2009/09/20 by J. Rafael Pacheco, Pacheco, J. Rafael, Sergey A. Smirnov +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics (physics.ao-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #physics.ao-ph #physics.flu-dyn
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0909.3649
arxiv created 2009/10/26 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
This is an entry for the Gallery of Fluid Motion of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the APS-DFD (fluid dynamics videos). This video shows the three-dimensional time-dependent incremental spin-up of a thermally stratified fluid in a cylinder and in an annulus. The rigid bottom/side wall(s) are non-slip, and the upper surface is stress-free. All the surfaces are thermally insulated. The working fluid is water characterized by the kinematic viscosity ν and thermal diffusivity κ. Initially, the fluid temperature varies linearly with height and is characterized by a constant buoyancy frequency N, which is proportional to the density gradient. The system undergoes an abrupt change in the rotation rate from its initial value Ωi , when the fluid is in a solid-body rotation state, to the final value Ωf. Our study reveals a feasibility for transition from an axisymmetric initial circulation to non-axisymmetric flow patterns at late spin-up times.