St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

The characteristics of billows generated by internal solitary waves

Thumbnail
View/Open
Carr_2017_Billows_JFM_AAM.pdf (9.353Mb)
Date
10/02/2017
Author
Carr, Magda
Franklin, James
King, Stuart Edward
Davies, Peter
Grue, John
Dritschel, David Gerard
Funder
EPSRC
Grant ID
EP/F030622/1
Keywords
Geophysical and geological flows
Internal waves
QA Mathematics
QC Physics
NDAS
BDC
R2C
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Altmetrics DOI Statistics
Abstract
The spatial and temporal development of shear-induced overturning billows associated with breaking internal solitary waves is studied by means of a combined laboratory and numerical investigation. The waves are generated in the laboratory by a lock exchange mechanism and they are simulated numerically via a contour-advective semi-Lagrangian method. The properties of individual billows (maximum height attained, time of collapse, growth rate, speed, wavelength, Thorpe scale) are determined in each case, and the billow interaction processes are studied and classified. For broad flat waves, similar characteristics are seen to those in parallel shear flow, but, for waves not at the conjugate flow limit, billow characteristics are affected by the spatially varying wave-induced shear flow. Wave steepness and wave amplitude are shown to have a crucial influence on determining the type of interaction that occurs between billows and whether billow overturning can be arrested. Examples are given in which billows (i) evolve independently of one another, (ii) pair with one another, (iii) engulf/entrain one another and (iv) fail to completely overturn. It is shown that the vertical extent a billow can attain (and the associated Thorpe scale of the billow) is dependent on wave amplitude but that its value saturates once a given amplitude is reached. It is interesting to note that this amplitude is less than the conjugate flow limit amplitude. The number of billows that form on a wave is shown to be dependent on wavelength; shorter waves support fewer but larger billows than their long-wave counterparts for a given stratification.
Citation
Carr , M , Franklin , J , King , S E , Davies , P , Grue , J & Dritschel , D G 2017 , ' The characteristics of billows generated by internal solitary waves ' , Journal of Fluid Mechanics , vol. 812 , pp. 541-577 . https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2016.823
Publication
Journal of Fluid Mechanics
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2016.823
ISSN
0022-1120
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2017, Cambridge University Press. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2016.823
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/11156

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter