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The spin up of a stratified fluid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

Joseph Pedlosky
Joseph Pedlosky
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, M.I.T., Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Abstract

The process by which a stratified, viscous fluid adjusts to small changes in the rotation rate of its container is studied. This paper treats the cases of homogeneous layers of different densities, as well as fluids which are continuously stratified.

It is shown that in several important cases the spin-up process, especially in the continuously stratified case, has a time scale which is very much longer than for homogeneous fluids, and that diffusion is the governing mechanism in the adjustment process.

In all cases the detailed problem, including a discussion of the side-wall boundary layers, is presented. Some novel features of the side-wall layers are discussed for the continuously stratified fluids, while in one case it is shown that no boundary layers appear during the transient approach to equilibrium.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , 26 May 1967 , pp. 463 - 479
Copyright
© 1967 Cambridge University Press

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References

Greenspan, H. P. & Howard, L. N. 1963 On a time-dependent motion of a rotating fluid J. Fluid Mech. 17, 385–404.Google Scholar
Holton, J. R. 1965 The influence of viscous boundary layers on transient motions in a stratified rotating fluid. Parts I and II J. Atmos. Sci. 22, no. 4, 402–411; no. 5, 535–540.Google Scholar