ISSN Online: 2377-424X
ISBN Print: 0-85295-345-3
International Heat Transfer Conference 10
Buoyancy driven flows in a rotating, stratified fluid
Аннотация
A laboratory experiment has been constructed to model
the deep convective processes in the ocean driven by energetic cooling at the ocean surface For convenience in
the laboratory, we have examined the analogous problem
of the growth of the convective mixed layer generated by a localised source of bottom heating in a rotating, thermally stratified fluid. The heating is provided by a heat exchanger mounted beneath a central circular plate of diameter smaller than that of the main cylindrical tank.
Rotation initially confines the heated fluid above the central plate, but as time progresses, a front separating the well-mixed heated fluid and the surrounding ambient stratified fluid becomes unstable, generating a field of baroclinic vortices. While the heat transport is very complex, velocity measurements obtained from a pattern racking technique are used to describe the nature of this flow instability and the ensuing heat transport.
Rotation initially confines the heated fluid above the central plate, but as time progresses, a front separating the well-mixed heated fluid and the surrounding ambient stratified fluid becomes unstable, generating a field of baroclinic vortices. While the heat transport is very complex, velocity measurements obtained from a pattern racking technique are used to describe the nature of this flow instability and the ensuing heat transport.