Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T12:58:37.525Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stability of elliptical horizontally inhomogeneous rodons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2000

RENÉ PINET  and
E. G. PAVÍA
RENÉ PINET
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, México Present address: Facultad de Ciencias Marinas, UABC. Unidad Universitaria Ensenada, Baja California 22800, México. e-mail: [email protected].
E. G. PAVÍA
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, México
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The stability of one-layer vortices with inhomogeneous horizontal density distributions is examined both analytically and numerically. Attention is focused on elliptical vortices for which the formal stability theorem proved by Ochoa, Sheinbaum & Pavía (1988) does not apply. Our method closely follows that of Ripa (1987) developed for the homogeneous case; and indeed they yield the same results when inhomogenities vanish. It is shown that a criterion from the formal analysis – the necessity of a radial increase in density for instability – does not extend to elliptical vortices. In addition, a detailed examination of the evolution of the inhomogeneous density fields, provided by numerical simulations, shows that homogenization, axisymmetrization and loss of mass to the surroundings are the main effects of instability.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 416 , 10 August 2000 , pp. 29 - 43
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)