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Buoyancy- to inertial-range transition in forced stratified turbulence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2001

GEORGE F. CARNEVALE ,
M. BRISCOLINI  and
P. ORLANDI
GEORGE F. CARNEVALE
Affiliation:
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0225, USA
M. BRISCOLINI
Affiliation:
IBM Italia S.p.A., Via Shangai 53, 00144 Roma, Italy
P. ORLANDI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Meccanica e Aeronautica, University of Rome, ‘La Sapienza’, via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Roma, Italy
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Abstract

The buoyancy range, which represents a transition from large-scale wave-dominated motions to small-scale turbulence in the oceans and the atmosphere, is investigated through large-eddy simulations. The model presented here uses a continual forcing based on large-scale standing internal waves and has a spectral truncation in the isotropic inertial range. Evidence is presented for a break in the energy spectra from the anisotropic k−3 buoyancy range to the small-scale k−5/3 isotropic inertial range. Density structures that form during wave breaking and periods of high strain rate are analysed. Elongated vertical structures produced during periods of strong straining motion are found to collapse in the subsequent vertically compressional phase of the strain resulting in a zone or patch of mixed fluid.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 427 , 25 January 2001 , pp. 205 - 239
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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