Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vpsfw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T06:47:16.581Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An almost-inviscid geostrophic flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

L. M. Hocking
Affiliation:
University College London, Gower Street, London, W.C. 1 Present address: Department of Engineering Mechanics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Abstract

An almost rigid rotation of a viscous fluid is produced by dividing the containing cylinder into two sections and rotating them at slightly different speeds. The fluid velocity can be separated into two parts, a swirl about the axis and a streaming motion in the axial planes. When the difference in the speeds of rotation of the two sections is small, the equations of motion can be linearized. The solution is found for large Reynolds numbers and provides an illustration of the way in which the conditions of geostrophic flow (no velocity variation in the axial direction and an inability to insist on undistrubed flow at infinity) are approached as the Reynolds number tends to infinity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1962 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Proudman, I. 1956 J. Fluid Mech. 1, 505.