Interfacial mixing by horizontal vortices and shear turbulence

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• Jan-bert Flor, LEGI Grenoble
• Friday 26 September 2008, 09:30-10:30
• Open Plan Area, BP Institute, Madingley Rise CB3 0EZ.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr C. P. Caulfield.

We consider various aspects of mixing by Taylor vortices at the interface of a two-layer fluid in a Taylor-Couette flow. Experimental results show evidence of an increase in mixing efficiency at large Richardson numbers: for increasing buoyancy gradient the curve of buoyancy flux versus buoyancy gradient tends to be N-shaped. In relation to surface mixed-layer deepening in oceans and lakes, we compare the entrainment rates by shear-generated turbulence and by Taylor vortices that can be considered to represent a model for mixing by continuously driven horizontal vortices such as Langmuir circulation. The results suggest that above a critical Richardson number coherent, horizontal vortices are principally responsible for mixed-layer deepening.

This talk is part of the Seminars for the Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows (formerly BP Institute) series.

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• All Talks (aka the CURE list)
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• Department of Earth Sciences seminars
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• Open Plan Area, BP Institute, Madingley Rise CB3 0EZ
• Seminars for the Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows (formerly BP Institute)
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