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ISSN Online: 2377-424X

ISBN Print: 0-89116-299-2

International Heat Transfer Conference 7
September, 6-10, 1982, Munich, Germany

OPTICAL STUDIES OF MIXED LAYER DEVELOPMENT IN A DOUBLE-DIFFUSIVE, THERMOHALINE SYSTEM

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC7.860
pages 419-424

Abstract

Optical techniques have been used to study mixed layer development in laboratory experiments involving salt-stratified solutions heated from below. Mach-Zehnder interferometry and the shadowgraph technique were used with test cells which could be subjected to a uniform bottom surface temperature and heat flux, respectively. Development of the bottom mixed layer was strongly influenced by the heating schedule, as well as by the initial salt concentration gradient. Small and gradually imposed bottom heat fluxes resulted in the continuous growth of a single mixed layer, while large and/or impulsively imposed heat fluxes resulted in the development of secondary mixed layers. The rate of mixed layer development decreased with increasing salt concentration gradient and with enhanced stratification due to irradiation from above. The interfacial boundary layer, which separates the mixed and stratified regions, was characterized by a nearly uniform temperature and a strongly nonlinear salt concentration distribution.