Convectively induced shear instability in large amplitude internal solitary waves
View/ Open
Date
12/2008Metadata
Show full item recordAltmetrics Handle Statistics
Altmetrics DOI Statistics
Abstract
Laboratory study has been carried out to investigate the instability of an internal solitary wave of depression in a shallow stratified fluid system. The experimental campaign has been supported by theoretical computations and has focused on a two layered stratification consisting of a homogeneous dense layer below a linearly stratified top layer. The initial background stratification has been varied and it is found that the onset and intensity of breaking are affected dramatically by changes in the background stratification. Manifestations of a combination of shear and convective instability are seen on the leading face of the wave. It is shown that there is an interplay between the two instability types and convective instability induces shear by enhancing isopycnal compression. Variation in the upper boundary condition is also found to have an effect on stability. In particular, the implications for convective instability are shown to be profound and a dramatic increase in wave amplitude is seen for a fixed (as opposed to free) upper boundary condition.
Citation
Carr , M , Fructus , D , Grue , J , Jensen , A & Davies , P A 2008 , ' Convectively induced shear instability in large amplitude internal solitary waves ' , Physics of Fluids , vol. 20 , no. 12 , 126601 . https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3030947
Publication
Physics of Fluids
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1070-6631Type
Journal article
Rights
This is the author's version of this article. The published version © 2008 American Institute of Physics is available at http://link.aip.org/link/doi/10.1063/1.3030947
Description
Partially funded by grant no. GR/S27368/01 from EPSRCCollections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.