbilence. It is shown that globally, within the turbulent patch, there is an approximate balance in the production, dissipation and transport processes for turbulent kinetic energy, so that the patch remains quasi-steady over a significant time. Although it is far from being axially homogenous, with turbulence generation occurring largely near the upstream bottom part of the patch where the mean velocity shear is particularly large, it has features not dissimilar to those of a classical turbulent wake

Text
JFMpaper.pdf - Version of Record
Restricted to Repository staff only
Request a copy

More information

Published date: 2011
Organisations: Aerodynamics & Flight Mechanics, Aeronautics, Astronautics & Comp. Eng, Engineering Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 187761
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/187761
ISSN: 0022-1120
PURE UUID: 971ffeee-7b75-45a7-8c8f-baa634678ea0

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 18 May 2011 10:47
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 03:26

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: S.N. Yakovenko
Author: T.G. Thomas
Author: I.P. Castro

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×