Laboratory Research of the Two-Layer Liquid Dynamics at the Wind Surge in a Strait Canal

S.F. Dotsenko1, N.K. Shelkovnikov2, ✉

1 Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russian Federation

2 M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation

✉ e-mail: akordzadze@yahoo.com

Abstract

The results of laboratory experiments in a straight aerohydrocanal of the rectangular cross-section filled with the two-layer (fresh-salty) liquid are represented. The disturbance generator is the air flow directed to the area above the canal. The cases of the two-layer liquid dynamics in the canal with the horizontal flat bottom and in the presence of the bottom obstacle of finite width are considered. It is shown that during the surge in the straight canal, one of the possible exchange mechanisms on the boundary of fresh and salty layers may consist in the salt water emissions (resulted from the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability) to the upper freshwater layer. The subsequent eviction can possibly be accompanied by occurrence of undulations at the interface. Besides, the evictions can be followed by formation of the oscillating layer, i.e. the layer with maximum density gradient the oscillations of which propagate to the overlying layers.

Presence of the bottom obstacle complicates the structure of the two-layer liquid motions. In particular, it results in emergence of the mixed layers and transformation of the flow behind the obstacle into a turbulent one, formation of the wave-like disturbances over the obstacle, sharp change of the interface position and occurrence of large-scale vortices with the horizontal axes. It is revealed that the maximum peak of the flow velocity horizontal component is shifted upstream from the obstacle.

Keywords

waves in liquid, wind-induced processes, two-layer fluid, vertical exchange, flowing around of the bottom irregularities, laboratory simulation

For citation

Dotsenko, S.F. and Shelkovnikov, N.K., 2017. Laboratory Research of the Two-Layer Liquid Dynamics at the Wind Surge in a Strait Canal. Physical Oceanography, (3), pp. 3-18. doi:10.22449/1573-160X-2017-3-3-18

DOI

10.22449/1573-160X-2017-3-3-18

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