Transition between advection and inertial wave propagation in rotating turbulence

DOI10.1017/JFM.2019.1051zbMATH Open1460.76430arXiv1908.05462OpenAlexW3105390476WikidataQ126343821 ScholiaQ126343821MaRDI QIDQ5215320FDOQ5215320

Authors: Jonathan A. Brons, Peter J. Thomas, Alban Pothérat 

Publication date: 10 February 2020

Published in: Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: In turbulent flows subject to strong background rotation, the advective mechanisms of turbulence are superseded by the propagation of inertial waves, as the effects of rotation become dominant. While this mechanism has been identified experimentally, the conditions of the transition between the two mechanisms are less clear. We tackle this question experimentally by tracking the turbulent front away from a solid wall where jets enter an otherwise quiescent fluid. Without background rotation, this apparatus generates a turbulent front whose displacement recovers the $z(t)sim{t}^{1/2}$ law classically obtained with an oscillating grid and we further establish the scale-independence of the associated transport mechanism. When the apparatus is rotating at a constant velocity perpendicular to the wall where fluid is injected, not only does the turbulent front become mainly transported by inertial waves, but advection itself is suppressed because of the local deficit of momentum incurred by the propagation of these waves. Scale-by-scale analysis of the displacement of the turbulent front reveals that the transition between advection and propagation is local both in space and spectrally, and takes place when the Rossby number based on the considered scale is of unity, or equivalently, when the scale-dependent group velocity of inertial waves matched the local advection velocity.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.05462

Recommendations

• Mean flow anisotropy without waves in rotating turbulence
• Critical transition in fast-rotating turbulence within highly elongated domains
• Condensates in rotating turbulent flows
• Non-local energy transfers in rotating turbulence at intermediate Rossby number
• A note on the spectra and decay of rotating homogeneous turbulence

zbMATH Keywords

rotating flowsrotating turbulencewaves in rotating fluids

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Convective turbulence (76F35) Rossby waves (76U65)

Cites Work

• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Turbulent Flows
• Why, how, and when, MHD turbulence becomes two-dimensional
• Energy transfer in rotating turbulence
• Structure formation in homogeneous freely decaying rotating turbulence
• Transfer of energy to two-dimensional large scales in forced, rotating three-dimensional turbulence
• On the evolution of eddies in a rapidly rotating system
• Turbulence
• The flow induced by the transverse motion of a thin disk in its own plane through a contained rapidly rotating viscous liquid
• Why, how and when MHD turbulence at low becomes three-dimensional
• Theory of turbulence in a homogeneous fluid induced by an oscillating grid
• Exact two-dimensionalization of rapidly rotating large-Reynolds-number flows
• Turbulence in rotating, stratified and electrically conducting fluids
• Mean flow anisotropy without waves in rotating turbulence
• A physical conjecture for the dipolar-multipolar dynamo transition

Cited In (1)

• Mean flow anisotropy without waves in rotating turbulence

This page was built for publication: Transition between advection and inertial wave propagation in rotating turbulence

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q5215320)