The far field asymptotic of internal waves is constructed for the case when a point source of mass moves in a layer of arbitrarily stratified fluid with slowly varying bottom. The solutions obtained describe the far field both near the wave fronts of each individual mode and away from the wave fronts and are expansions in Airy or Fresnel waves with the argument determined from the solution of the corresponding eikonal equation. The amplitude of the wave field is determined from the energy conservation law along the ray tube. For model distributions of the bottom shape and the stratification describing the typical pattern of the ocean shelf exact analytic expressions are obtained for the rays, and the properties of the phase structure of the wave field are analyzed.
We present an idealized study of the baroclinic structure of a rotating, stratified throughflow across a finite amplitude ridge in the f-plane that is forced by a steady, uniform inflow and outflow of equal magnitude. The resulting equilibrated circulation is characterized by unstable, western-intensified boundary currents and flow along f/H contours atop the ridge near the crest that closes the forced circulation. We find that bottom Ekman dynamics localized to lateral boundary currents amplify the stratification expected by simple stretching/squashing: a strongly stratified bottom front (hig…
We study the motion of a rigid sphere falling in a two-layer stratified fluid under the action of gravity in the potential flow regime. Experiments at a moderate Reynolds number of approximately 20 to 450 indicate that a sphere with the precise critical density, higher than the bottom layer density, can display behaviors such as bounce or arrestment after crossing the interface. We experimentally demonstrate that such a critical sphere density increases linearly as the bottom fluid density increases with a fixed top fluid density. Additionally, the critical density approaches the bottom layer …
Coupled mixed convective and stratified systems are common in natural flows. To study experimentally the associated dynamics, we use a singular property of water: its non-linear equation of state is characterised by a maximum density close to $4^{\circ}$C. By heating the top of a tank at $35^{\circ}$C and cooling the bottom at $0^{\circ}$C, a two-layer configuration spontaneously appears. The convective motion in the bottom layer consists mostly of a large-scale circulation and rising cold plumes. This turbulent flow generates propagating internal gravity waves in the upper stably-stratified l…
We derive a new hyperbolic model describing the propagation of internal waves in a stratified shallow water with a non-hydrostatic pressure distribution. The construction of the hyperbolic model is based on the use of additional `instantaneous' variables. This allows one to reduce the dispersive multi-layer Green--Naghdi model to a first-order system of evolution equations. The main attention is paid to the study of three-layer flows over uneven bottom in the Boussinesq approximation with the additional assumption of hydrostatic pressure in the intermediate layer. The hyperbolicity conditions …
Convection over a wavy heated bottom wall in the air flow has been studied in experiments with the Rayleigh number $\sim 10^8$. It is shown that the mean temperature gradient in the flow core inside a large-scale circulation is directed upward, that corresponds to the stably stratified flow. In the experiments with a wavy heated bottom wall, we detect large-scale standing internal gravity waves excited in the regions with the stably stratified flow. The wavelength and the period of these waves are much larger than the turbulent spatial and time scales, respectively. In particular, the frequenc…
The stratified inclined duct (SID) sustains an exchange flow in a long, gently sloping duct as a model for continuously-forced density-stratified flows such as those found in estuaries. Experiments have shown that the emergence of interfacial waves and their transition to turbulence as the tilt angle is increased appears linked to a threshold in the exchange flow rate given by inviscid two-layer hydraulics. We uncover these hydraulic mechanisms with (i) recent direct numerical simulations (DNS) providing full flow data in the key flow regimes (Zhu & Atoufi et al., arXiv:2301.09773, 2023), (ii)…
Lee waves generated by stratified flow over rough bottom topography in the ocean extract momentum and energy from the geostrophic flow, causing drag and enhancing turbulence and mixing in the interior ocean when they break. Inviscid linear theory is generally used to predict the generation rate of lee waves, but the location and mechanism of wave breaking leading to eventual dissipation of energy and irreversible mixing are poorly constrained. In this study, a linear model with viscosity, diffusivity, and an upper boundary is used to demonstrate the potential importance of the surface in refle…
Boundary layer turbulence in coastal regions differs from that in deep ocean because of bottom interactions. In this paper, we focus on the merging of surface and bottom boundary layers in a finite-depth coastal ocean by numerically solving the wave-averaged equations using a large eddy simulation method. The ocean fluid is driven by combined effects of wind stress, surface wave, and a steady current in the presence of stable vertical stratification. The resulting flow consists of two overlapping boundary layers, i.e. surface and bottom boundary layers, separated by an interior stratification.…
