Stratified flow over topography: models versus observations

Essential mechanisms identified in the authors' observations of flow establishment over topography are restated, with emphasis on those which are at variance with numerical simulations. Specifically, small-scale instabilities were observed to lead to upwards transport of fluid from the primary...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, 2001-12, Vol.457 (2016), p.2827-2830
Main Authors: Farmer, David M., Armi, Laurence
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospherics
Boundary layers
Entrainment
Hydraulics
Inlets
Internal waves
Mixing
Modeling
Oceanography
Research Article
Simulations
Stratified Flow
Topography
Waves
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Summary:Essential mechanisms identified in the authors' observations of flow establishment over topography are restated, with emphasis on those which are at variance with numerical simulations. Specifically, small-scale instabilities were observed to lead to upwards transport of fluid from the primary flow so as to form a nearly stationary intermediate layer, and boundary-layer separation significantly delays establishment of the downslope flow. Simulations that force the streamlines to follow the topography generate a large-amplitude breaking wave, which we did not observe. Our observations show that small-scale instability and separation act in concert to determine the time-dependent evolution of the stratified flow response.
ISSN:1364-5021
1471-2946
DOI:10.1098/rspa.2001.0802