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Laboratory and numerical experiments on the near wake of a sphere in a stably stratified ambient

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2021

T.J. Madison Open the ORCID record for T.J. Madison [Opens in a new window] ,
X. Xiang  and
G.R. Spedding Open the ORCID record for G.R. Spedding [Opens in a new window]
T.J. Madison
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90081, USA
X. Xiang
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90081, USA
G.R. Spedding*
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90081, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: geoff@usc.edu
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Abstract

The flow around and behind a sphere in a linear density gradient has served as a model problem for both body-generated wakes in atmospheres and oceans, and as a means of generating a patch of turbulence that then decays in a stratified ambient. Here, experiments and numerical simulations are conducted for 20 values of Reynolds number, $Re$, and internal Froude number, $Fr$, where each is varied independently. In all cases, the early wake is affected by the background density gradient, notably in the form of the body-generated lee waves. Mean and fluctuating quantities do not reach similar states, and their subsequent evolution would not be collapsible under any universal scaling. There are five distinguishable flow regimes, which mostly overlap with previous literature based on qualitative visualisations and, in this parameter space, they maintain their distinguishing features up to and including buoyancy times of 20. The possible relation of the low $\{Re, Fr\}$ flows to their higher $\{Re, Fr\}$ counterparts is discussed.

JFM classification

Geophysical and Geological Flows: Stratified flows

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JFM Papers
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Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 933 , 25 February 2022 , A12
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© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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