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The contraction of contaminant distributions in reversing flows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

Ronald Smith
Ronald Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Silver Street, Cambridge CBS 9EW
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Abstract

Exact expressions are derived for the centroid and variance as functions across the flow when there has been an initially uniform contaminant release in an oscillatory flow. Two examples are given to demonstrate that there can be a substantial region of the flow (where the velocity shear is relatively large) in which the contaminant distribution exhibits contraction after flow reversal. This effect, and the sensitivity of the variance to the precise time of discharge, is most marked when the flow oscillations are rapid relative to the timescale for cross-sectional mixing.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 129 , April 1983 , pp. 137 - 151
Copyright
© 1983 Cambridge University Press

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