Author(s): Jin Hwan Hwang; Chris R. Rehmann
Linked Author(s): Jin Hwan Hwang
Keywords: Mixing; Small scale turbulence; Stratified flows; Intrusion; Hydraulic experiment
Abstract: The effects of shear on interfacial mixing in salt finger favorable conditions are investigated through laboratory experiments. Bulk and local measurements show that the salt finger favorable condition enhances the mixing together with shear. As the density ratio decreases, the mixing rate q/UH increases due to salt fingering effects, and as the bulk Richardson number decreases, q/UH increases by shear. When turbulence strongly inhibits fingers from growing, the Osborn-Cox model is considered to estimate an upper bound on the ratio of the eddy diffusivities of temperature and salinity. The eddy diffusivity of temperature is larger than that of salinity. Eddy diffusivity or flux ratio is similar to that in diffusively stable flow, not salt fingering flow.
Year: 2005