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The behaviour of a stable salinity gradient heated from below

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

J. S. Turner
J. S. Turner
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge
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Abstract

The motions resulting when a linear, stable salt gradient is heated uniformly and at a steady rate from below are investigated theoretically and by laboratory experiment. A convecting, growing layer is first formed whose depth, temperature and salinity differences from the fluid above, are all increasing as t½. The way in which these quantities depend on the salinity gradient and heating rate is also predicted, and verified experimentally. A stability criterion is then developed which describes the breakdown of the diffusive boundary layer ahead of the advancing front, and leads to an expression for the thickness of the bottom layer when a second layer forms above it. The predicted form of dependence of layer thickness on the given parameters is again borne out by the experiments.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , 12 July 1968 , pp. 183 - 200
Copyright
© 1968 Cambridge University Press

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