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The final stage of decay of turbulence in stably stratified fluid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

H. J. Pearson  and
P. F. Linden
H. J. Pearson
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Silver Street, Cambridge CB3 9EW Present address: Smith Associates Consulting System Engineers Ltd, 45–47 High Street, Cobham, Surrey KT11 3DT.
P. F. Linden
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Silver Street, Cambridge CB3 9EW
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Abstract

The linearized equations for the final stage of decay of turbulence in a stably stratified fluid are solved by three-dimensional Fourier transformation. For large Prandtl number, slowly decaying almost-horizontal modes of motion are identified. It is argued that these modes explain the experimental observation that patches of turbulence eventually settle out into a set of approximately horizontal striations. The most persistent vertical wavelength for a given geometry is determined and compared with quantitative observations from a set of experiments.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 134 , September 1983 , pp. 195 - 203
Copyright
© 1983 Cambridge University Press

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