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A note on potential energy density in a stratified compressible fluid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

David G. Andrews
David G. Andrews
Affiliation:
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Program, Princeton University, New Jersey 08540 Present address: Department of Atmospheric Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU.
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Abstract

An exact, local, positive definite expression is obtained for the potential energy density in a wide class of stratified compressible fluids. This expression is an extension of that derived for incompressible stratified fluids in the preceding paper by Holliday & McIntyre (1981), and also represents a finite-amplitude analogue of the disturbance potential energy density that is familiar in small-amplitude theory. Its volume integral reduces to Lorenz’ (1955) available potential energy under suitable choice of a hydrostatic reference state, provided that the fluid is contained within a fixed volume enclosed by rigid impermeable boundaries.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 107 , June 1981 , pp. 227 - 236
Copyright
© 1981 Cambridge University Press

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References

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