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Turbulent entrainment: the development of the entrainment assumption, and its application to geophysical flows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2006

J. S. Turner
J. S. Turner
Affiliation:
Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, G.P.O. Box 4, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia
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Abstract

The entrainment assumption, relating the inflow velocity to the local mean velocity of a turbulent flow, has been used successfully to describe natural phenomena over a wide range of scales. Its first application was to plumes rising in stably stratified surroundings, and it has been extended to inclined plumes (gravity currents) and related problems by adding the effect of buoyancy forces, which inhibit mixing across a density interface. More recently, the influence of viscosity differences between a turbulent flow and its surroundings has been studied. This paper surveys the background theory and the laboratory experiments that have been used to understand and quantify each of these phenomena, and discusses their applications in the atmosphere, the ocean and various geological contexts.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 173 , December 1986 , pp. 431 - 471
Copyright
© 1986 Cambridge University Press

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